July 2009 Central Mass Bird Sightings

Sightings are listed in reverse chronological order. The email address of birders submitting reports, as well as other Central Massachusetts birding info can be found via the Central Mass Bird Update homepage.

Bird News:

• ONGOING -- Asian Longhorned Beetle Information
• 7/13/09 -- WICN Radio interview: Native Americans of the south and their connection to birds

Bird Sightings:

7/26/09 -- Northeast Quabbin Reservoir

Despite the lousy forecast, we headed out to NE Quabbin (Gates 35-40) to get some atlasing in. Passerine numbers and species variety was low. Bird song, other than Red-eyed Vireos, is really winding down. Common Loon (4: much lower numbers than last week); Double-crested Cormorant (2); Great Blue Heron (1); Canada Goose (5); MUTE SWAN (1: at least 1 bird remains on the eastern side of the phragmite island off North Dana. A pair were seen last weekend and 2 birds may still be there: views are quite difficult); Wood Duck (30); American Black Duck (6); Mallard (3); Bald Eagle (1ad+1 bird of the year); Sharp-shinned Hawk (1 just fledged bird that still couldn?t fly too well+2ad); Broad-winged Hawk (1ad+2imm); Red-tailed Hawk (1); Virginia Rail (5); Ring-billed Gull (2); Herring Gull (1); Mourning Dove (2); Barred Owl (1); N Flicker (3);

E. Wood Pewee (1 bird sitting on the nest we watched it construct last week. Last week we watch this bird building the nest. It would fly off, gather material, sing/call ?pee-a-wee? a number of times, return with materials and construct the nest. We never saw another pewee in the area. Today the bird was tight on the nest and we decided to watch it for a bit. We did not hear another pewee in the area, though Sheila thought she may have had another pewee on the periphery of the area briefly. Suddenly after 15 minutes, the nesting bird just took off, and was gone 10 minutes exactly, sang a muffled version of ?pee-a-wee? 4 times in succession, and returned to sit tight on the nest. )

Great Crested Flycatcher (3); Blue-headed Vireo (4); Red-eyed Vireo (24); Blue Jay (14); Tree Swallow (7); Barn Swallow (3); Black-capped Chickadee (36); Tufted Titmouse (4); Red-breasted Nuthatch (5); White-breasted Nuthatch (1); Brown Creeper 94); House Wren (3); Winter Wren (2); Golden-crowned Kinglet (3); Veery (1); Hermit Thrush (4); A Robin (6); Gray Catbird (3); Cedar Waxwing (7: none seemed to be nesting..yet);

WARBLERS: Black-throated Blue (2); Yellow-rumped (7); Black-throated Green (1); Prairie (1); Black and White (5); A Redstart (4); C Yellowthroat (12);

Scarlet Tanager (4); E Towhee (21); Song Sparrow (6); Swamp Sparrow (8); Indigo Bunting (2); Red-winged Blackbird (48); Baltimore Oriole (2); NB: For a brief moment the sun came out while we were next to a small sedge marsh and with the sun came butterflies. We had: CABBAGE WHITE (1);; PEARL CRESCENT (2);; ATLANTIS FRITLLIARY (3);; DUN SKIPPER (6);; BLACK DASH (4);. Sheila got some really nice shots of the last species, males and females, and will post them on her blog later. (report from Mark Lynch/Sheila Carroll).

7/25/09 -- Leicester

Here is the complete list of the 29 species of birds and 20 species of butterflies seen or heard on the Forbush Bird Club trip. (reports from Alan Marble and Dolores Price, fide Joan Gallagher)

7/22/09 -- Bolton Flats, Bolton

I spent an hour or so at Bolton Flats this morning. Yesterday's rain has brought the water up, but it is passable with boots. With a car, you may not want to drive all the way in to the parking lot. Highlights: a pair of American Black Ducks, a Virginia Rail, 30+ Killdeer, 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, 3 Solitary Sandpipers, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 3 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. There were also 3 Willow Flycatchers and several Swamp Sparrows. (report from Alan Marble).

