Birdingonthe.Net Recent Postings from The Massachusetts Birding List > Home > Mail > Alerts Updated on Friday, November 6 at 10:38 PM ET The most recently received Mail is at the top.	Black-capped Chickadee,©Jennifer Brumfield

06 Nov Re: Marsh Wren travel schedule? (Concord) [Cherrie Corey ] 06 Nov Re: Marsh Wren travel schedule? (Concord) [Richard Danca ] 06 Nov CT Report 11/06/2009 [Roy Harvey ] 06 Nov Marsh Wren travel schedule? (Concord) [Cherrie Corey ] 06 Nov HSR: Blueberry Hill (06 Nov 2009) 30 Raptors [] 06 Nov Re: Re: Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow (inland records) ["Eric" ] 06 Nov Snow Bunting Sites?? ["Alexander J. Coverdill" ] 6 Nov Lark Bunting Photos - Cumberland Farms Fields ["Hank Levesque" ] 6 Nov Nashville Warbler, Arnold Arboretum , 11/6/09 [Matt Garvey ] 6 Nov Fwd: Red-headed WP [Paula McFarland ] 06 Nov Nov 6, Plum Is, Cackling Goose Present [Thomas Wetmore ] 6 Nov Red-headed WP [Paula McFarland ] 6 Nov Re: Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow (inland records) [Paul Champlin ] 6 Nov eBird Report - Cumberland Farms--River St. entrance , 11/6/09 [Jeremiah Trimble ] 6 Nov Western Kingbird still present 11/6 ["Mark Faherty" ] 6 Nov Re: Lark Bunting YES [Fred ] 6 Nov Allens Pond walk reminder [Paul Champlin ] 6 Nov Franklin Park - Cackling Geese YES 11.6.09 [Neil Hayward ] 6 Nov Lark Bunting YES [Marshall Iliff ] 5 Nov Cackling Goose 11/05 ["James P. Smith" ] 6 Nov Re: Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak ["Glenn d'Entremont" ] 05 Nov CT Report 11/05/2009 [Roy Harvey ] 5 Nov Cumbies 11/5/09 - Lark Bunting YES [Ian Davies ] 5 Nov Western Kingbird, etc. Fort Hill 11/5 ["Mark Faherty" ] 6 Nov Re: 11/4 clarification ["Glenn d'Entremont" ] 05 Nov Boxford-area duck ponds and Cherry Hill Res, W. Newbury, 11/5/09 ["Jim Berry" ] 05 Nov Correction: PI-Parker River NWR - 11-04-09 ["David K. Weaver" ] 05 Nov Cape Ann; Tues., 3 November 2009. [Richard Heil ] 5 Nov Fw: eBird Report - Boston- Franklin Park , 11/5/09 [Paul Peterson ] 5 Nov Fw: [BostonBirds] Ride To Cumbies Needed [Paul Peterson ] 5 Nov Duck sightings in Plymout [sharla Fenwick ] 05 Nov artist RACHEL BERWICK's latest installation about Passenger Pigeons and Zugenruhe ["Mark Lynch" ] 05 Nov artist RACHEL BERWICK's latest installation about Passenger Pigeons and Zugenruhe ["Mark Lynch" ] 05 Nov 11/7 - Brookline Bird Club at EMS in Foxborough [Barbara Volkle and Steve Moore ] 5 Nov Re: Henslow's Sparrows and Proton Accelerators (I know... off topic) [Paul Champlin ] 5 Nov Red Headed Woodpecker present Thursday Nov 5 [] 5 Nov RE: Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak ["Marshall Iliff" ] 05 Nov HSR: Blueberry Hill (05 Nov 2009) 1 Raptor (Golden Eagle) [] 5 Nov Lark Bunting yes [Jeffrey Offermann ] 5 Nov Isles of Shoals CBC - December 20th [Benjamin Griffith ] 5 Nov Western Kingbird, Fort Hill 2:30 PM 11/5 ["Mark Faherty" ] 5 Nov Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak ["Marshall Iliff" ] 5 Nov Isles of Shoals CBC - December 20th [Benjamin Griffith ] 05 Nov Henslow's Sparrows and Proton Accelerators: the ecology of Fermilab on line now at WICN ["Mark Lynch" ] 5 Nov Photos of Red Head from 11/3 [Dale J Martin ] 5 Nov Lark Bunting refound - Cumberland Farms, Middleboro MA - 5 November [Jeremiah Trimble ] 05 Nov Henslow's Sparrows and Proton Accelerators: the ecology of Fermilab on line now at WICN ["Mark Lynch" ] 5 Nov Cackling Geese- Franklin Park Thursday [rstymeist ] 5 Nov STILT SANDPIPERS - Plum Is. 11/5 [Bird Watchers Supply & Gift ] 05 Nov 11/4 clarification [Rick Bowes ] 4 Nov Longmeadow Grebes [NEaton ] 04 Nov Suntaug Lake ~ Lynnfield ~ 11/4/09 [Sue McGrath ] 05 Nov More Black Scoters, Lakeville [] 05 Nov Nov 4, Plum Is, Hairy Wood, Commoness and 2009 Quarter-Months (Long) [Thomas Wetmore ] 04 Nov 11/04 Duxbury Beach - large numbers of Scoters [Rick Bowes ] 04 Nov CT Report 11/04/2009 C Eiders, H Godwit, W Kingbird [Roy Harvey ] 04 Nov P'town seabirds: 10/31, 11/1, & 11/3 [Blair Nikula ] 04 Nov Lynn ~ Flax Pond ~ 11/4 [Sue McGrath ] 4 Nov RH and Pileated, 3:30-4PM [Leslie Kramer ] 04 Nov Brookline bird casualties, etc. [] 04 Nov Plum Island - Parker River NWR - 11-04-09 ["David K. Weaver" ] 04 Nov eBird Rpt - Cumberland Farms--IBA; Lark Bunting, Northern Shrike [Charles Nims ] 4 Nov More Black Scoters ["KIRK ELWELL" ] 4 Nov - Fresh Pond--IBA , 11/5/09 [rstymeist ] 04 Nov HSR: Blueberry Hill (04 Nov 2009) 24 Raptors [] 4 Nov Nagog correction [Willy Hutcheson ] 4 Nov More Black Scoters [alice morgan ] 04 Nov Waterbird survey results, 11/4/09 Great Meadows NWR - Concord [Jason Forbes ] 4 Nov Saw-whet banding results [Strickland Wheelock ] 4 Nov Fresh Pond Black Scoters: gender/behavior notes. [Jeffrey Boone Miller ] 4 Nov Long-tailed ducks, black scoters, Lake Nagog, Acton 11/4/04 [Willy Hutcheson ] 04 Nov more scoters ["Marj. Rines" ] 4 Nov Fresh Pond - Black Scoters [Jeffrey Boone Miller ] 4 Nov RH Woodpeckers, 2nd adult sighted, note to watchers [] 04 Nov Credit for Lark Bunting [Charles Nims ] 4 Nov Saw-whet banding results [Strickland Wheelock ] Subject: Re: Marsh Wren travel schedule? (Concord) From: Cherrie Corey <cherrie.corey AT verizon.net> Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:13:18 -0500 Thanks, Richard, sounds like a bon voyage party is in order... Cherrie Corey Concord, MA At 7:07 PM -0500 11/6/09, Richard Danca wrote: >"Birds of Massachusetts" (Veit and Petersen, 1993), says: "Marsh >wrens are also rather frequently found in late fall and early winter >in areas where they do not breed." (e.g., Nantucket) > >And: "Although Marsh Wrens regularly survive into late December, >even at inland locations, they are apparently gradually killed off >by progressively worsening weather conditions and depleted food >supplies, or else they migrate farther south in midwinter. Records >of probable survivors include...1 [individual], Concord, 16-21 >February 1960...." > >Hope this helps. > >-- >----- >Richard A. Danca >Newton, MA >radanca AT comcast.net >---------- Subject: Re: Marsh Wren travel schedule? (Concord) From: Richard Danca <radanca AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:07:52 -0500 "Birds of Massachusetts" (Veit and Petersen, 1993), says: "Marsh wrens are also rather frequently found in late fall and early winter in areas where they do not breed." (e.g., Nantucket) And: "Although Marsh Wrens regularly survive into late December, even at inland locations, they are apparently gradually killed off by progressively worsening weather conditions and depleted food supplies, or else they migrate farther south in midwinter. Records of probable survivors include...1 [individual], Concord, 16-21 February 1960...." Hope this helps. -- ----- Richard A. Danca Newton, MA radanca AT comcast.net ---------- Subject: CT Report 11/06/2009 From: Roy Harvey <rmharvey AT snet.net> Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:13:14 -0500 From Paul & Seth Carrier: 11/06/09 - Salisbury, Twin Lakes and Twin Lakes Rd -- 4:00, 20 RUSTY BLACKBIRD. From Rollin S. Tebbetts: 11/06/09 - Windsor Locks, Bradley International Airport -- Six SNOW BUNTING. From Jim Brown: 11/06/09 -- Montville -- 9 AM, about 20 BLACK VULTURES kettling over I-395. From Dave Rosgen, w/ John Eykelhoff: 11/06/09 - Litchfield, N. Shore Rd. (Bantam Lake's Pt. Folly) -- 1 LESSER SCAUP. (Bantam Lake's N. Bay) -- 2 HORNED GREBES. From Dana Campbell: 11/06/09 - New Haven, Lighthouse Point Park Hawkwatch -- 4 PEREGRINE FALCONS. ********************************************************************** This CTDailyReport list is sponsored by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA). It is primarily meant to meet the informational needs of the active CT birder. Any other use requires written authorization from the board of directors of the COA. ********************************************************************** Visit the COA web site at http://www.ctbirding.org Reports should be sent to CTBirdReport AT ftml.net. Reports should include sender's name, date, location of sightings and species of note at each location. Reporting Guidelines are available at: http://www.ctbirding.org/ecommittee.htm#reporting To change your subscription options, or unsubscribe, please visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctdailyreport_lists.ctbirding.org Archives of these reports may be found at either of these locations: http://www.virtualbirder.com/bmail/ctbird/latest.html http://lists.ctbirding.org/pipermail/ctdailyreport_lists.ctbirding.org/ Subject: Marsh Wren travel schedule? (Concord) From: Cherrie Corey <cherrie.corey AT verizon.net> Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:29:28 -0500 Two marsh wrens were bubbling their sunset tunes in the cattails at Great Meadows today. When do these guys leave town?! Cherrie Corey Concord Subject: HSR: Blueberry Hill (06 Nov 2009) 30 Raptors From: reports AT hawkcount.org Date: 06 Nov 2009 18:11:48 -0400 Blueberry Hill Granville, Massachusetts, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 06, 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 2 432 Osprey 0 0 140 Bald Eagle 0 3 48 Northern Harrier 0 4 60 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 7 752 Cooper's Hawk 1 5 100 Northern Goshawk 0 0 6 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 15 46 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 5003 Red-tailed Hawk 27 92 266 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 2 6 American Kestrel 0 0 240 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 6 Merlin 1 1 35 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 5 Unknown Buteo 0 1 5 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 2 Unknown Vulture 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 31 Total: 30 133 7184 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:45:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 5.25 hours Official Counter: John Weeks Observers: Dick Haas, John Weeks, Scott Fowler Weather: Mostly cloudy all day (85-100% cloud-cover). Wind NW 14-19 km/h (much higher gusts were predicted, but fortunately did not occur). Temperature 2.5-3.6 C. Raptor Observations: Red-tail numbers were disappointingly low for the date and the conditions. The real (pleasant) surprise was a Merlin that streaked past at 11:22. We have seen Merlins in November here only six other times, all in 2006 and 2007. The latest date was 11/11/07. Non-raptor Observations: Duck species (12; scoters?), American Crows (ca. 130), American Robins (2), Savannah Sparrow, Snow Buntings (2). ======================================================================== Report submitted by John Weeks (aerie.john AT cox.net) Subject: Re: Re: Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow (inland records) From: "Eric" <elabato AT verizon.net> Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:29:12 -0500 I remember the Ipswich Savannah Sparrow at the Northampton Airport. I checked my old notes and I saw it on February 6, 2000. Eric Labato Malden, MA elabato AT verizon.net ----- Original Message ----- From: Paul Champlin To: massbird AT theworld.com Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 2:50 PM Subject: [MASSBIRD] Re: Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow (inland records) I recall finding an Ipswich Savannah Sparrow that ended up spending a good portion of early (?) winter in the east meadows of Northampton... at the airport. Not certain of the year, perhaps '97. I recall a good number of people seeing it. Paul Champlin Westport ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Find the right PC with Windows 7 and Windows Live. Learn more. Subject: Snow Bunting Sites?? From: "Alexander J. Coverdill" <alexjc AT bu.edu> Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:01:48 -0500 Hello All! I'm looking for some advice from Mass birders as to where I might find good field sites for catching snow buntings in eastern MA. I'm a faculty member at BU and I have been working with these birds (in other parts of the world) for several years. I'm hoping to find some good winter sites during the next month or so to continue my research regarding their physiology and migratory strategy. Ideally, I'd like to find areas relatively close to Boston so that I can make repeated trips over a few week period. Catching these birds typically requires 'training' them to come to seed piles for a few days before trying to net or trap them. In case you're wondering, I do not sacrifice any of the birds and all are released back on their way. If you have any tips or suggestions I would love to hear them! Also, if you regularly visit areas with snow buntings and wouldn't mind putting out seed from time to time, I'd love all the help I can get! Happy birding, and I hope to hear from you soon! Cheers, Alex Coverdill, PhD CAS Natural Science Boston University alexjc AT bu.edu Subject: Lark Bunting Photos - Cumberland Farms Fields From: "Hank Levesque" <hlevesque AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 15:48:37 -0500 Beginning around 2:15 today, managed to get some photos of the Lark Bunting in about the same location that Jim Sweeney originally found the bird. Over a period of about an hour, the bird made intermittent appearances. Within a couple of hundred feet of that location, a Clay-colored Sparrow was found, and about 500 feet further West, along the same row of trees/shrubs, a Blue Grosbeak was located most of the early afternoon. Those images are included in the link. http://picasaweb.google.com/hooplion/2009_11_06?feat=email# Hank Levesque Subject: Nashville Warbler, Arnold Arboretum , 11/6/09 From: Matt Garvey <mattpgarvey AT gmail.com> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 15:15:18 -0500 A Nashville Warbler in the birdy rose area was the highlight of a nice crisp walk around the Arnold Arboretum in Jamaica Plain this morning. Matt Garvey Brookline, MA mattpgarvey AT gmail.com Location: Arnold Arboretum Observation date: 11/6/09 Notes: Cold, grey, overcast; high 30s. Nice loop w/ Luke and Syd of Beech Path, roses/ponds, bussey hill road, oaks, and conifers. Nashville a nice highlight in a dull fall, warbler-wise. Number of species: 25 Cooper's Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 2 Herring Gull (American) 3 Rock Pigeon 25 Mourning Dove 2 Downy Woodpecker 4 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1 Blue Jay 6 American Crow 3 Black-capped Chickadee 29 Tufted Titmouse 5 White-breasted Nuthatch 2 Winter Wren 1 Heard sweet short call and managed good looks by bussey brook downhill from conifers section Hermit Thrush 1 rose area American Robin 100 Northern Mockingbird 1 roses European Starling 125 Cedar Waxwing 128 Nashville Warbler 1 Quick but good looks in roses; alerted by