7/19/09 -- 7/19/09 -- West River Dam/Park, Uxbridge

My wife, Kim Kastler, and I did a bit of atlasing at West River Dam/Park (UXBRIDGE 7) this morning. Highlights were: Great Blue Heron (1 flyover); Broad-winged Hawk (1 adult); Ruby-throated Hummingbird (1); Belted Kingfisher (1); Northern Flicker (1); Eastern Wood-Pewee (2, including one harassing a Blue Jay, probably near its nest); Eastern Phoebe (4); Great Crested Flycatcher (1); Eastern Kingbird (several pairs); Warbling Vireo (1); White-breasted Nuthatch (including an adult feeding a young bird); Carolina Wren; House Wren (including a bird entering and exiting a nest box); Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (1); Eastern Bluebird (2); Wood Thrush (1); Gray Catbird; Yellow Warbler; Black-throated Green Warbler; Pine Warbler (including an adult feeding a young bird); Common Yellowthroat; Scarlet Tanager; Eastern Towhee; Chipping Sparrow (including several young being fed by adults); Field Sparrow; Indigo Bunting (1 male); (report from John Liller).

7/18/09 -- Gate 35, Quabbin Reservoir

We spent the morning birding mostly in the GATE 35-37 area of northeast QUABBIN, contained in two of our atlas blocks. This was not a thorough survey by any means, just a spot check of several important locations to see if we could add a species or upgrade. The weather first thing was dark, gloomy and then rain. But by later in the morning, clearing had come at last. It will be no surprise that the forest floor is very wet, and large patches of Indian Pipe (Corpse Flower) were very much in evidence. Young birds, warbler, orioles and even a few young tanagers, were very much in evidence in certain spots. Mosquitoes and Deer Flies were horrendous, so come prepared if you intend to hike in these areas.
Common Loon (10 ad: no sign of young); Double-crested Cormorant (6: 1 flock on the water.); Canada Goose (7); MUTE SWAN (pair working the phragmite island. We searched for young, couldn? t see any, but this looks like the perfect place for these birds to nest. They were actively feeding, pulling up water plants.); Wood Duck (43: all in one small marshy section of brook); Hooded Merganser (1adF w/4 precocial yg); Common Merganser (2f); Mourning Dove (6); Black-billed Cuckoo (pair); Bared Owl (1 newly fledged yg); Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1); Downy Woodpecker (3); N Flicker (1); E Wood Pewee (4); Least Flycatcher (1); Eastern Phoebe (6+a pair attending a nest in a Wood Duck box); Great Crested Flycatcher (6); Eastern Kingbird (11); Yellow-throated Vireo (2); Blue-headed Vireo (2); Red-eyed Vireo (48); Blue Jay (3); Common Raven (2); TREE SWALLOW (2500++: enormous flocks seeking refuge from the rain on the phragmite island, then, as the rain started to clear, streaming NORTH in dense flocks); BARN SWALLOW (560++: see above comment); Black-capped Chickadee (35); Tufted Titmouse (4); White-breasted Nuthatch (7); Brown Creeper (4); Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (1); Veery (8); Hermit Thrush (2); A Robin (4); Gray Catbird (7); Cedar Waxwing (11);

WARBLERS: Yellow (4); Chestnut-sided (3); Magnolia (7); Black-throated Blue (4); Yellow-rumped (18); Black-throated Green (10); Pine (16); Prairie (3); Black and White (7); C Yellowthroat (24);

Scarlet Tanager (12); E Towhee (14); Chipping Sparrow (15); Song Sparrow (5); Rose-breasted Grosbeak (2); Red-winged Blackbird (68); Baltimore Oriole (13); A Goldfinch (3);
(report from Mark Lynch/Sheila Carroll).

7/16/09 -- Gate 40, Quabbin Reservoir

Today we atlased two unusual blocks in eastern QUABBIN. Both blocks are really "partial" blocks in that water forms about half of each block. The major landmass in these blocks are islands: MOUNT ZION, WALKER HILL, and other small islands. These are all OFF LIMITS. Luckily a Central Mass atlaser was doing surveys on Mount Zion for the state, and he covered these locations as best he could. But in both blocks there are two small slivers of roads on the mainland, both accessible from Gate 40: Graves Landing and the immediate surrounding area and the area across from mid- Mount Zion. Both of these "do-able" locations are tiny, but we have been putting in the hours covering both. Both smidgeons have water overlooks. Today we did our final surveys in both slivers. Just fledged passerines were all over, and there were a few surprises too. In the totals below, I have also added the birds we noted going between the two slivers in Gate 40. COMMON LOON (7ad: no young seen despite hours searching. These birds were very vocal and flew around quite a bit); Turkey Vulture (1); Canada Goose (2); Wood Duck (1adF w/2 precocial yg); Hooded Merganser (1 precocial yg in a small beaver pond);

• Bald Eagle (1 imm still sitting in the nest that was active this year. Just roosting? We also had an adult from Graves Landing. While watching loons on the water, we had just turned our attention from the loon furthest to the south, left, when we heard it call loudly. Immediately looking back at the look, we saw an adult Bald IN THE WATER. This bird sat in the water low for a few heartbeats and then proceeded to awkwardly start to move to shore, using its wings like paddles, or rather beating the water with it's wings. It looked like it was holding on to something heavy below the water. Eventually it passed out of site beyond a small point. Had the eagle attempted to catch the loon? We never saw that loon again despite extensive searching. Had it caught the loon? As bizarre as that sounds, researchers documented a Bald Eagle taking a loon off its nest at Quabbin last year.)

Ruffed Grouse (2); Wild Turkey (2); Virginia Rail (5); American Woodcock (1 bird was spotted in the middle of the road ahead of us. As we approached it, instead of flying, it walked off the road to the right, waited, then cut across to the left and headed back to where we had originally seen the bird.); Ring-billed Gull (1); Ruby-throated Hummingbird (1); Belted Kingfisher (1); Red-bellied Woodpecker (1); Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (11: sev. yg following ads); Downy Woodpecker (5); Hairy Woodpecker (9); N Flicker (2); Pileated Woodpecker (3);

• Eastern Wood Pewee (16: we watched 1 bird apparently nestbuilding. Originally we thought this bird was carrying food, but it was lichen for the nest. The nest, in a fork high up, over the road, had a huge HOLE in it?s bottom, and this bird was working hard trying to paper over this hole. It was by itself. It would leave the nest, call several times (a male???);, gather some material and then work on the nest. Sheila took a number of shots and will put a few on her blog. seems rather late for this species to be nestbuilding in MA, but there are other late dates)

Least Flycatcher (1); E Phoebe (10); Great crested Flycatcher (7); E Kingbird (8); Yellow-throated Vireo (3); Blue-headed Vireo (15); Red-eyed Vireo (76); Blue Jay (13); A Crow (9); Tree Swallow (2: did not seem like they were migrating); Black-capped Chickadee (45); Red-breasted Nuthatch (14); White-breasted Nuthatch (11); Brown creeper (3); House Wren (1); Winter Wren (3); Golden-crowned Kinglet (4); Veery (13); Hermit Thrush (17); A Robin (57); Gray Catbird (44); Cedar Waxwing (14: no sign that any of these birds were nesting);

WARBLERS: Chestnut-sided (17); Magnolia (2); Black-throated Blue (17); Yellow-rumped (14); Black-throated Green (20); Blackburnian (5); Pine (36); Black and White (6); A Redstart (19); Ovenbird (2: these birds have entered the period where they do not sing much); C Yellowthroat (31);

Scarlet Tanager (15); E Towhee (42); Chipping Sparrow (36); Field Sparrow (1); Song Sparrow (4); Swamp Sparrow (12); Rose-breasted Grosbeak (2); Red-winged Blackbird (20+); C Grackle (15+); Brown-headed Cowbird (1imm); Baltimore Oriole (2); A Goldfinch (6); BUTTERFLIES included Northern Pearly-eye; Question Mark and Great Spangled Fritillary.
(report from Mark Lynch/Sheila Carroll).