call; rich yellow throat and belly, sharply contrasting with deep grey head, full white eyering cumulatively enough to eliminte OCWA and VIWA. Song Sparrow 5 White-throated Sparrow 15 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 7 Red-winged Blackbird 4 American Goldfinch 6 House Sparrow 10 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) Subject: Fwd: Red-headed WP From: Paula McFarland <saltpannes AT gmail.com> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 14:59:51 -0500 I see the adult now. PM ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Paula McFarland" Date: Nov 6, 2009 2:56 PM Subject: Red-headed WP To: "massbird" I just saw the juvenile at 2:50 p.m. I have not seen the adult, though RockDancer saw it today. Paula McFarland Subject: Nov 6, Plum Is, Cackling Goose Present From: Thomas Wetmore <ttw4 AT verizon.net> Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:56:30 -0500 PI/MA Birders, The Cackling Goose was again at Stage Island Pool on Plum Island this morning. It left at its regular departure time of 7:15 for Ipswich. The size of the overall goose flock on the pool is slowly shrinking, numbering around 320 this morning. Soon they and the Cackling will be gone leaving a large sheet of ice in their wake. Woe. Seeing this Cackling Goose boils down to a simple decision. Either you get up early and get to Stage Island Pool before the bird leaves, where you get a pretty easy look at the bird; or you stay abed a few hours longer and head for the Ipwsich farm fields, where you spend the next couple hours trying to find the bird from awkward angles from from any of three different roads. Good birding, Tom Wetmore Newburyport, MA http://bartonstreet.com/tom/birds/ Think globally, bird locally. Subject: Red-headed WP From: Paula McFarland <saltpannes AT gmail.com> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 14:56:34 -0500 I just saw the juvenile at 2:50 p.m. I have not seen the adult, though RockDancer saw it today. Paula McFarland Subject: Re: Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow (inland records) From: Paul Champlin <skua99 AT hotmail.com> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 14:50:51 -0500 I recall finding an Ipswich Savannah Sparrow that ended up spending a good portion of early (?) winter in the east meadows of Northampton... at the airport. Not certain of the year, perhaps '97. I recall a good number of people seeing it. Paul Champlin Westport _________________________________________________________________ Find the right PC with Windows 7 and Windows Live. http://www.microsoft.com/Windows/pc-scout/laptop-set-criteria.aspx?cbid=wl&filt=200,2400,10,19,1,3,1,7,50,650,2,12,0,1000&cat=1,2,3,4,5,6&brands=5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16&addf=4,5,9&ocid=PID24727::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WWL_WIN_evergreen2:112009 Subject: eBird Report - Cumberland Farms--River St. entrance , 11/6/09 From: Jeremiah Trimble <jtrimble AT oeb.harvard.edu> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 14:31:21 -0500 MASSBIRD, Marshall Iliff and I spent the early part of the morning working the fields off River Street at Cumberland Farms in Middleboro, MA. Although certainly the highlight was re-finding the Lark Bunting we had a number of other great birds, as has been typical at this site this Fall! Other highlights included a Blue Grosbeak, Clay-colored Sparrow and a decent raptor show including an adult Peregrine Falcon, the continuing immature Red-shouldered Hawk, 3 American Kestrels, and the immature light morph Rough-legged Hawk. It was interesting to watch a roost of 10 Northern Harriers emerge at dawn from the fields. The numbers of American Pipits in the fields here continue to be impressive. Today there were at least 245 birds including a single flock of at least 225! The Lark Bunting is extremely spooky in its habits as has been noted by others. The bird spent almost all of the time we saw it along the field edge to the left as you enter in from River Street. [Coordinates: 41°57'42.08"N, 70°53'28.71"W) We were lucky enough to find this bird on our first pass through this area (at 6:57am), although it disappeared after just a few minutes. We re-found the bird later in the morning and were able to show it to several people including a large birding group. We made a few passes through this spot and did not see the bird at all although it was certainly there. This area is extremely birdy with perhaps 100+ sparrows to sort through including 7+ White-crowned Sparrows, the Clay-colored Sparrow, the Blue Grosbeak and the Lark Bunting. Not a bad 25m stretch of field edge. At least a few times we had the Lark Bunting and Blue Grosbeak in the same tree! The Blue Grosbeak record is probably one of the latest records ever for the state. It will be interesting to monitor this birds stay and see just how long it will hang in. I have posted some images from today at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrtrimble/sets/72157622623475019/ Good birding, Jeremiah Trimble Cambridge, MA Location: Cumberland Farms--River St. entrance Observation date: 11/6/09 Number of species: 43 Canada Goose 15 American Black Duck/Mallard 11 distant flyby flock at dawn; Great Blue Heron 1 flew in and landed in field near Wood Street; Northern Harrier 10 *Interesting| At least 8 of these birds appeared near dawn together presumable exiting a night-time roost; all immature/female types except 1 adult male; Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Cooper's Hawk 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 *Unusual| Continuing immature bird along entrance road near manure pits; present for most of Fall; Red-tailed Hawk 8 Rough-legged Hawk 1 *Unusual| Continuing light morph immature bird; American Kestrel 3 *Good Count| Peregrine Falcon 1 Black-bellied Plover 1 seen well calling and flew overhead; Killdeer 2 shorebird sp. 8 *Interesting| large shorebirds, gave impression of Black-bellied Plover, but too distant to ID; Ring-billed Gull 175 Herring Gull (American) 5 Mourning Dove 2 Eastern Screech-Owl 2 *Interesting| One calling at River Street entrance and second bird calling along Wood Street; Downy Woodpecker 4 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 3 Blue Jay 12 American Crow 10 Black-capped Chickadee 6 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Carolina Wren 2 American Robin 2500 Northern Mockingbird 1 European Starling 400 American Pipit 245 ***Hight Count| Several small flocks roaming the fields but most impressive was a singe group of 225 birds right at the River Street entrance (first fields just before the ditch crossing); May be personal high count and especially late for such a large number; Cedar Waxwing 12 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 4 Palm Warbler (Western) 1 American Tree Sparrow 5 Clay-colored Sparrow 1 **Rare| Recent arrival?; first report of this species here; along hedgerow behind model airplane field (CT Warbler edge); seen within a few minutes of Blue Grosbeak and Lark Bunting (along same hedge row)!; JRT only; Lark Bunting 1 ***MEGA| Continuing (third day) immature bird; photographed; personal first for MA and eastern US!; Rather spooky bird first spotted as it popped up in the hedge row behind the model airplane field at 6:57am; seen for about 3-4 minutes before it disappeared; later relocated by JRT and MJI along the same hedge; Images at: http://tinyurl.com/yzevmm8 *http://tinyurl.com/yfave67 * Savannah Sparrow 65 Song Sparrow 50 Swamp Sparrow 25 White-throated Sparrow 15 White-crowned Sparrow (Eastern) 12 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 5 Northern Cardinal 8 Blue Grosbeak 1 ***Rare| Late record; perhaps the same bird present for several weeks but definitely observed since at least yesterday; brown bird; well photographed; perhaps latest record for the state; *Image at:* http://tinyurl.com/ykgupyn Red-winged Blackbird 220 American Goldfinch 15 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) -- Jeremiah Trimble Curatorial Associate - Ornithology Museum of Comparative Zoology Harvard University 26 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 phone: 617-495-2471 fax: 617-495-5667 email: jtrimble AT oeb.harvard.edu Subject: Western Kingbird still present 11/6 From: "Mark Faherty" <mfaherty AT massaudubon.org> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 12:40:47 -0500 People are still seeing the Western Kingbird at Fort Hill in Eastham today. Poor record shots I got yesterday in the fading light, including one showing a white outer tail feather: http://tinyurl.com/ygswtes http://tinyurl.com/ylfgmgp ********************************************************************* Mark Faherty Science Coordinator Mass Audubon/Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary Subject: Re: Lark Bunting YES From: Fred <fred AT cetussoft.com> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 09:43:31 -0500 > just before manure pit road turns to quagmire I've had days like that, too - . Fred (Frederick Wasti) Marshfield, Massachusetts Subject: Allens Pond walk reminder From: Paul Champlin <skua99 AT hotmail.com> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 09:19:48 -0500 Hi Folks Quick reminder: I'll be leading the Allens Pond bird walk tomorrow, starting at 9AM ($4 for MAS members, $6 otherwise). We've been going out on every OTHER Saturday but decided to offer walks three Saturdays in a row at the end of this series. Next Saturday (the 14th) will be the last scheduled bird walk until January, when we'll start things up again. Best Paul Champlin Westport _________________________________________________________________ Windows 7: Unclutter your desktop. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9690331&ocid=PID24727::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WWL_WIN_evergreen:112009 Subject: Franklin Park - Cackling Geese YES 11.6.09 From: Neil Hayward <neil.hayward AT gmail.com> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 08:49:21 -0500 Dear birders, Following Bob Stymeist's advice, I arrived at Franklin Park before the geese departed. I was there from 6:45 to 7:15. The Canada Geese are around the bridge area (on both sides). The Cackling Geese were swimming together - on the Western side of the bridge, near the Shovelers. They were noticeably smaller (probably around 60% of the size of the Canadas), with very short necks, and much reduced bill size. The birds were still there when I left. Location: Franklin Park Observation date: 11/6/09 Number of species: 11 Cackling Goose 2 Canada Goose 400 Mallard 30 Northern Shoveler 4 Ring-necked Duck 1 Hooded Merganser 1 Ruddy Duck 3 Pied-billed Grebe 1 Blue Jay 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 12 Neil Hayward Cambridge, MA neil.hayward AT gmail.com Subject: Lark Bunting YES From: Marshall Iliff <miliff AT aol.com> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 07:09:24 -0500 Still in exact location described by Jeff Offerman. Hedgerow left of cut through just before manure pit road turns to quagmire. First seen 6:57. Iliff and Trimble Sent from my iPhone Subject: Cackling Goose 11/05 From: "James P. Smith" <keenbirder AT yahoo.com> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 19:38:37 -0800 (PST) Greetings birders, There was a nice Richardson's Cackling Goose on the Turner's Falls power canal this afternoon with c.700 Canada Geese. Also 6 Common and 2 Hooded Mergansers. http://pioneerbirding.blogspot.com/2009/11/ma-cackling-goose-1105.html Best birding, James. James P. Smith Amherst, MA http://pioneerbirding.blogspot.com/ Subject: Re: Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak From: "Glenn d'Entremont" <gdentremont1 AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 03:04:17 +0000 (UTC) There was an Ipswich at Burrage Pond recently. I saw it and someone else reported it as well which made the BO reports. I do not have the time now to look up the date, but I think it was 2008 and I think it was spring (March?). I was there looking for Sandhill Crane(s). Glenn Glenn d'Entremont: gdentremont1 AT comcast.net Stoughton, MA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marshall Iliff" To: "Massbird" Sent: Thursday, November 5, 2009 2:34:31 PM (GMT-0500) Auto-Detected Subject: [MASSBIRD] Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak Massbird,   Sadly, I left before the Lark Bunting was refound despite at least four passes through the area it was ultimately seen. Clearly something remains to be learned about this bird’s habits.   One could argue that the IPSWICH SPARROw there today was an even rarer bird though--of course, that could just be sour grapes on my part. I saw it well and was able to show it to Neil Hayward, Tim Factor, and Hank Levesque (who got photos; http://picasaweb.google.com/hooplion/2009_11_05?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ-2mszXvbqqag&feat=email# ).   Other than a sighting from Quebec and a recent post to the Maine listserv about one in North Yarmouth, I am aware of just one other inland record, from Great Meadows, Concord, MA 10 Oct 2009.(Lark Bunting by contrast has enough records that Veit and Petersen 1993 do not enumerate them!).   Location:     Cumberland Farms--River St. entrance Observation date:     11/5/09 Notes:     I searched widely for the Lark Bunting seen yesterday morning (but missed in the afternoon). Although the birding was great, I did not find the main quarry, which turned up shortly after I left. I made only a brief effort at the Le Conte's, which continued through yesterday at least. WEATHER: Light drizzle early, 40 F, high overcast, calm. Number of species:     46   Canada Goose     35 Mallard     7 Ring-necked Pheasant     1     female; surely a product of recent stocking Red-throated Loon     1     *rare; flyover seen with 5 Common Loons; about 50% of the overall size and much more slender, with comparatively 'needle-thin' neck and pin head Common Loon     5     flyover flock Great Blue Heron     1     juv Northern Harrier     6 Cooper's Hawk     1     im Red-tailed Hawk     6 Rough-legged Hawk     1     light im; hovering to south of manure pits American Kestrel     3     *high count; two males, one female--all in view at same time Black-bellied Plover     4     continuing flock of juvs Killdeer     2 Wilson's Snipe     4 Ring-billed Gull     225 Herring Gull (American)     6 Mourning Dove     1 Downy Woodpecker     3 Hairy Woodpecker     2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)     2 Blue Jay     4 Horned Lark     7     one flock Black-capped Chickadee     5 Carolina Wren     1     singing from wood edge Golden-crowned Kinglet     1 Eastern Bluebird     3 American Robin     250     many birds in air in morning Northern Mockingbird     1 European Starling     200 American Pipit     50 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)     4 Palm Warbler (Western)     1     same location that I saw one last week--near cut through to head out to Le Conte's area American Tree Sparrow     1     Manure pits Savannah Sparrow     35 Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)     1     ***mega; one of few, if any inland records. LARGE PALE Savannah Sparrow, with pale chocolate streaks on chest, pale gray back with narrow dark brown dividing braces (is this OK for Ipswich?), buff wash to malar area, very faint yellow on eyebrow. Hank Levesque took some photos that should help to confirm ID. Song Sparrow     60 Swamp Sparrow     12 White-throated Sparrow     4 White-crowned Sparrow (Eastern)     12     all checked for Gambel's. Many singing, just one adult. Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)     2 Northern Cardinal     4 Blue Grosbeak     1     **rare and late; one brown bird was very well seen and heard giving loud 'chink' note; large bill, even brownish plumage, bold cinnamon wingbars with hint of blue at bend of wing, longish tail. iPhone-scoped photos are identifiable. Red-winged Blackbird     600 Brown-headed Cowbird     25 Purple Finch     2     calling flyover American Goldfinch     45   This report was generated automatically by eBird v2( http://ebird.org )   Subject: CT Report 11/05/2009 From: Roy Harvey <rmharvey AT snet.net> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:59:30 -0500 From Luke Tiller: 11/05/09 - Greenwich, Quaker Ridge -- juvenile Golden Eagle. From Greg Hanisek: 11/05/09 - New Preston, Lake Waramaug -- 3 BLACK SCOTERS (1 male); 3 Lesser Scaup; 1 Common Raven. From Mike Doyle: 11/04/09 - Litchfield/Morris, Bantam Lake's Central section, as viewed from N. Shore Rd. -- 1 Blue-winged Teal, 10 Lesser Scaup, 3 Long-tailed Ducks, 1 Black Scoter, 2 White-winged Scoters. ********************************************************************** This CTDailyReport list is sponsored by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA). It is primarily meant to meet the informational needs of the active CT birder. Any other use requires written authorization from the board of directors of the COA. ********************************************************************** Visit the COA web site at http://www.ctbirding.org Reports should be sent to CTBirdReport AT ftml.net. Reports should include sender's name, date, location of sightings and species of note at each location. Reporting Guidelines are available at: http://www.ctbirding.org/ecommittee.htm#reporting To change your subscription options, or unsubscribe, please visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctdailyreport_lists.ctbirding.org Archives of these reports may be found at either of these locations: http://www.virtualbirder.com/bmail/ctbird/latest.html http://lists.ctbirding.org/pipermail/ctdailyreport_lists.ctbirding.org/ Subject: Cumbies 11/5/09 - Lark Bunting YES From: Ian Davies <goshawk227 AT earthlink.net> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 21:23:08 -0500 In our small window of daylight after banding today, the Manomet banding crew headed over to Cumbies to see if we could track down the latest rarity that has showed up there. Jeff Offermann had let me know via text that he was seeing the bird at about 3:30, and that helped galvanize us into action. Jeff kindly hung around to try and stay on the bird, and it managed to give him the slip only just before we got there. After about 20 minutes of looking in the hedgerow where it had been seen, we walked out from the field to the dirt road, and promptly flushed the bird from the edge of the road into the plowed field on the other side. We quickly found the bird among the numerous Savannah Sparrows, and managed to get good looks for a couple minutes, before it once again disappeared. One of the notable things about it's behavior is that during the time that we watched it in the field, it was almost constantly in motion, quite dissimilar to the behavior of the Savannahs. I managed to get one decent picture, which can be seen at the link below. There have also been some nice birds hanging around at MBO, with the highlights this week being a very late Swainson's Thrush that we've caught on both the 3rd and 4th (Tues-Weds), very interesting to see. There were also one each of a late Black-throated Blue Warbler on the 3rd (Tuesday), and a flyover Lapland Longspur yesterday. Full list from Cumberland Farms, including owls in the south fields at dusk, viewed from Wood St. Cumberland Farms--IBA (1605-1705): Great Blue Heron 2 Northern Harrier 4 Flying around in the south fields at dusk. Mourning Dove 1 Great Horned Owl 1 Perched in a tree in the south fields at dusk. Short-eared Owl 1 Hunting the south fields at dusk, life bird for two people there. Downy Woodpecker 1 Blue Jay 2 American Robin 45 Northern Mockingbird 1 American Pipit 70 *High count. Nice flock flushed from the beginning of the road to the manure pits. Lark Bunting 1 ***Quite rare. An apparent hatch-year bird photographed, unsure about the sex of this bird. I would lean towards male, but the only picture I got didn't really have a good shot of the primary coverts, and the lack of any experience with sexing this species in this plumage precluded any thought. Present from ~4:25-4:30 in the plowed field right near the same place that it has been seen from, on the road to the manure pits, as well as seen earlier in the hedgerow nearby by Jeff Offermann. Photographed, photo at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uropsalis/4078718453/ Savannah Sparrow 45 *High count. Easily this many, they were very abundant in the small area that we covered. Song Sparrow 8 Swamp Sparrow 5 Red-winged Blackbird 13 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) Good birding, Ian Davies Manomet, MA goshawk227 AT earthlink.net www.pbase.com/daviesphoto http://picasaweb.google.com/goshawk227 http://www.flickr.com/photos/54107105 AT N00/ Subject: Western Kingbird, etc. Fort Hill 11/5 From: "Mark Faherty" <mfaherty AT massaudubon.org> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 21:18:04 -0500 I went over to see the Western Kingbird this afternoon and found Peter Trull and his group of kids watching it right at the lower parking lot. It was heartening - and a credit to Peter - to see how excited these kids were about the bird, fairly clamoring for the scope. It perched in the locusts right by the lower lot, then in the giant cottonwood across the street, then moved south along the western edge of the fields (when it was visible from the upper lot, looking west) perching in various trees, stopping at one point to eat some bittersweet berries. At sunset it flew south across the marsh and it looked like it dropped into a yard on Mary Chase Rd. for the night. Other birds I had: 6 Black-crowned Night Herons (the Hemenway birds fly right by Fort Hill every evening lately) 2 Wilson's Snipe 1 American Woodcock - full-on display routine, north fields at dark 1 Great Horned Owl - they call along the Mary Chase marsh every evening and are often visible 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo (!) skulking in a thicket in the southwest corner of the fields, a spot I rarely go. Probably came in with the kingbird on the southwesterly blow on Saturday. Yesterday I had: 1 Seaside Sparrow - cattail patch, south base of the hill 1 Saltmarsh/Nelson's Sparrow - seen quickly in phrag 8 Eastern Meadowlarks - south slope of the hill ********************************************************************* Mark Faherty Mass Audubon/Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary Subject: Re: 11/4 clarification From: "Glenn d'Entremont" <gdentremont1 AT comcast.net> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 01:39:57 +0000 (UTC) I believe this area used to be called "Massachusetts Bay". Glenn Glenn d'Entremont: gdentremont1 AT comcast.net Stoughton, MA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rick Bowes" To: MASSBIRD:; Sent: Thursday, November 5, 2009 8:49:11 AM (GMT-0500) Auto-Detected Subject: [MASSBIRD] 11/4 clarification In the first paragraph of yesterday's post I referred to the Scoters as being "strung out all across the Bay". Some have queried whether I meant Duxbury Bay (which is what I "always" mean when I say the Bay) or Cape Cod Bay (which I usually refer to as the ocean). My bad.. I was referring to the ocean - why I called it "the Bay" I have no idea! Sorry for any confusion. Rick Bowes Duxbury, MA rbowes(at)bowesweb.com Subject: Boxford-area duck ponds and Cherry Hill Res, W. Newbury, 11/5/09 From: "Jim Berry" <jim.berry3 AT verizon.net> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:34:10 -0500 > Location: Boxford-area duck ponds > Observation date: 11/5/09 > Notes: Visited 4 ponds in the Boxford area (Johnson's, Hovey's, > Chadwick, and Lake Cochichewick) in a vain attempt to find black scoters > in their tight-flocking behavior. (Kirk Elwell saw a flock on Johnson's > Pond yesterday.) Chadwick Pond had zero ducks. Johnson's Pond on the > Groveland-Boxford line continues to be one of the best duck ponds in the > county. > Number of species: 14 > > Mute Swan 4 Johnson's Pond > American Black Duck 3 Johnson's Pond > Mallard 12 Johnson's Pond > Green-winged Teal 3 Johnson's Pond > Ring-necked Duck 362 Johnson's Pond 291; Hovey's Pond 18; Lake > Cochichewick 53 > Greater/Lesser Scaup 15 Johnson's Pond; seen at a distance > Bufflehead 26 Hovey's Pond 8; Lake Cochichewick 18 > Common Goldeneye 1 Lake Cochichewick: female with ring-necks > Hooded Merganser 11 Lake Cochichewick > Ruddy Duck 61 Johnson's Pond > Pied-billed Grebe 4 Johnson's Pond > Blue Jay 5 > American Crow 800+ About 500 in one forested spot near Boxford > police station; later, hundreds more flying over Johnson's Pond; number > probably a very low estimate of total numbers as these clouds of apparent > migrants were on the move. > Fish Crow 1 flying near Lake Cochichewick calling > Common Raven 1 flying over Johnson's Pond calling Location: Cherry Hill Res., W. Newbury Observation date: 11/5/09 Notes: Brief check of this major waterfowl lake showed the usual ruddy ducks, but ring-necked ducks, usually here in the hundreds, were elsewhere. Variety very low today. Canada Goose 2 usually dozens if not hundreds here Ring-necked Duck 0 Common Merganser 9 Ruddy Duck 215 typical number for Nov. This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) Subject: Correction: PI-Parker River NWR - 11-04-09 From: "David K. Weaver" <cygnus-dkw AT verizon.net> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:15:01 -0500 Hello, Massbirders! Of course, none of us likes to misidentify any bird species, but that I did yesterday morning during Joppa Flats' Wednesday Morning Birding. Tom Wetmore slipped it to me very gently and diplomatically -- the six Lesser Scaup that I listed were, in fact, four Ring-necked Ducks and two Greater Scaup. I can only attribute the error to distance and late morning back lighting, which presented me with a peaked head and gray flanks on one bird, which I thought belonged to a Lesser Scaup -- either an adult male still transitioning from basic to alternate plumage or a juvenile male moving into its first alternate plumage. I was unable to see any field marks indicative of a Ring-neck on any of the birds and presumptuously thought all six birds were Lesser Scaup. I did not sift and sort for the details. Naturally, it would have been best to have taken more time, but time would not permit -- so, in hindsight, it would have been best to have left these birds as either unidentified or at the very least, "scaup sp." Certainly, I should have seen a difference between the silhouette of a Ring-neck and that of a Greater Scaup! Dave Weaver Manchester, MA 01944 cygnus-dkw AT verizon.net Subject: Cape Ann; Tues., 3 November 2009. From: Richard Heil <rsheil AT comcast.net> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:00:14 -0500 TUESDAY, 3 NOVEMBER 2009: CAPE ANN: East Gloucester to Rockport (0705-1615 hrs.) Weather: Mostly clear, light N-NE winds, 55 F. Richard S. Heil Large concentrations (and much feeding activity) of gannets, shearwaters, and large gulls were present all along the eastern shore of Cape Ann from Eastern Point to Rockport, particularly around several fishing boats off Bracer Cove, Gloucester and Thacher Island, Rockport: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsheil/4075912767/sizes/l/ Mute Swan 1 American Black Duck 54 Mallard 98 Green-winged Teal (American) 1 Ring-necked Duck 22 Common Eider (Atlantic) 520 Surf Scoter 45 White-winged Scoter 40 Black Scoter 1 : http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsheil/4076695186/ scoter sp. 60 Bufflehead 60 Red-breasted Merganser 23 Red-throated Loon 5 Common Loon 16 Pied-billed Grebe 2 juvs.: Niles Pond : http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsheil/4075935341/ Red-necked Grebe 4 Greater Shearwater 1100 : 350+ following incoming fishing boats very close off Brace Cove, Gloucester; later 750+ milling about numerous fishing vessels 1-2 miles off Thacher Island, Rockport, viewed from Eden Road. Sooty Shearwater 1 Northern Gannet 800+ Mostly adults. Double-crested Cormorant 32 Great Cormorant 110 : Majority roosting on Milk Island, Rockport. Great Blue Heron 2 Black-crowned Night-Heron 8; 2 ads, 5 imms.: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsheil/4077057499/ Turkey Vulture 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 imm. Red-tailed Hawk 2 Peregrine Falcon 1 juv. : Perched on the North Tower on Thacher Island, Rockport; Photo taken from 1.07 miles away: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsheil/4076666610/ Black-bellied Plover 2 juvs.: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsheil/4079280400/sizes/l/ Semipalmated Plover 3 : http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsheil/4079245766/ Purple Sandpiper 2 - Gloucester Harbor. Black-legged Kittiwake 5 Bonaparte's Gull 42 Ring-billed Gull 180 Herring Gull (American) 12000 Herring x Glaucous Gull (hybrid) 1 - 1W : Niles Pond. Iceland Gull (Kumlien's) 4 : 2-2W, 2-1W : http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsheil/4078340385/ Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 1-1W Great Black-backed Gull 3200 Pomarine Jaeger 4 : 1 ad., 3 imms.: Present among masses of gannets, shearwaters and gulls just off Thacher Island, Rockport. Black Guillemot 2 Rock Pigeon 30 Mourning Dove 15 Eastern Screech-Owl 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 Downy Woodpecker 5 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Blue Jay 13 American Crow 260 Black-capped Chickadee 49 Tufted Titmouse 2 White-breasted Nuthatch 3 Carolina Wren 10 Winter Wren 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Hermit Thrush 2 American Robin 13 Gray Catbird 1 Northern Mockingbird 5 European Starling 300 Orange-crowned Warbler 1 : Eastern point. Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 1 Savannah Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 16 White-throated Sparrow 12 Snow Bunting 2 Northern Cardinal 18 Red-winged Blackbird 3 Common Grackle 1 House Finch 8 American Goldfinch 8 House Sparrow 35 Richard S. Heil S. Peabody, MA rsheil AT comcast.net This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) Subject: Fw: eBird Report - Boston- Franklin Park , 11/5/09 From: Paul Peterson <petersonpaul63 AT yahoo.com> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 15:45:16 -0800 (PST) ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: "do-not-reply AT ebird.org" To: petersonpaul63 AT yahoo.com Sent: Thu, November 5, 2009 6:41:01 PM Subject: eBird Report - Boston- Franklin Park , 11/5/09 Location:    Boston- Franklin Park Observation date:    11/5/09 Notes:    Year birds for this park were the following:Green-winged Teal, Pied-billed Grebe, and American Tree Sparrow. I am now at 107 species for this park for 2009. Number of species:    31 Canada Goose    300 American Black Duck    6 Mallard    100 Northern Shoveler    4 Green-winged Teal    1 Ring-necked Duck    1 Hooded Merganser    5 Ruddy Duck    6 Pied-billed Grebe    1 Red-tailed Hawk    1 Merlin    1 Mourning Dove    30 Red-bellied Woodpecker    1 Downy Woodpecker    3 Hairy Woodpecker    1 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)    1 Blue Jay    6 American Crow    X Black-capped Chickadee    X Tufted Titmouse    X White-breasted Nuthatch    X American Robin    X Northern Mockingbird    1 European Starling    X American Tree Sparrow    2 Song Sparrow    10 White-throated Sparrow    5 Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored)    X Northern Cardinal    X American Goldfinch    X House Sparrow    45 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) Subject: Fw: [BostonBirds] Ride To Cumbies Needed From: Paul Peterson <petersonpaul63 AT yahoo.com> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 15:34:32 -0800 (PST) ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Paul Peterson To: massbird AT TheWorld.com Cc: BostonBirds AT googlegroups.com Sent: Tue, October 20, 2009 6:09:19 PM Subject: [BostonBirds] Ride To Cumbies Needed Hi massbirders, If anyone is going down to Cumberland Farm Fields in the very near or near future and wouldn't mind company and an extra pair of eyes, I would be more than glad to pay half the gas price. I live in Boston near the Brookline and Fenway area(Brigham Circle) I DO NOT HAVE A COMPUTER SO PLEASE CALL 617-566-1375 TO SET UP ARRANGEMENTS. Paul Peterson petersonpaul63 AT yahoo.com Boston       --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Boston Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to bostonbirds AT googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to bostonbirds+unsubscribe AT googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bostonbirds?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- Subject: Duck sightings in Plymout From: sharla Fenwick <pooka1228 AT yahoo.com> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 14:19:48 -0800 (PST) Nov. 4, 2009      Spotted 22 Ring Necked ducks and 5 Buffleheads along with 4 Eurasian Wigeons and 3 American Wigeons on Nov. 4 at a local pond.       Sharla in Plymouth,  MA Subject: artist RACHEL BERWICK's latest installation about Passenger Pigeons and Zugenruhe From: "Mark Lynch" <moa.lynch AT verizon.net> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:31:47 -0500 “Zugunruhe” is a term for migratory restlessness, the nervous behavior exhibited by birds just before they take off for a long migration. “Zugunruhe” is also the name of artist RACHEL BERWICK’s latest installation piece at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, Providence Rhode Island. (November 14-February 14, 2010). Berwick’s work “has focused our attention on human interactions with and understandings of the natural world”. Many of her pieces focus on rare or extinct species like Passenger Pigeons, Tasmanian Tigers and Coelacanths. Tune in tonight and find out about her uniquely fascinating and beautiful work that combines natural history with sculpture and installation, and ultimately examines some of our longest held beliefs about nature. To listen to this interview on your PC or download to your I-Pod, go to: http://www.wicn.org/audio/inquiry-rachel-berwick Mark Lynch WICN moa.lynch AT verizon.net Subject: artist RACHEL BERWICK's latest installation about Passenger Pigeons and Zugenruhe From: "Mark Lynch" <moa.lynch AT verizon.net> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:31:47 -0500 “Zugunruhe” is a term for migratory restlessness, the nervous behavior exhibited by birds just before they take off for a long migration. “Zugunruhe” is also the name of artist RACHEL BERWICK’s latest installation piece at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University, Providence Rhode Island. (November 14-February 14, 2010). Berwick’s work “has focused our attention on human interactions with and understandings of the natural world”. Many of her pieces focus on rare or extinct species like Passenger Pigeons, Tasmanian Tigers and Coelacanths. Tune in tonight and find out about her uniquely fascinating and beautiful work that combines natural history with sculpture and installation, and ultimately examines some of our longest held beliefs about nature. To listen to this interview on your PC or download to your I-Pod, go to: http://www.wicn.org/audio/inquiry-rachel-berwick Mark Lynch WICN moa.lynch AT verizon.net Subject: 11/7 - Brookline Bird Club at EMS in Foxborough From: Barbara Volkle and Steve Moore <barb620 AT theworld.com> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:50:40 -0500 Drop by and visit the Brookline Bird Club table and display at Eastern Mountain Sports at Patriot Place in Foxborough on Saturday. They are having an Upgrade Your Gear Weekend this coming weekend, with 20 percent off all items in the store (up to 40% for some items). There will be other displays, demonstrations, samples and vendors. We'll be there from noon to 4 pm. See you then! Barbara Volkle Brookline Bird Club Northborough, MA barb620 AT theworld.com Subject: Re: Henslow's Sparrows and Proton Accelerators (I know... off topic) From: Paul Champlin <skua99 AT hotmail.com> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 17:12:51 -0500 Savannah River Site, an old nuclear bomb plant in SC, hosts wintering Henslow's Sparrows... I found the first ones ever in 2001 after 50 years of ecological studies by folks like Eugene Odum (Univ. of GA). Power lines there have been mowed and burned to the point that they resemble tall-grass prairie in composition, and I ended up finding 150 Henslow's there, studying them for 4 years (surveys, telemetry, banding, isotopes etc.). Federal installations like this represent cores of grassland/early succession habitat (and so bird populations) across the country and several of these sites do have ecologists resident on them (the USDA Forest Service's Southern Research Station in the case of the SRS, though Fermilab is a great example). I would be interested if anyone can think of a site in Massachusetts that is managing grassland habitats such that they don't simply resemble an exotic-ridden hayfield. Back to MASSBIRD topics. Paul Champlin Westport _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. http://clk.atdmt.com/GBL/go/177141665/direct/01/ Subject: Red Headed Woodpecker present Thursday Nov 5 From: rmschs AT comcast.net Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 21:43:27 +0000 (UTC) We got good looks of the adult red headed woodpecker this afternoon at around 2:30 pm.  The views were across the water in the dead trees.  The adult was coming out and then ducking back into the woods behind the dead trees. Bob Stevens Littleton, MA Subject: RE: Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak From: "Marshall Iliff" <miliff AT aol.com> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 16:13:08 -0500 Massbird, I posted the wrong date for the previous inland Ipswich Sparrow record for Massachusetts; it was not 2009, but rather 1966. Corrected information is below: Great Meadows NWR, 10 Oct 1966, seen by Garrey, photos at MAS (Veit and Petersen 1993). Sorry! Best, Marshall Iliff Subject: HSR: Blueberry Hill (05 Nov 2009) 1 Raptor (Golden Eagle) From: reports AT hawkcount.org Date: 05 Nov 2009 16:11:47 -0400 Blueberry Hill Granville, Massachusetts, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 05, 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 2 432 Osprey 0 0 140 Bald Eagle 0 3 48 Northern Harrier 0 4 60 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 7 752 Cooper's Hawk 0 4 99 Northern Goshawk 0 0 6 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 14 45 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 5003 Red-tailed Hawk 0 65 239 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 1 2 6 American Kestrel 0 0 240 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 6 Merlin 0 0 34 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 5 Unknown Buteo 0 1 5 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 2 Unknown Vulture 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 31 Total: 1 103 7154 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 11:30:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 2.5 hours Official Counter: John Weeks Observers: John Weeks Weather: Thick clouds; low ceiling; only fleeting patches of blue sky. Wind light and variable (but southerly), 5-9 km/h. Temperature 4.5 to 5.1 C. Raptor Observations: One juvenile Golden Eagle (6th of the season) in view from 1:37 to 1:49 was the only migrant. Flapping laboriously in the still air, it resembled a distant crow at first, but it alternated sequences of 4-6 flaps with brief skimming glides (its wings held dihedrally) -- very un-crowlike flight. Not counted as a migrant: Red-tail in a white pine. Non-raptor Observations: American Crows (16), American Robins (23), American Tree Sparrow (2 - first of the season), Snow Bunting. ======================================================================== Report submitted by John Weeks (aerie.john AT cox.net) Subject: Lark Bunting yes From: Jeffrey Offermann <offermann AT comcast.net> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 15:21:59 -0500 I found the lark bunting about 30 feet down the small path from the main road along a hedgerow. The path diverges from the manure pit road just before the road crosses a ditch (you'll know it when you see it). Precise coordinates are: 41.961179 -70.891232 Jeffrey Offermann OffermannATcomcastDOTnet Somerville Sent from my iPhone Subject: Isles of Shoals CBC - December 20th From: Benjamin Griffith <bgriffith AT gmail.com> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 14:48:34 -0500 Attention CBCer's: I am the compiler for the Isles of Shoals Christmas Bird Count. The count will be held aboard UNH R.V. Gulf Challenger on Sunday, December 20th, with a tentative weather date of December 27th (pending crew availability). Steve Mirick has agreed to narrate the trip (Steve won't be able to attend on the 27th, so Lauren Kras will be dutifully filling in). Conditions permitting, we will be landing on Star Island, NH for about an hour. We will then circle Boone Island in York County, Maine for Purple Sandpipers and larids. We will be chumming for seabirds as well. Some species which we have observed on previous endeavors have been multiple Snowy Owls and Harlequin Ducks as well as close views of Black-legged Kittiwakes, Black Guillemots, and Razorbills. The price of the trip is $40 per person ($35 for the boat and $5 for CBC fee). We will meet at the Coastal Marine Lab pier in New Castle between 7:00 and 7:30am and the UNH Gulf Challenger will leave at 8:00am and will return by 1:00pm or 2:00pm on December 20th, a Sunday. Please inform others who may be interested. I will provide directions to the dock upon confirmation of the reservation. To reserve a spot please email me with the name(s) of the participants, contact information (phone and email), and whether you're able to attend the 20th, 27th, or both. You can also call me at 603-801-1856, however, I would prefer email reservations. Ben Griffith Subject: Western Kingbird, Fort Hill 2:30 PM 11/5 From: "Mark Faherty" <mfaherty AT massaudubon.org> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 14:45:03 -0500 Peter Trull just called in to say he's looking at the Western Kingbird right by the lower parking lot at Fort Hill in Eastham. ********************************************************************* Mark Faherty Science Coordinator Mass Audubon/Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary Subject: Cumberland Farms 5 Nov 2009--Ipswich Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak From: "Marshall Iliff" <miliff AT aol.com> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 14:34:31 -0500 Massbird, Sadly, I left before the Lark Bunting was refound despite at least four passes through the area it was ultimately seen. Clearly something remains to be learned about this bird's habits. One could argue that the IPSWICH SPARROw there today was an even rarer bird though--of course, that could just be sour grapes on my part. I saw it well and was able to show it to Neil Hayward, Tim Factor, and Hank Levesque (who got photos; http://picasaweb.google.com/hooplion/2009_11_05?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ-2mszXvbqqag &feat=email#). Other than a sighting from Quebec and a recent post to the Maine listserv about one in North Yarmouth, I am aware of just one other inland record, from Great Meadows, Concord, MA 10 Oct 2009.