7/16/09 -- Bolton Flats, Bolton

At Bolton Flats this morning from the Route 117 parking lot there was about 90% less water than there was on Sunday. Wading in the large puddle to the west of the path in was an osprey. Hunting near by there was a great blue heron. The osprey stood motionless in the water for about 20 minutes and then took off. I've never seen an osprey hunt by wading. It was probably just resting or watching the great blue heron catch fish. Additional birds seen both north and south of Route 117 were: 4 great blue herons, 1 great egret fly over (it landed in the flats east of the path in), 50+ killdeer, 15 spotted sandpipers, 6 solitary sandpipers, 85+ (hard to see/count) least sandpipers and 1 lesser yellowlegs. (report from Bart Kamp).

7/16/09 -- Institute Park, Worcester

Spurred on by a report from Kim Allen of Least Sandpipers at the pond, I headed over there at 1:30 and found 2 Great Blue Herons, 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron (ad), 6 Mute Swan (2 ad, 4 imm), 3 Killdeer, 9 Least Sandpipers, and 2 E. Kingbirds. (report from Rick Quimby).

7/12/09 -- Bolton Flats

Early this afternoon, I went to Bolton Flats. The water was high as expected. It was running through the entrance to the parking lot. It appeared to be too deep for a passenger car to drive through. I chose not to drive though it. My knee boots were sufficient for walking through the 3 water hazards. Joining the many resident spotted sandpipers and killdeer were: 5 least sandpipers, 3 lesser yellowlegs, 1 solitary sandpiper and 3 Wilson's snipe.

The field on the north side of 117 was turned over but not planted. Weeds are at a minimum for now. The field on the south side of 117 was turned over and planted. The corn has begun to grow, but it appears that in the area of the big puddles the corn seeds failed to germinate (or the plants are under water) and there are fewer weeds.
(report from Bart Kamp).

7/12/09 -- Gooseberry Neck, Westport

A hearty crew of CENTRAL MA Atlasers traveled down to WESTPORT this morning to blockbust SOUTH OF WESTPORT 12. The Atlas group consisted of DAN BERARD; DEB BERARD; KEVIN BOURINOT; REBECCA BOURINOT; SHEILA CARROLL; KIM KASTLER; JOHN LILLER; MARK LYNCH; This interesting block consists almost entirely of Gooseberry Neck and a small bit of the mainland, including the southern portion of the campground and the surrounding woodlot. 6 people in 3 teams canvassed the Neck for 2 hours, while Sheila and I covered the "non-neck" sections. Though this latter section was relatively tiny, it had a number of species not found out on the Neck. Despite this being a block with very little landmass, it was important to cover it with a serious effort. Gooseberry Neck is known to birders mostly as a migration birding spot, especially in fall when flights of species like siskins have been counted moving overhead, or species like Chat can be found in the dense thickets. Few birders consider what species actually breed on this small peninsula. Today the weather was quite overcast and a bit breezy, but this worked to our advantage as it kept the number of beachgoers early in the morning down to a minimum.
A total of 28 species were counted: 9 Possibles; 2 Probables; 17 Confirmed.

"Confirmed" and "Probable" species included:
COMMON EIDER: 2 broods were observed hugging the eastern shore accompanied
by adult Females, both found by the Berards. Sheila photo?d the first group
as they fed in and among the rocks at the shore. They seemed to not want to
venture out in the open water at all. Both groups of young still could not
fly. Group#1 consisted of 2f w/6yg; Group#2: 1f w/5 even younger ducklings.
Other species in this category included:
Ruby-throated Hummingbird; Black-capped Chickadee; American Robin; Yellow
Warbler; Pine Warbler; C. Yellowthroat (all ?Confirmed?); Eastern Towhee;
Chipping Sparrow; Song Sparrow; House Sparrow.
The list of ?Possible? species was interesting and included Least Tern;
Black-billed Cuckoo; Eastern Kingbird; Baltimore Oriole.