(Lark Bunting by contrast has enough records that Veit and Petersen 1993 do not enumerate them!). Location: Cumberland Farms--River St. entrance Observation date: 11/5/09 Notes: I searched widely for the Lark Bunting seen yesterday morning (but missed in the afternoon). Although the birding was great, I did not find the main quarry, which turned up shortly after I left. I made only a brief effort at the Le Conte's, which continued through yesterday at least. WEATHER: Light drizzle early, 40 F, high overcast, calm. Number of species: 46 Canada Goose 35 Mallard 7 Ring-necked Pheasant 1 female; surely a product of recent stocking Red-throated Loon 1 *rare; flyover seen with 5 Common Loons; about 50% of the overall size and much more slender, with comparatively 'needle-thin' neck and pin head Common Loon 5 flyover flock Great Blue Heron 1 juv Northern Harrier 6 Cooper's Hawk 1 im Red-tailed Hawk 6 Rough-legged Hawk 1 light im; hovering to south of manure pits American Kestrel 3 *high count; two males, one female--all in view at same time Black-bellied Plover 4 continuing flock of juvs Killdeer 2 Wilson's Snipe 4 Ring-billed Gull 225 Herring Gull (American) 6 Mourning Dove 1 Downy Woodpecker 3 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 2 Blue Jay 4 Horned Lark 7 one flock Black-capped Chickadee 5 Carolina Wren 1 singing from wood edge Golden-crowned Kinglet 1 Eastern Bluebird 3 American Robin 250 many birds in air in morning Northern Mockingbird 1 European Starling 200 American Pipit 50 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 4 Palm Warbler (Western) 1 same location that I saw one last week--near cut through to head out to Le Conte's area American Tree Sparrow 1 Manure pits Savannah Sparrow 35 Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich) 1 ***mega; one of few, if any inland records. LARGE PALE Savannah Sparrow, with pale chocolate streaks on chest, pale gray back with narrow dark brown dividing braces (is this OK for Ipswich?), buff wash to malar area, very faint yellow on eyebrow. Hank Levesque took some photos that should help to confirm ID. Song Sparrow 60 Swamp Sparrow 12 White-throated Sparrow 4 White-crowned Sparrow (Eastern) 12 all checked for Gambel's. Many singing, just one adult. Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 2 Northern Cardinal 4 Blue Grosbeak 1 **rare and late; one brown bird was very well seen and heard giving loud 'chink' note; large bill, even brownish plumage, bold cinnamon wingbars with hint of blue at bend of wing, longish tail. iPhone-scoped photos are identifiable. Red-winged Blackbird 600 Brown-headed Cowbird 25 Purple Finch 2 calling flyover American Goldfinch 45 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) Subject: Isles of Shoals CBC - December 20th From: Benjamin Griffith <bgriffith AT gmail.com> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 14:48:34 -0500 Attention CBCer's: I am the compiler for the Isles of Shoals Christmas Bird Count. The count will be held aboard UNH R.V. Gulf Challenger on Sunday, December 20th, with a tentative weather date of December 27th (pending crew availability). Steve Mirick has agreed to narrate the trip (Steve won't be able to attend on the 27th, so Lauren Kras will be dutifully filling in). Conditions permitting, we will be landing on Star Island, NH for about an hour. We will then circle Boone Island in York County, Maine for Purple Sandpipers and larids. We will be chumming for seabirds as well. Some species which we have observed on previous endeavors have been multiple Snowy Owls and Harlequin Ducks as well as close views of Black-legged Kittiwakes, Black Guillemots, and Razorbills. The price of the trip is $40 per person ($35 for the boat and $5 for CBC fee). We will meet at the Coastal Marine Lab pier in New Castle between 7:00 and 7:30am and the UNH Gulf Challenger will leave at 8:00am and will return by 1:00pm or 2:00pm on December 20th, a Sunday. Please inform others who may be interested. I will provide directions to the dock upon confirmation of the reservation. To reserve a spot please email me with the name(s) of the participants, contact information (phone and email), and whether you're able to attend the 20th, 27th, or both. You can also call me at 603-801-1856, however, I would prefer email reservations. Ben Griffith _______________________________________________ Maine-birds mailing list Maine-birds AT colby.edu http://mailmanbox.colby.edu/mailman/listinfo/maine-birds Subject: Henslow's Sparrows and Proton Accelerators: the ecology of Fermilab on line now at WICN From: "Mark Lynch" <moa.lynch AT verizon.net> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:23:29 -0500 FERMILAB in Illinois is America’s premiere research facility for studying high energy physics and contains North America’s largest proton accelerator. Why would a cutting edge particle physics institution also have a staff ecologist? The reason is that besides everything else that goes on at Fermilab, since it's construction it has meticulously restored the long-grass prairie on its grounds and keeps track of the animals, birds, butterflies and plants that now inhabit the facilities grounds. Around and in the accelerator ring can be found prairie species like big bluestem, prairie dropseed, wild quinine, Henslow’s sparrows and even badgers! This is an amazing story of “Big Science” and caring environmental management. Tune in tonight when we speak with Fermilab “staff ecologist” ROD WALTON about how protons and prairies work together. To listen to this interview on your PC or download to your I-Pod, go to: http://www.wicn.org/audio/inquiry-rod-walton-fermilab Mark Lynch WICN moa.lynch AT verizon.net Subject: Photos of Red Head from 11/3 From: Dale J Martin <dale AT massapoag.org> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 12:08:27 -0500 Hi folks, Richard Johnson and myself went to visit the Red Headed Woodpecker on Tuesday and had a great day. We viewed and photographed one adult and one juvenile, we are not able to confirm more than the 2. We were fortunate to have Arthur Gaudet show-up shortly after we arrived to give us a nice overview of his viewing experience of the birds. One other highlight was a short visit from a Pileated Woodpecker, neither of us were able to capture any photos. Here is the link to some photographs, including a few of the juvenile, though not of great quality. http://tinyurl.com/yl9tjfm Regards, Dale Dale J. Martin Massapoag Pond Photography 1070 Lancaster Ave. Lunenburg, MA email: dale AT massapoag.org website: http://massapoag.org Phone: 978-582-1049 Cell: 508-849-7730 Subject: Lark Bunting refound - Cumberland Farms, Middleboro MA - 5 November From: Jeremiah Trimble <jtrimble AT oeb.harvard.edu> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 11:55:20 -0500 MASSBIRD, I just received a call that Jack Sullivan refound the Lark Bunting at Cumberland Farms in Middleboro. The bird was seen several times perching in the brush piles on the right side of the road in the manure pits (off of River Street). It was near the only obvious tall tree that is along the right side of the dirt entrance road (about half way to the split). The sightings were around 1120am. Best, Jeremiah Trimble Cambridge, MA -- Jeremiah Trimble Curatorial Associate - Ornithology Museum of Comparative Zoology Harvard University 26 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 phone: 617-495-2471 fax: 617-495-5667 email: jtrimble AT oeb.harvard.edu Subject: Henslow's Sparrows and Proton Accelerators: the ecology of Fermilab on line now at WICN From: "Mark Lynch" <moa.lynch AT verizon.net> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:23:29 -0500 FERMILAB in Illinois is America’s premiere research facility for studying high energy physics and contains North America’s largest proton accelerator. Why would a cutting edge particle physics institution also have a staff ecologist? The reason is that besides everything else that goes on at Fermilab, since it's construction it has meticulously restored the long-grass prairie on its grounds and keeps track of the animals, birds, butterflies and plants that now inhabit the facilities grounds. Around and in the accelerator ring can be found prairie species like big bluestem, prairie dropseed, wild quinine, Henslow’s sparrows and even badgers! This is an amazing story of “Big Science” and caring environmental management. Tune in tonight when we speak with Fermilab “staff ecologist” ROD WALTON about how protons and prairies work together. To listen to this interview on your PC or download to your I-Pod, go to: http://www.wicn.org/audio/inquiry-rod-walton-fermilab Mark Lynch WICN moa.lynch AT verizon.net Subject: Cackling Geese- Franklin Park Thursday From: rstymeist <rstymeist AT juno.com> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 11:39:42 -0500 The two Cackling Geese reported earlier by Marshall and Matt left Scarborough Pond, Franklin Park, Boston at 7:25AM. They were in the pond section beyond the bridge, Dexter Hunneman and myself just got on the birds when the golf course goose chasing dog arrived. It seems that if you want to try for these birds early morning may be your best bet. Another nearby area to check is Franklin Field on Talbot Ave. There were well over 600 geese there on Wednesday evening and again today a flock of about 300 were present- but no sign of the Cackling. Bob Stymeist Arlington ____________________________________________________________ Top Online Degrees Browse our directory of 1000 degree to find your best fit. Free info! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/c?cp=pxRCWh4LwCe1fj7uZJ3TeQAAJ1DJfUSYJN-PYvGixxncVuG5AAQAAAAFAAAAADtfQz8AAAMlAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQRQAAAAA= Subject: STILT SANDPIPERS - Plum Is. 11/5 From: Bird Watchers Supply & Gift <birdwsg AT comcast.net> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 14:48:42 +0000 (UTC) Tom Wetmore left a message that there were 2 STILT SANDPIPERS (very late) with the dunlin at Bill Forward Pool on Plum Island this morning. The CACKLING GOOSE was also at Stage Is Pool this morning and it left for Ipswich at 7:15am. Two ruddy ducks have joined the waterfowl collection at Stage Is. Tom had 22 species of waterfowl on the island this morning including his first goldeneye (flyby). Steve Grinley Bird Watcher's Supply & Gift and Nature Shop at Joppa Flats Newburyport, MA USA REPLY TO: BirdWSG AT verizon.net 978-462-0775 www.birdwatcherssupplyandgift.com Subject: 11/4 clarification From: Rick Bowes <rbowes AT bowesweb.com> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:49:11 -0500 In the first paragraph of yesterday's post I referred to the Scoters as being "strung out all across the Bay". Some have queried whether I meant Duxbury Bay (which is what I "always" mean when I say the Bay) or Cape Cod Bay (which I usually refer to as the ocean). My bad.. I was referring to the ocean - why I called it "the Bay" I have no idea! Sorry for any confusion. Rick Bowes Duxbury, MA rbowes(at)bowesweb.com Subject: Longmeadow Grebes From: NEaton <nancyeaton AT sbcglobal.net> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 19:35:27 -0800 (PST) 11/4/09   Longmeadow, Pondside Road:  A pair of Pied-billed Grebes in the second pond from Bark Haul Rd. this aftrenoon.     Nancy Eaton Enfield, CT   nancyeaton AT sbcglobal.net Subject: Suntaug Lake ~ Lynnfield ~ 11/4/09 From: Sue McGrath <newburyportbirders AT comcast.net> Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:38:54 -0500 Birders, An early morning stop at Suntaug Lake at Spinelli's on Route 1 South: Lesser Scaup, Hooded Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Ring-billed Gull,Herring Gull,Double-crested Cormorant, Belted Kingfisher, American Crow, Common Raven, Great Blue Heron, Canada Geese, Mute Swan, Mallard, Ring-neck Duck, Greater Black-backed Gull Best wishes, Sue Sue McGrath Newburyport Birders Observe ~ Appreciate ~ Identify Newburyport, MA 01950 USA 978-462-4785 newburyportbirders AT comcast.net www.newburyportbirders.com Subject: More Black Scoters, Lakeville From: kawolftrap AT aol.com Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:20:30 -0500 Walter Hotz reported a flock of ca. 150 Black Scoters in Lake Assawompsett Wednesday afternoon, in a tight flock circling about in the water off Pine Bluff. Very much the behavior others have reported. Kathleen S. Anderson Middleboro, MA Subject: Nov 4, Plum Is, Hairy Wood, Commoness and 2009 Quarter-Months (Long) From: Thomas Wetmore <ttw4 AT verizon.net> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:46:38 -0500 PI Birders, The Plum Island bird pages are up to date. Thanks to Dave Weaver and Jim Berry for sending reports for Wednesday. The gate to the refuge was broken Wednesday morning so there is no info on the Cackling Goose yesterday. My "best bird" yesterday was a HAIRY WOODPECKER that flew out of the pines of the Pines Trail, across the field beside the Pines parking lot, and into the pines along the east side of Bill Forward Pool. As regular Plum Island birders know, this is a hard bird to get on the island, which gives me a lead in to mention two of the web pages I update every day. Here are their links: http://bartonstreet.com/tom/birds/guide/pigraphiccommon.html This is the Plum Island "commonness" chart. This ranks the birds that have been seen on Plum Island in terms of the number of days they have been recorded. The most common bird (Canada Goose) is at the top and the rarest (those that have been seen once, 14 in number) at the bottom. This page is color-coded to show which birds were seen on the last day of observation (yellow) and which birds went up in rank (red) and which birds when down in rank (blue) on that day. This chart is different every day, but if you look at it now you will see that the Hairy Woodpecker was the rarest bird yesterday, and that it is in 184th place in "commonness" and has been recorded on 115 different days in the database. Before yesterday it was tied in 185th place with the King Rail, but it just moved up to be in a tie at 184th place with the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Pine Warbler. http://bartonstreet.com/tom/birds/guide/plumislandstatus2009.html This chart shows the quarter-monthly status of the birds on Plum Island this year. This chart is a testament to all the birders who regularly send me their sightings, which allows this chart to have nearly daily coverage of what's happening on the island with respect to the bird life. If you check the bottom of this chart you will see the line: "Total species 280. Total reports 35,863. Total sightings 16,804." This means that birders have provided an average of 116 sightings per day on Plum Island this year, accounting for an average of 55 species per day. Here is that info in a little more detail. The following table shows every day so far this year. After each date are three numbers. The first is the number of sightings received that day. The second is the number of different species seen that day. The third number is the number of species I saw that day. Check out May 24th for the extreme day in terms of sightings (636) and May 20th for the extreme day in terms of species (129). From April 24th to May 25th there were 16 days with 100 or more species recorded, and there were two days in September with more than 100 species. 01Jan2009: 41 21 0 02Jan2009: 120 49 0 03Jan2009: 50 36 0 04Jan2009: 102 51 33 05Jan2009: 99 46 0 06Jan2009: 77 44 30 07Jan2009: 0 0 0 08Jan2009: 72 39 25 09Jan2009: 27 27 25 10Jan2009: 121 65 42 11Jan2009: 29 29 29 12Jan2009: 53 33 9 13Jan2009: 83 39 0 14Jan2009: 27 19 5 15Jan2009: 80 32 0 16Jan2009: 17 14 0 17Jan2009: 36 26 0 18Jan2009: 9 9 0 19Jan2009: 47 35 30 20Jan2009: 97 45 34 21Jan2009: 22 22 0 22Jan2009: 28 25 0 23Jan2009: 45 38 38 24Jan2009: 134 51 44 25Jan2009: 23 21 0 26Jan2009: 0 0 0 27Jan2009: 9 9 0 28Jan2009: 0 0 0 29Jan2009: 6 6 0 30Jan2009: 66 39 24 31Jan2009: 38 31 29 01Feb2009: 99 46 25 02Feb2009: 102 45 0 03Feb2009: 20 20 0 04Feb2009: 0 0 0 05Feb2009: 7 7 0 06Feb2009: 24 17 0 07Feb2009: 69 38 0 08Feb2009: 72 43 23 09Feb2009: 65 36 29 10Feb2009: 25 15 0 11Feb2009: 56 33 0 12Feb2009: 27 27 27 13Feb2009: 0 0 0 14Feb2009: 30 21 12 15Feb2009: 25 20 0 16Feb2009: 28 24 0 17Feb2009: 31 31 0 18Feb2009: 22 22 0 19Feb2009: 10 10 0 20Feb2009: 8 8 8 21Feb2009: 19 19 0 22Feb2009: 75 45 39 23Feb2009: 29 24 14 24Feb2009: 0 0 0 25Feb2009: 46 37 0 26Feb2009: 24 24 22 27Feb2009: 43 32 29 28Feb2009: 44 31 23 01Mar2009: 57 34 18 02Mar2009: 0 0 0 03Mar2009: 13 13 13 04Mar2009: 10 10 0 05Mar2009: 18 17 0 06Mar2009: 53 35 31 07Mar2009: 85 53 50 08Mar2009: 61 44 19 09Mar2009: 0 0 0 10Mar2009: 10 10 0 11Mar2009: 12 12 12 12Mar2009: 70 42 19 13Mar2009: 61 40 33 14Mar2009: 93 47 25 15Mar2009: 153 54 39 16Mar2009: 66 36 29 17Mar2009: 112 52 42 18Mar2009: 92 53 41 19Mar2009: 99 69 33 20Mar2009: 84 40 33 21Mar2009: 151 63 52 22Mar2009: 97 58 49 23Mar2009: 34 31 27 24Mar2009: 44 35 34 25Mar2009: 91 54 37 26Mar2009: 130 63 0 27Mar2009: 89 50 45 28Mar2009: 144 64 0 29Mar2009: 50 33 0 30Mar2009: 161 68 57 31Mar2009: 32 25 0 01Apr2009: 139 62 52 02Apr2009: 9 9 0 03Apr2009: 45 43 43 04Apr2009: 86 51 39 05Apr2009: 135 63 46 06Apr2009: 128 55 43 07Apr2009: 196 72 39 08Apr2009: 148 74 50 09Apr2009: 138 60 31 10Apr2009: 229 82 68 11Apr2009: 94 51 44 12Apr2009: 104 46 26 13Apr2009: 20 13 0 14Apr2009: 109 65 58 15Apr2009: 187 61 52 16Apr2009: 159 67 59 17Apr2009: 181 82 72 18Apr2009: 329 88 72 19Apr2009: 133 65 57 20Apr2009: 120 66 56 21Apr2009: 53 53 53 22Apr2009: 209 69 56 23Apr2009: 165 73 53 24Apr2009: 188 79 67 25Apr2009: 410 100 77 26Apr2009: 358 108 74 27Apr2009: 231 82 60 28Apr2009: 486 116 82 29Apr2009: 248 87 68 30Apr2009: 213 73 64 01May2009: 201 74 61 02May2009: 496 105 62 03May2009: 251 109 83 04May2009: 140 73 68 05May2009: 101 64 59 06May2009: 219 85 65 07May2009: 157 70 0 08May2009: 219 104 82 09May2009: 509 116 83 10May2009: 297 112 65 11May2009: 298 94 80 12May2009: 270 94 75 13May2009: 330 103 36 14May2009: 253 86 69 15May2009: 350 119 77 16May2009: 387 112 88 17May2009: 276 99 72 18May2009: 300 101 84 19May2009: 328 97 0 20May2009: 457 129 0 21May2009: 199 92 81 22May2009: 254 103 79 23May2009: 504 126 73 24May2009: 636 126 91 25May2009: 197 84 75 26May2009: 111 77 10 27May2009: 81 49 0 28May2009: 62 46 0 29May2009: 69 64 61 30May2009: 226 91 69 31May2009: 265 98 86 01Jun2009: 163 80 72 02Jun2009: 225 84 71 03Jun2009: 166 83 66 04Jun2009: 62 60 60 05Jun2009: 46 43 41 06Jun2009: 233 78 62 07Jun2009: 108 71 64 08Jun2009: 67 67 67 09Jun2009: 53 53 53 10Jun2009: 94 59 0 11Jun2009: 45 45 45 12Jun2009: 97 58 55 13Jun2009: 108 72 67 14Jun2009: 95 59 37 15Jun2009: 90 58 52 16Jun2009: 4 4 0 17Jun2009: 175 66 38 18Jun2009: 89 58 52 19Jun2009: 34 34 0 20Jun2009: 30 30 0 21Jun2009: 49 49 49 22Jun2009: 70 42 36 23Jun2009: 33 33 0 24Jun2009: 95 61 38 25Jun2009: 105 62 54 26Jun2009: 159 60 50 27Jun2009: 185 62 53 28Jun2009: 98 59 46 29Jun2009: 23 23 21 30Jun2009: 137 58 47 01Jul2009: 151 63 48 02Jul2009: 0 0 0 03Jul2009: 132 64 57 04Jul2009: 76 51 0 05Jul2009: 90 59 0 06Jul2009: 149 58 0 07Jul2009: 13 13 0 08Jul2009: 250 74 60 09Jul2009: 102 58 50 10Jul2009: 45 38 0 11Jul2009: 153 70 51 12Jul2009: 58 55 0 13Jul2009: 1 1 0 14Jul2009: 0 0 0 15Jul2009: 172 74 67 16Jul2009: 128 68 65 17Jul2009: 95 62 53 18Jul2009: 57 57 0 19Jul2009: 208 72 49 20Jul2009: 0 0 0 21Jul2009: 51 49 0 22Jul2009: 117 66 56 23Jul2009: 195 75 19 24Jul2009: 42 42 42 25Jul2009: 166 72 45 26Jul2009: 146 78 0 27Jul2009: 2 2 0 28Jul2009: 149 78 0 29Jul2009: 51 51 51 30Jul2009: 8 8 0 31Jul2009: 87 66 63 01Aug2009: 185 69 0 02Aug2009: 262 93 0 03Aug2009: 160 70 62 04Aug2009: 111 70 0 05Aug2009: 124 60 43 06Aug2009: 42 40 0 07Aug2009: 77 56 52 08Aug2009: 169 73 59 09Aug2009: 98 56 0 10Aug2009: 4 4 0 11Aug2009: 91 59 0 12Aug2009: 22 19 0 13Aug2009: 45 41 39 14Aug2009: 75 55 49 15Aug2009: 202 73 60 16Aug2009: 95 61 61 17Aug2009: 1 1 0 18Aug2009: 0 0 0 19Aug2009: 70 50 0 20Aug2009: 86 55 0 21Aug2009: 108 62 46 22Aug2009: 123 60 47 23Aug2009: 133 70 48 24Aug2009: 44 34 21 25Aug2009: 140 92 25 26Aug2009: 117 57 45 27Aug2009: 43 36 0 28Aug2009: 173 76 66 29Aug2009: 76 48 40 30Aug2009: 257 82 47 31Aug2009: 74 63 0 01Sep2009: 75 52 46 02Sep2009: 55 44 38 03Sep2009: 129 75 57 04Sep2009: 177 79 51 05Sep2009: 285 93 65 06Sep2009: 185 72 47 07Sep2009: 86 57 0 08Sep2009: 165 110 55 09Sep2009: 16 16 0 10Sep2009: 118 62 0 11Sep2009: 47 47 47 12Sep2009: 115 56 30 13Sep2009: 282 101 58 14Sep2009: 0 0 0 15Sep2009: 84 59 0 16Sep2009: 90 65 0 17Sep2009: 40 39 0 18Sep2009: 89 54 38 19Sep2009: 192 68 54 20Sep2009: 199 91 0 21Sep2009: 96 62 0 22Sep2009: 170 72 0 23Sep2009: 135 84 0 24Sep2009: 0 0 0 25Sep2009: 90 61 0 26Sep2009: 278 85 55 27Sep2009: 51 51 51 28Sep2009: 113 62 51 29Sep2009: 41 41 41 30Sep2009: 155 70 55 01Oct2009: 194 92 54 02Oct2009: 147 69 50 03Oct2009: 63 42 0 04Oct2009: 325 98 84 05Oct2009: 72 62 56 06Oct2009: 153 79 52 07Oct2009: 48 48 48 08Oct2009: 199 69 53 09Oct2009: 136 78 67 10Oct2009: 269 90 61 11Oct2009: 269 91 67 12Oct2009: 157 72 34 13Oct2009: 86 86 0 14Oct2009: 101 64 52 15Oct2009: 143 68 65 16Oct2009: 72 44 28 17Oct2009: 186 67 0 18Oct2009: 103 51 0 19Oct2009: 99 64 56 20Oct2009: 156 81 60 21Oct2009: 172 77 53 22Oct2009: 95 61 58 23Oct2009: 125 69 55 24Oct2009: 56 55 54 25Oct2009: 174 80 70 26Oct2009: 162 70 61 27Oct2009: 111 68 57 28Oct2009: 33 33 0 29Oct2009: 72 66 60 30Oct2009: 113 66 55 31Oct2009: 192 71 58 01Nov2009: 199 79 62 02Nov2009: 90 63 59 03Nov2009: 155 67 54 04Nov2009: 116 58 54 Good birding, Tom Wetmore Newburyport, MA http://bartonstreet.com/tom/birds/ Think globally, bird locally. Subject: 11/04 Duxbury Beach - large numbers of Scoters From: Rick Bowes <rbowes AT bowesweb.com> Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:48:59 -0500 I took a short pass down the Beach and stopped to scope the ocean from the three crossovers. To the naked eye it appeared that there were a few flocks very far off flying south - nothing remarkable. With binos I could then see that there were considerably more flocks than initially seen and some of them were pretty large. Then, with my scope, I was able to see that the flight was significant - there was a steady stream of flocks and flocks of ducks strung out all across the Bay. By their flight pattern it seemed that they were almost certainly scoters - however, there could well have been eiders and Long-taileds as well. The flocks were strung out groups - mostly formed with a small V in front with one leg of the V much, much longer than the other - in a ratio of 3-5 to one. Some flocks were near enough to permit counting, and they ranged from 24 to 162 birds. With that as a basis for estimating I saw a few flocks in excess of 300 birds and one that was over 500. I have no idea how many scoters were involved but it had to be a big number even in the short time that I was observing. Not only were flocks following one another in steady progression, but there were multiple pathways at different distances from shore... like a multi-lane highway. It would have been nice if they were closer to shore so that I could have sorted out species, but for the 20 minutes I could watch, it was still an awesome experience. From shore, without optics, one would never know what important things were happening just offshore! Rick Bowes Duxbury, MA rbowes(at)bowesweb.com Subject: CT Report 11/04/2009 C Eiders, H Godwit, W Kingbird From: Roy Harvey <rmharvey AT snet.net> Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:43:54 -0500 From Judy Archer and Hank Golet: 11/04/09 - Old Lyme, off Hachett's Point -- 11 COMMON EIDER. From Chris Loscalzo: 11/04/09 - Madison, Hammonasset Beach State Park -- WESTERN KINGBIRD (at 12 noon, on the treetops of the woods just north of the rotary. It flew west into the campgrounds). Also, HUDSONIAN GODWIT continues at the West Beach Lot, three male COMMON EIDER at the Meig's Point Jetty. Also PEREGRINE FALCON, EASTERN MEADOWLARK. From Frank Mantlik: 11/04/09 - Stratford, Short Beach Park -- 8:30am, 3 female COMMON EIDERS (and perhaps a fourth, sleeping). 11/04/09 - Stratford Point -- 9am (brief visit) 1 Northern Gannet, 1 Eastern Meadowlark, and above-mentioned eiders. From Paul Carrier: 11/04/09 - Bristol, Res #7 -- 1 RED-NECKED GREEBE. From Sam Fried: 11/04/09 - Somers/Stafford, Shenipsit SF -- RUFFED GROUSE. From Susan Thomsen: 11/04/09 - Westport, Compo Beach -- six Snow Buntings in the scrubby grass near the kayaks and canoes (which are near the boat launch). From Tina Green: 11/04/09 - Wesport, Sherwood Island SP - 2 MEADOWLARK species behind the Nature Center, 1 late BALTIMORE ORIOLE(1st fall male). From Frank Mantlik: 11/02/09 - Westport, Beachside Ave., Burying Hill Beach -- 6:50 am, 3 NORTHERN GANNETS flying east, CACKLING GOOSE with flock of Canadas on beach to the west (at Sherwood Is. S.P.). From SH Johnston: 11/02/09 - Farmington, Batterson Park Pond -- 1 Red-Necked Grebe. ********************************************************************** This CTDailyReport list is sponsored by the Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA). It is primarily meant to meet the informational needs of the active CT birder. Any other use requires written authorization from the board of directors of the COA. ********************************************************************** Visit the COA web site at http://www.ctbirding.org Reports should be sent to CTBirdReport AT ftml.net. Reports should include sender's name, date, location of sightings and species of note at each location. Reporting Guidelines are available at: http://www.ctbirding.org/ecommittee.htm#reporting To change your subscription options, or unsubscribe, please visit http://lists.ctbirding.org/mailman/listinfo/ctdailyreport_lists.ctbirding.org Archives of these reports may be found at either of these locations: http://www.virtualbirder.com/bmail/ctbird/latest.html http://lists.ctbirding.org/pipermail/ctdailyreport_lists.ctbirding.org/ Subject: P'town seabirds: 10/31, 11/1, & 11/3 From: Blair Nikula <odenews AT odenews.org> Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:49:16 -0500 How many reports have I posted this year with that subject line? What a year it's been - and the seabird show continues in Provincetown. Following are some belated reports from last weekend and Tuesday morning at Race Point Beach. 10/31 (0710 - 0840 & 1010 - 1130 hrs.; Mostly to partly cloudy; Wind SSW AT 10-20mph increasing to 15-30mph; Visibility generally good, but hazy on horizon. Some feeding activity over tuna, but no obvious movements) 440 Common Eider 15 Surf Scoters 105 White-winged Scoters 8 Black Scoters 60 dark-winged scoter sp. 1 Long-tailed Duck 70 Red-breasted Mergansers 12 Red-throated Loons 3 Common Loons 4 Red-necked Grebes 225 Greater Shearwaters 1 Sooty Shearwaters 4 Manx Shearwaters 170 shearwater sp. 2000 Northern Gannets 15 Double-crested Cormorants 220 Black-legged Kittiwakes 400 Bonaparte's Gulls 1 LITTLE GULL (1w) 30 Laughing Gulls 4 Ring-billed Gulls 50 Herring Gulls 20 Great Black-backed Gulls 150 Common Terns 1 Pomarine Jaeger 1 jaeger sp. 5 large alcid sp. 11/1 (0700 - 1015 hrs.; Mostly cloudy; Wind NW AT 10-15mph; Visibility excellent) 480 Common Eider 65 Surf Scoters 250 White-winged Scoters 30 Black Scoters 1 Long-tailed Duck 225 Red-breasted Mergansers 12 Red-throated Loons 4 Common Loons 1 Red-necked Grebe 4 Cory's Shearwaters 1550 Greater Shearwaters 39 Manx Shearwaters (another exceptional late count) 1000 shearwater sp. 320 Northern Gannets 1 Peregrine Falcon 1 Am. Golden-Plover (flyover) 205 Black-legged Kittiwakes 90 Bonaparte's Gulls 1 LITTLE GULL (1w) 70 Laughing Gulls 3 Ring-billed Gulls 40 Herring Gulls 20 Great Black-backed Gulls 115 Common Terns 5 Pomarine Jaegers (one adult w/full tail) 3 Parasitic Jaegers 4 jaeger sp. 3 large alcid sp. 35 Snow Buntings 11/3 (0610 - 0710 hrs.; Cloudy; Wind N AT 10-15mph; Visibility good. A too-brief, one-hour observation before work; another excellent eastward movement.) 30 Common Eider 4 White-winged Scoters 60 dark-winged scoter sp. 15 Red-breasted Mergansers 3 Red-throated Loons 1 Common Loon 4 Cory's Shearwaters 860 Greater Shearwaters 9 Manx Shearwaters 800 shearwater sp. 1100 Northern Gannets 1 Peregrine Falcon 410 Black-legged Kittiwakes 20 Bonaparte's Gulls 200 Herring Gulls 40 Great Black-backed Gulls 120 Common Terns 3 Pomarine Jaegers (2 adults, one w/full tail) 7 jaeger sp. 12 large alcid sp. On Sunday (11/1), for the first time in weeks, there was also a lot of activity off Herring Cove: 300 Common Eider 75 White-winged Scoters 40 Red-breasted Mergansers 2 Common Loons 300 Greater Shearwaters (all flying north out of Cape Cod Bay) 75 shearwater sp. 75 Northern Gannets 50 Double-crested Cormorants 8 Black-legged Kittiwakes 250 Bonaparte's Gulls 1 LITTLE GULL (1w) 5 Laughing Gulls 15 Ring-billed Gulls 250 Herring Gulls 300 Great Black-backed Gulls 200 Common Terns Blair Nikula 2 Gilbert Lane Harwich Port, MA 02646 USA mailto:odenews AT odenews.org web site: http://www.odenews.org/ Subject: Lynn ~ Flax Pond ~ 11/4 From: Sue McGrath <newburyportbirders AT comcast.net> Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:25:10 -0500 Birders, Flax Pond, Lynn: Scaup species, Hooded Merganser, Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, American Coot, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, American Crow, Canada Goose, Mallard Good birding, Sue Sue McGrath Newburyport Birders Observe ~ Appreciate ~ Identify Newburyport, MA 01950 USA 978-462-4785 newburyportbirders AT comcast.net www.newburyportbirders.com Subject: RH and Pileated, 3:30-4PM From: Leslie Kramer <lfkramer AT massed.net> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 17:34:34 -0500 At the location previously described, two Red-headed Woodpeckers, one adult and one juvenile were observed this afternoon, along with one Pileated Woodpecker. The Pileated remained on the far side of the swamp, calling frequently. Both Red-headed Woodpeckers flew back and forth across the swamp several times, carrying and stashing acorns in several trees on both sides, as well as chipping bark and pulling grubs (?). Leslie Kramer Medford lfkramer AT massed.net Subject: Brookline bird casualties, etc. From: brianrfg AT aol.com Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:30:15 -0500 Hi, In the last week, we have found an immature Sharp-shinned Hawk, an adult Cooper's Hawk, a Saw-whet Owl, and two Dark-eyed Juncos dead under windows at the Park School, all victims of window strikes. Today, on a happier note, there was a Brown Creeper singing! Brian Cassie, Foxboro Subject: Plum Island - Parker River NWR - 11-04-09 From: "David K. Weaver" <cygnus-dkw AT verizon.net> Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:16:10 -0500 The weather for Wednesday Morning Birding was very acceptable -- high, thin cirrus clouds, temps ranging from mid 40s to 50 F., with winds NW/5-15. Early on, there was a windchill. Bill Gette and I led our group out of Joppa Flats Education Center onto Plum Island and Parker River NWR focusing on duckies. When all said and done, we accounted for 15 species of ducks, including at least some of the Northern Shovelers at Stage Island Pool that Tom and others have been reporting. A visit to Emerson Rocks gave us satisfying looks at all three species of scoter and our first Long-tailed Ducks and Horned Grebes of the season. On our way back up the island, a sharp-eyed member of our group spotted a hatching year Northern Shrike atop a shrub on the southwest end of Cross Farm Hill. Here's our list for the extended morning (we went overtime until 1 pm): Canada Goose Mute Swan (1) - main pan. Gadwall (~ 20) - main pan. American Wigeon (~ 50) - main pan. American Black Duck - common everywhere. Mallard (2) - main pan. Northern Shoveler (~ 20) - Stage Island Pool. Northern Pintail (~ 57) - 7, main pan; ~ 50, SIP. Green-winged Teal (~ 50) - SIP. Lesser Scaup (6) - SIP. Common Eider (~ 60) - Emerson Rocks. Surf Scoter (6) - ER. White-winged Scoter (~ 75) - ER. Black Scoter (~ 75) - ER. Long-tailed Duck (3) - ER. Bufflehead (~ 24) - ~ 15, PI Sound off Wardens; ~ 9, SIP. Red-breasted Merganser (3) - ER. Red-throated Loon - many off ER (several on water, many more in flight headed mostly north); 1 off n. end PI, mouth of Merrimack. Common Loon (1) - ER. Horned Grebe (2) - ER. Northern Gannet (5) - 4, ER; 1, off mouth of Merrimack. Double-crested Cormorant (3) Great Blue Heron (2) - including 1 flying in from ocean at ER. Great Egret (4) Turkey Vulture (5) Northern Harrier (4) Red-tailed Hawk (2) Peregrine Falcon (1) - initially overhead, North Field; landing on North Pool dike. Black-bellied Plover (2) - 1, Bill Forward Pool; 1, n. end PI. Semipalmated Plover (4) - BFP. Greater Yellowlegs (25) - 15, pan s. main pan; 10, pan n. of SIP. Dunlin (4) - 3, BFP; 1, pan n. of SIP. Bonaparte's Gull (2) - n. end PI, Merrimack. Ring-billed Gull (2) - n. end PI, Merrimack. Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull (1) Rock Dove (~ 15) - n. end PI & PI bridge. Northern Shrike (1) - juv., sw end of Cross Farm Hill. Blue Jay (1) American Crow (11) Horned Lark (5) - Wardens. European Starling Snow Bunting (3) - Wardens. FALL BIRDING ON CAPE ANN: Join Bill Gette for a birding adventure on Cape Ann this Saturday. He will explore Halibut, Andrews, and Eastern Points; Brace Cove, Niles Pond, and the Gloucester Harbor area. For more information and to register, please call 978-462-9998. Date: Saturday, November 7 Time: 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Meeting Place: Fisherman's Statue on Western Avenue in Gloucester Program Fee: Mass Audubon Members - $35; Nonmembers: $45 We will meet again next week back at Joppa Flats at 9:30 a.m. for Wednesday Morning Birding. For more information about Joppa Flats programs, call Bill Gette or Dave Larson at 978-462-9998. Dave Weaver Manchester, MA 01944 cygnus-dkw AT verizon.net Subject: eBird Rpt - Cumberland Farms--IBA; Lark Bunting, Northern Shrike From: Charles Nims <cwnims AT comcast.net> Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:36:04 -0500 Posted re the Lark Bunting earlier today but wanted to post the full species list. A beautiful day at the Cumbies: Lark Bunting, LeConte's Sparrow (seen by others), adult Northern Shrike, 2 kestrels, good variety of raptors, 7 species of sparrow and beautiful weather. Location: Cumberland Farms--IBA Observation date: 11/4/09 Number of species: 27 Canada Goose 15 Northern Harrier 4 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 5 American Kestrel 2 Black-bellied Plover 4 Ring-billed Gull 300 Mourning Dove 5 Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 3 Northern Shrike 1 Blue Jay 2 American Crow 41 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 American Robin 130 American Pipit 40 Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 Field Sparrow 1 Lark Bunting 1 Savannah Sparrow 30 Song Sparrow 20 Swamp Sparrow 3 White-throated Sparrow 1 White-crowned Sparrow 4 Northern Cardinal 2 Red-winged Blackbird 35 American Goldfinch 1 Charlie Nims Norwell, MA cwnims AT comcast.net Subject: More Black Scoters From: "KIRK ELWELL" <kirkelwell AT msn.com> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 17:55:00 -0500 This afternoon at Johnson's Pond on the Groveland/Boxford line I witnessed a large flock of at least 200 birds performing the same behavior as in other posts. They were tightly packed together, males and females, and were either spinning around as a group or quickly changing position laterally within the group. Then they would all take off and fly around the pond sevarl times making the whistling sound, land and repeat the spinning behavior. Very intesting! Kirk S Elwell Groveland Subject: - Fresh Pond--IBA , 11/5/09 From: rstymeist <rstymeist AT juno.com> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 17:51:44 -0500 This morning at Fresh Pond, I also watched the Black Scoters- doing exactly what Boone described- only when they were in the air did I get to count them. I took several pictures when they were on water(very alert) but were so close it was not possible to get a acurate count. A Orange crowned Warbler in Lusitania Meadow was a nice surprise Location: Fresh Pond--IBA Observation date: 11/5/09 7:45-10:35AM 43-54F Number of species: 31 Canada Goose 8 Mute Swan 2 Ring-necked Duck 86 Black Scoter 28 Bufflehead 2 Hooded Merganser 8 Ruddy Duck 22 Great Blue Heron 1 Cooper's Hawk 1 Rock Pigeon 11 Belted Kingfisher 1 Downy Woodpecker 4 Blue Jay 7 American Crow 2 Black-capped Chickadee 15 White-breasted Nuthatch 4 Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 American Robin 22 European Starling 18 Orange-crowned Warbler 1 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Savannah Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 14 Swamp Sparrow 1 White-throated Sparrow 3 Dark-eyed Junco 2 Northern Cardinal 5 Red-winged Blackbird 1 House Finch 7 American Goldfinch 19 House Sparrow 4 This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org) Bob Stymeist Arlington ____________________________________________________________ Assisted Living Finder Find the right assisted living unit anywhere in the US. Free service! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/c?cp=4ywb9N2MyWI0GDVKBpnkSQAAJ1DJfUSYJN-PYvGixxncVuG5AAQAAAAFAAAAALfUaT4AAAMlAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAiXGQAAAAA= Subject: HSR: Blueberry Hill (04 Nov 2009) 24 Raptors From: reports AT hawkcount.org Date: 04 Nov 2009 18:11:07 -0400 Blueberry Hill Granville, Massachusetts, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 04, 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1 2 432 Osprey 0 0 140 Bald Eagle 1 3 48 Northern Harrier 2 4 60 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 7 752 Cooper's Hawk 0 4 99 Northern Goshawk 0 0 6 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 14 45 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 5003 Red-tailed Hawk 15 65 239 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 1 1 5 American Kestrel 0 0 240 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 6 Merlin 0 0 34 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 5 Unknown Buteo 1 1 5 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 2 Unknown Vulture 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 31 Total: 24 102 7153 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:15:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 6.25 hours Official Counter: John Weeks Observers: Beth Kingsbury, Dick Haas, John Weeks, Pam Witaszek Weather: Sunny at first, then variably cloudy; almost 100% cloud-cover at the end. Wind NW shifting to W in the afternoon, 8-17 km/h. Temperature 3-8 C. Raptor Observations: Juvenile Golden Eagle (5th of season) at 1:42. Adult male Harrier at 2:26, followed by a juvenile a few minutes later. Two Black Vultures (not migrating) at 1:39. Non-raptor Observations: Canada Geese (8), American Crows (37), Eastern Bluebirds (4), American Robins (2), Snow Buntings (3). ======================================================================== Report submitted by John Weeks (aerie.john AT cox.net) Subject: Nagog correction From: Willy Hutcheson <jeccawilly AT yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 14:45:49 -0800 (PST) Sorry... Mobile email glitch: Should read 4 common (not hooded) mergs. Willy Hutcheson Concord, MA Subject: More Black Scoters From: alice morgan <morgan.alice AT gmail.com> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 17:29:43 -0500 We had to detour to avoid the massive problems on Rt. 128, so we went to Sharon. Lake Massapoag had 175-200 Black Scoters, tightly grouped, visible from the south end. We also had the Great White-Fronted Goose, in Wolomolopoag Pond just north of S. Main St. There were only about 40 geese in the pond; others were at a considerable distance in one of the fields, so we were lucky to find the GWFG. -- Alice & Dane Morgan Brookline & S. Dartmouth, MA Subject: Waterbird survey results, 11/4/09 Great Meadows NWR - Concord From: Jason Forbes <jason AT brewsterslinnet.com> Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:23:42 -0500 Thanks to Jason St.Sauver of US FWS for the following report. The following species of waterfowl and other birds were counted during a recent waterbird survey conducted at the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge; Concord Impoundments on Wed., Nov. 4, 2009. If you have any questions regarding this survey or management at the Concord Impoundments, please contact the Refuge biological staff at 978-443-4661 x37, 24 or 23. Canada Goose 405 Mute Swan 3 Mallard 11 Am. Black Duck 3 Wood Duck 8 Northern Pintail 1 Green-winged teal 22 Ring-necked duck 8 Bufflehead 1 Ruddy Duck 10 Hooded Merganser 11 Pied-billed Grebe 2 American Coot 9 Great Blue Heron 1 Northern Harrier 1 Jason St. Sauver Biological Technician US Fish & Wildlife Service Eastern Massachusetts NWR Complex 978.443.4661 x23 -- Jason Forbes Waltham, MA jason AT brewsterslinnet.com www.brewsterslinnet.com Subject: Saw-whet banding results From: Strickland Wheelock <skwheelock AT yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:15:25 -0800 (PST) Unlike last year when the banding of Saw-whet Owls in eastern Ma. was way off in numbers, this season is more encouraging. We are a little past the half way point of the migration[early Oct through Thanksgiving] and there has been a steady flow of owls with only one night when we had up to 20 owls[Lincoln site]. Other nights we are catching 3 to 10 owls weather permitting. Combining the nights out banding of Lincoln, Ma & Lookout Rock,Uxbridge Ma, the total is 33 and only 3 nights have we not caught an owl[1 night being the same]. The other interesting number that came up in comparing data with the Lincoln site is that we are both averaging approximately 1 owl capture per hour of banding. This highlights that these owls move on a broad front and when we compare our data each night, there is little difference in the number of captures between sites. Last night we were battling the full moon lighting up our nets, but before the moon came overhead, we did catch 5 owls early - one of which was banded at Lincoln 10 days earlier[typical slow migrant - we had a past Saw-whet from Lincoln arrive in 2 days]. Other foreign migrants caught this season was 1 from eastern Virginia 2008[Lookout Rock] and Lincoln has 1 from Kentucky 2007 & 2 unknown as of now. One difference between the sites is that Lookout Rock has captured 64% hatching year birds to 46% for Lincoln - we have 89% females compared to Lincoln's 87% - the balance of the owls have fallen into an unknown range of male & female with the exception of 2 males at Lookout Rock site. The other interesting note is a new vocalization that several of these owls are doing at both sites - a prolong chittering - one did this as we were taking her out of the net while others are doing this chittering around the nets & in flight. If I didn't see this owl do this sound in my hand, I am not sure I would of known that these were Saw-whets vocalizing around us & not a Flying Squirrel or other creature. Comparison Lincoln Lookout Rock Nights open 20 13 Hours open 103 52 Banded Saw-whets[new] 103 53 Foreign Recaptures 3 2 Same season recaptures 11 3 Prior season recapture 1[2007 banded] Females 87% 89% Unknow 13% 7% Males 4% Hatching year 46% 64% After Hatching Year 54% 36% Screech owls banded 2 One has to give the Lincoln crew credit, they often stay to 2 am banding[youth] and started earlier in Oct. while we were still banding passerines. So if we deduct all their extra hours and nights open - subtract those owls from the total and.... I think our totals are the same in the end???? Not that we care who has better success than the other as we sit out in the woods each evening. I was thinking last night as I was taking an owl out of the net how amazing it is to be so fortunate to interact with these owls every night - hear their calls, enjoy their personalities[aggressive to passive]. Both Lincoln and Lookout Rock's volunteers spend their evenings enjoying what we do and have been able to share our work with many adult and school groups who visit the sites. One blessing for us is that we haven't had 1 night with a group in which we haven't had several owls to share. Strickland Wheelock Uxbridge, Ma Subject: Fresh Pond Black Scoters: gender/behavior notes. From: Jeffrey Boone Miller <miller AT bbri.org> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 17:08:28 -0500 Just wanted to add a couple of gender/behavior notes about today's Fresh Pond, Cambridge Black Scoters. 1. They weren't there yesterday at noon - 1pm. 2. About 6 or 7 were adult males. The males' charcoal black bodies and bright orange bills were diagnostic even from long distances and were especially noticeable when the birds were flying. 