Species that could not be counted because they were out of the "Safe Dates"
included Spotted Sandpiper (pair seen). There was a constant dribble of Tree
Swallows and Barn Swallows (and even a Bank Swallow) migrating south along
the coast.

Other species seen by the atlasers out on Gooseberry Neck included:  Common
Loon; Wilson's Storm Petrels; Northern Gannet; White-winged Scoter; Surf
Scoter; Short-billed Dowitcher. An unidentified ?Empid? was also found among
the thickets of Gooseberry Neck. A Pine Siskin was noted calling and flying
overhead. Talking to some locals, I found that a woman with a feeder down
the road (and out of the block) had siskins at her thistle feeder with her
goldfinches. Later (2) WHIMBRELS were seen on Horseneck Beach, not in the
atlas block area.

After tallying up our SOUTH OF WESTPORT 12 results, and wanting to do more, we decided to blockbust SOUTH OF WESTPORT 9. This teeny edge fragment of a block consists of the southern 1500 FEET of Brayton Point Road, the road that runs on the west side of Richmond Pond, right along the border of Rhode Island. I love the challenge of atlasing fragment and edge blocks, and today it was quite a scene as all eight of us walked the short length of road in this the block back and forth in this very private neighborhood. We totaled 27 species, including 5 Possibles; 4 Probables and 11 Confirmeds. Among the interesting confirmed species, we were able to find a Northern Mockingbird on a nest. Apparently, no block is so small you can't turn up "something". BTW: in both blocks, Ospreys cruised overhead periodically as were as small flocks of cormorants. Another great day of blockbusting, if a bit unusual. Photos from this weekend's blockbusting efforts have been posted on Sheila's blog. (report from Mark Lynch/Sheila Carroll).

7/11/09 -- Lunenburg

Central Mass Atlasers once again had a really successful BLOCKBUSTING outing this morning. Today we covered AYER 2 which is mostly in Lunenburg. The four teams of Atlasers today were Dan Berard; Deb Berard; Sheila Carroll; Marci Driscoll; Simon Hennin; Alan Howes; Wendy Howes; Mark Lynch; Alan Marble; and Donna Schilling. This was a tough block to cover being mostly suburban and a definite victim of sprawl. The few areas of farmlands still left are up for sale. There are few areas to pull a car over, let alone hike. The site of the former Whalom Park is in this block, as well as the western side of Lake Shirley, a typical overly built up recreation-focused waterway. Despite that, Bald Eagles bred in the eastern half of the lake this year, in a less built up cul-de-sac. This part of the lake is in Middlesex County and another block. As usual, Atlasers kept in touch via phone tree, and today this system worked out perfectly.

Despite all this, today atlasers managed a total of 74 species with 26 POSSIBLES; 5 PROBABLES and 43 CONFIRMED.

Among the CONFIRMED/PROBABLE species today were: Canada Goose; Broad-winged Hawk; Red-tailed Hawk; Killdeer; Belted Kingfisher; Great Crested Flycatcher; Carolina Wren; Eastern Bluebird; Chestnut-sided Warbler; Common Yellowthroat; Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

POSSIBLE species included American Black Duck; Green Heron; Cooper?s Hawk; Ruby-throated Hummingbird; Veery; Wood Thrush; Black and White Warbler; Scarlet Tanager.

Probably the best species seen today were the (2) FISHERS seen by the Howes.

All teams remarked on the low numbers and poor species variety of tropical migrant species like warblers. Though part of this was due to the small size of the intermittent woodlots found in the block, part of the reason may also be the extremely poor weather this area of the state has had in the last 3 weeks: torrential rain and lots of days of it; serious hailstorms, and some storms with high winds. Blockbusting is certainly the way to atlas blocks like Ayer 2, and remains a really fun way to approach this project. I hope other counties get the chance to organize similar efforts.
(report from Mark Lynch).