3. During the one hour it took me to circumambulate the pond, I saw the flock in the air on four separate occasions. Each time they made four or five (always counterclockwise) circles around the main, western portion of the pond. On one occasion, they came near enough that I could hear their musical and very pleasant peeping/chirping/ whistling calls, something I had not heard before. They are certainly strong fast fliers. 4. Upon landing, the birds in the front and on the edges of the flock always immediately turned and swam in toward the center so that within a few seconds, the entire flock coalesced into the tight raft noted by others. All 28 (+/- 2 or 3) could likely have fit within a hula hoop. I could only count them well when they were in the air. 5. Every time I checked on the swimming birds, they all had their necks extended in the alert position. I never saw preening, resting, or feeding behavior. Even though they stayed well away from the shoreline, they just didn't look very comfortable. I'd be interested to hear more about the behavior and gender of the Black Scoters that were found today on so many of our nearby waters. Didn't we have a similar arrival last year? -----Boone J. Boone Miller Belmont MA miller AT bbri.org Subject: Long-tailed ducks, black scoters, Lake Nagog, Acton 11/4/04 From: Willy Hutcheson <jeccawilly AT yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 12:52:31 -0800 (PST) This afternoon at 3:30 pm I checked the ducks on Lake Nagog and found the following: 2 long-tailed ducks 86 black scoters: In a tight flock when I arrived, then flew and circled around the lake about a dozen times, whistling, then settled back down. 14 ruddy ducks 2 buffleheads 2 hooded mergansers 4 hooded mergansers 5 ring-necked ducks Willy Hutcheson Concord, MA jeccawilly AT yahoo.com Subject: more scoters From: "Marj. Rines" <marj AT mrines.com> Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:50:41 -0500 This morning there were posts from a couple of Arlington Birders about Black Scoters - Renee LaFontaine reported 18 on Lower Mystic Lake in Medford, and Stephen Simpson reported around 23 at Fresh Pond in Cambridge). Then Marshall Iliff posted a bonanza from Wachusett Reservoir (916!) and I knew I had to get out. At Cambridge Reservoir in Waltham there was an impressive flock of 175 Black Scoters behaving much the way Stephen Simpson described the behavior of the Fresh Pond flock. Typically in the fall I have seen Black Scoter flocks so tight that "you couldn't get another duck in between them" (quoting Stephen Simpson about a flock of 30 yesterday at Chestnut Hill Res.). The Cambridge Res. birds were tight, but strung out in a line, skittering along, occasionally picking up, flying around, then settling down to skitter around again. When they were flying I picked out a smaller bird, a scaup - I'm guessing Lesser based on size - it was too far away to tell by plumage. I didn't attempt to count sex, but I'd estimate 90% female/juv. While I was there I heard a Common Raven (but alas didn't see it) - this is a place ravens have been reported fairly regularly over the past few years. There were also my first Common Mergansers of the season (6) and two Horned Grebes. At Sandy Pond in Lincoln there was a flock of 38 Black Scoters (6 males) and a Common Loon. They too were fairly strung out and "skittering" but didn't fly while I was there. On my way home I stopped at the other end of Cambridge Res in Lexington where there were no scoters, but two Semipalmated Plovers. -- Marj. Rines Arlington, MA marj(at) mrines.com Subject: Fresh Pond - Black Scoters From: Jeffrey Boone Miller <miller AT bbri.org> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 14:16:55 -0500 November 4, 2009, 12:40 - 13:40 Fresh Pond, Cambridge Birds at Fresh Pond today included: 2 Mute Swans 1 Mallard 28 Black Scoters (see note 1 below) 7 Canvasbacks (see note 2 below) 125 Ring-necked duck 2 Bufflehead (1M, 1F) 21 Ruddy Ducks 7 Hooded Mergansers (Black's Nook) 80 Ring-billed Gulls 30 Herring Gulls also: 1 Great Blue Heron 2 Red-tailed Hawks 1 American Tree Sparrow ----Boone J. Boone Miller Belmont MA miller AT bbri.org Notes: 1. My trip to Fresh Pond was inspired by today's post from Marshall Iliff about the large flock of Black Scoters at Wachusett Reservoir. 2. Jim Barton wrote to remind me that Fresh Pond has sometimes hosted large numbers of Canvasbacks (he cites ~1000 on Nov. 4, 1988). My own experience dates back to 1989. During the '90's, I typically saw a maximum of ~100 Canvasbacks. That number has been down to 25-50 in recent years. This decline may, however, be a local phenomenon, as North American Canvasback numbers have during this time ranged from a low ~550,000 to a high – this year! – of ~900,000 (USFWS estimate of fall flight numbers). However, I haven't been able to find flyway- specific statistics, so the Atlantic populations might be down while the Central and Pacific populations might be up. All of our Canvasbacks begin life in the prairie pothole region of the the upper midwest and Canadian prairie provinces, so Massachusetts is probably at the northern and eastern edge of the Canvasback migration route to the majoring wintering ground on the Chesapeake. Canvasbacks may have always been a rather rare duck in Massachusetts [cf. Fay SP (1910) "The Canvas-back in Massachusetts." The Auk. 27:369-381] (I'll send you a pdf upon request). A century ago, Redheads appear to have been much more abundant, with flocks of 6000-8000 on Martha's Vinyard (as noted in the cited paper). During the 1800's, "gunners" on the Chesapeake and in the upper midwest slaughtered tens of thousands of Canvasbacks (worth $5 a pair in New York City), but, as noted in the cited paper, in most of those years, Canvasbacks rather rarely came to Massachusetts to meet their fate. Subject: RH Woodpeckers, 2nd adult sighted, note to watchers From: rockdancer97 AT comcast.net Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 19:15:03 +0000 (UTC) This morning my birding partner told me he sighted a 2nd adult red-headed yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon. He thought that both he & I are guilty of observer effect: keeping our eye only on the first bird we sight to the exclusion of what else is going on. Here's what happened: He was sitting in the regular spot, perhaps a bit further back and into the woods than usual. An adult bird approached from the far side and went into a tree above and a little in back of him. (I have watched the red-head go to & from this same tree on other days). He could hear the tapping of the bird along with low vocalizing, krrrr sounds. Because of the awkward position he relaxed and started to scan across the swamp and picked up an adult on the far side. He watched it for a minute or two, maybe less, all the time hearing the initial bird above him. He then looked up & back and found his original bird was still on the same tree. This is great since 2 adults and 1 juvenile red-headed create more hope that this is a nesting sight for red-headed woodpeckers. It'll take more work & many sightings, going into next Spring and beyond, to satisfy me & my partner (and others) that this is the case, but so far this is very exciting. I spent 30 mins at the spot today and spotted 1 adult and the juvenile, so I haven't yet confirmed this 2nd adult myself. But here's an idea for the weekend: it should be easier to verify the 2nd adult bird with a group of birders IF they adopt a strategy to look for a second adult. It will mean taking your eyes off the first bird you see (tough, I know esp. if this is your life-bird!) to continue scanning for other birds. There is a group visit planned for Sunday morning, so perhaps we will have enough eyes working simultaneously to verify the 2nd adult. I've heard from more than one visiting birder that a 2nd adult bird was seen this week, but the sightings were a little too vague in detail to convince me to report them. In each case the bird was far away, partially obscured or only heard. A note for those who visit: Up until this week I was of the opinion that it's fine to approach the swamp shore as closely as we like and the adult bird will still continue to visit the dead snag about 10 feet from shore. The bird is doing this less and less, and he's not visiting the other trees on "our side" of the swamp as much as before when it went over & in back of us. There are at least 3 dead trees that the adult visits on "our side", carrying acorns and tapping them into place. It's fun to watch this close up. If we want to observe the bird more on "our side" then it makes sense to hold back more from the shore and locate ourselves about 30-50 feet back, tucked into some of the natural cover. This will have less impact on the bird esp. if we have a large group of birders. Keeping back from the shore will likely allow better views & more natural bird behavior for everyone to see if the bird spends more time on "our side". This will help those with hand-held binocs, and still allow those with scopes to pick up the bird when it's on the "far side" for some great views. Parking may be congested in the area over the weekend so I'll repeat the suggestion that people car pool if possible, and please respect residents along the road. Another parking idea is to use the vacant, paved cul-de-sac on Althea Road. It's on the left side just after you cross the swamp outlet, and just before the final turn onto Trotting Park Rd (the dead end). The cul-de-sac parking will put you about 0.2 miles from the bird, a shorter walk than from the main parking area on the other side of the forest. RockDancer (Arthur Gaudet) Subject: Credit for Lark Bunting From: Charles Nims <cwnims AT comcast.net> Date: Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:00:21 -0500 As I said in my earlier post, there was a Lark Bunting found at Cumberland Farm fields in Middleboro by Jim Sweeney this morning. It was actually refound by 2 fellows from NH, David D and Ralph ? Wayne P, Betty Anderson, Joe Scott and myself were on the opposite side of a hedge row when Dave and Ralph saw the bird which flew immediately to ³our side², landing in a low branch giving the 4 of us excellent views. Wayne was able to get photos. The bird moved to the main ³road² that heads south from River St. to the manure pit area. We all had good looks again at the bird which was on the west side about 2\3rds of the way toward the fork that leads to the manure pit. The bird was in the brush piles and weeds along the drainage ditch as well as on the road itself, mixed in with Savannah and Song Sparrows. By mid-morning, the bird had moved to the spot where Jim had originally found the bird. Take the fork towards the manure pit but keep straight as if going to the field where the ³crescent² with the LeConte¹s is located. But, don¹t cross the drainage, almost immediately go left (north) along the drainage where there are a few maples. The bird was last seen (to my knowledge) by Rob Finch in that area. It would pop up into the maples or low bushes. There were lots of birds at the Cumbies today. I will post my eBird list later today but there were 2 American Kestrels, a Red-Shouldered Hawk, an adult Northern Shrike (opp Plain St.), 4 Black-bellied Plovers, a big flock of Am. Pipits and at least 7 sparrow species including several White-crowned Sparrow. Others did have the LeConte¹s Sparrow as well as White-rumped Sandpipers and a single Least Sandpiper. Charlie Nims Norwell, MA cwnims AT comcast.net Subject: Saw-whet banding results From: Strickland Wheelock <skwheelock AT yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2009 11:15:25 -0800 (PST) Unlike last year when the banding of Saw-whet Owls in eastern Ma. was way off in numbers, this season is more encouraging. We are a little past the half way point of the migration[early Oct through Thanksgiving] and there has been a steady flow of owls with only one night when we had up to 20 owls[Lincoln site]. Other nights we are catching 3 to 10 owls weather permitting. Combining the nights out banding of Lincoln, Ma & Lookout Rock,Uxbridge Ma, the total is 33 and only 3 nights have we not caught an owl[1 night being the same]. The other interesting number that came up in comparing data with the Lincoln site is that we are both averaging approximately 1 owl capture per hour of banding. This highlights that these owls move on a broad front and when we compare our data each night, there is little difference in the number of captures between sites. Last night we were battling the full moon lighting up our nets, but before the moon came overhead, we did catch 5 owls early - one of which was banded at Lincoln 10 days earlier[typical slow migrant - we had a past Saw-whet from Lincoln arrive in 2 days]. Other foreign migrants caught this season was 1 from eastern Virginia 2008[Lookout Rock] and Lincoln has 1 from Kentucky 2007 & 2 unknown as of now. One difference between the sites is that Lookout Rock has captured 64% hatching year birds to 46% for Lincoln - we have 89% females compared to Lincoln's 87% - the balance of the owls have fallen into an unknown range of male & female with the exception of 2 males at Lookout Rock site. The other interesting note is a new vocalization that several of these owls are doing at both sites - a prolong chittering - one did this as we were taking her out of the net while others are doing this chittering around the nets & in flight. If I didn't see this owl do this sound in my hand, I am not sure I would of known that these were Saw-whets vocalizing around us & not a Flying Squirrel or other creature. Comparison Lincoln Lookout Rock Nights open 20 13 Hours open 103 52 Banded Saw-whets[new] 103 53 Foreign Recaptures 3 2 Same season recaptures 11 3 Prior season recapture 1[2007 banded] Females 87% 89% Unknow 13% 7% Males 4% Hatching year 46% 64% After Hatching Year 54% 36% Screech owls banded 2 One has to give the Lincoln crew credit, they often stay to 2 am banding[youth] and started earlier in Oct. while we were still banding passerines. So if we deduct all their extra hours and nights open - subtract those owls from the total and.... I think our totals are the same in the end???? Not that we care who has better success than the other as we sit out in the woods each evening. I was thinking last night as I was taking an owl out of the net how amazing it is to be so fortunate to interact with these owls every night - hear their calls, enjoy their personalities[aggressive to passive]. Both Lincoln and Lookout Rock's volunteers spend their evenings enjoying what we do and have been able to share our work with many adult and school groups who visit the sites. One blessing for us is that we haven't had 1 night with a group in which we haven't had several owls to share. Strickland Wheelock Uxbridge, Ma