7/8/09 -- Brierly's Pond, Millbury

For at least the past 8 years there has been a Graylag Goose living at Brierly's Pond in Millbury. Although it can fly and does move around Millbury a little bit, it never migrates.This spring, Kim Allen and I watched it hanging around with a Canada Goose and they seemed to be a pair. There was another Canada Goose with them and this odd menage a` trois finally seemed to set up a nest/nests on the other side of the island but we couldn't see for sure exactly what was going on over there . During the late spring we saw the 3 adult geese swimming around with 8 goslings. We wondered if the Graylag was a parent or just helping out. Yesterday evening, I stopped at the pond and the three adult geese swam up to the shore with 4 almost grown goslings, two of them looked exactly like Canada Geese and two of them looked just like some Canada Goose x Graylag Goose hybrid pictures I found on the internet. I guess that Graylag wasn't as lonely as we thought. Kim Allen took these pictures (photo 1| photo 2| photo 3) this morning. For more pictures, see Kim's blog "The Curious Birder". (report from Alan Marble).

7/5/09 -- Wachusett Reservoir - Gate 35

Here is the complete trip list for the species recorded on the Forbush Bird Club trip. (report from Kevin Bourinot)

7/4/09 -- Warren

We spent the July 4th morning atlasing again in WARREN, just east of Colonel's Mountain. Turkey Vulture (7); Osprey (1: likely a post-breeding wanderer); Cooper?s Hawk (1ad); Broad-winged Hawk (1); Red-tailed Hawk (1); Rock Pigeon (6); Mourning Dove (17); Chimney Swift (21); Ruby-throated Hummingbird (2m); Belted Kingfisher (1); Downy Woodpecker (3); Hairy Woodpecker (4); N Flicker (2); E Wood Pewee (2); E Phoebe (5); E Kingbird (6); Warbling Vireo (1); Red-eyed Vireo (9); Blue Jay (11); A Crow (4); Common Raven (1); Tree Swallow (22); Barn Swallow (56: many fledged young); Black-capped Chickadee (31); Tufted Titmouse (6); White-breasted Nuthatch (6); Carolina Wren (1); House Wren (2); E Bluebird (1); Veery (17); A Robin (66); Gray Catbird (57); Brown Thrasher (1); E Starling (55+); Cedar Waxwing (28);

WARBLERS: Yellow (19: including a number of fledged yg); Chestnut-sided (12: ditto); Black-throated Green (1); Black and White (4); A Redstart (6); Ovenbird (6); C Yellowthroat (18); Canada (1);

Scarlet Tanager (3); E Towhee (11); Chipping Sparrow (16); Field Sparrow (4); Song Sparrow (18); N Cardinal (13); Rose-breasted Grosbeak (3); Indigo Bunting (6); Bobolink (12); Red-winged Blackbird (42); E Meadowlark (1); C Grackle (25); Brown-headed Cowbird (11); Baltimore Oriole (1); House Finch (3); A Goldfinch (18); House Sparrow (35+);
PLUS: a brief stop at a roadside marsh in the Warren block just south of ours had the following: Great Blue heron (5 active nests w/12 young still in them); Green Heron (1); Turkey Vulture (1); Wood Duck (1f w/8yg); Virginia Rail (3ad+3precocial yg);
(report from Mark Lynch/Sheila Carroll).

7/3/09 -- Gardner/Ashburnham

I have recently checked for breeding season Loons on 2 lakes in N. Worcester County.  

6/28/2009: Upper Naukeag Lake, in Ashburnham. There were a total of 5 adults and 2 chicks. A single adult was tending the 2 youngsters, which appeared a week or two old, probably hatching about mid-month. The other 4 adults were about 1/2 mile from the family group, some chasing took place within this "pack" of adults.  

7/3/2009: Lake Wompanoag, Gardner/Ashburnham. There were 2 adults, close to each other, acting as a pair. No chick was present with these 2, as they dove and "stretched".  Perhaps the recent rains took a toll of this pair's nest? I'll take another look next week, always an outside chance another bird was still on the nest or out of sight. However, based on past expirence and recent weather, it doesn't look like a productive year for this pair.
(report from Tom Pirro).

For previous sightings, see June 2009 Archives or Archive Index