May 25th, 2011 Wednesday

Sunny, cloudless, beautiful

                I figured since the previous day was such a smashing success and with the weather being much nicer today I got the great idea to go to Mount Auburn again.  It appears however that with the nicer weather a lot of the migrating birds have pushed on further north, probably making their way to New Hampshire, Maine, and Canada over the next week or two.  

                I arrived at Mount Auburn, and sticking with the theme, I went to the dell, since birds love secluded wetlands.  Just outside of it I saw a bird hopping around, and got some pictures of it, thinking it was a Parula.  Arriving back home however and looking I realized I had again gotten shots of the suddenly not-so-elusive Mourning Warbler.  These shots were not that great either, I had just arrived and didn’t have time to get any of my settings in, but you can again tell from the side view this time, that it is indeed a Mourning Warbler.   After this I waited around for a while but some other people confirmed there really weren’t a whole ton of Warblers or other migrants left at this point, I guess yesterday was the last hurrah for the season.  I spotted a Black & White, but other than that nothing was really happening there.  

   I decided to try Halcyon Lake for a while, more towards the front of the cemetery, and a reputed bird-spot.  I saw a Red-Winged Blackbird that was quite vocal and active, as well as a Northern Oriole who was singing merrily.  As per the usual I got about 80 pictures of its’ rear end.  I also got pictures of a Song Sparrow and a Grackle.  Fairly common, but they were all welcome sights.  Bird is bird, any of them make me happy.  After hanging out around the lake for roughly a half hour I decided to head home.  Good times.

May 24, 2011

                This was literally the best day of birding I may have had, ever.  I got to see four species of birds I had never seen before. I don’t think that’s happened since I was probably 6 months old and things such as ‘grackles’ were new to me.  What’s great is that two of the birds are rarely seen.  One of which gets seen maybe 1 day ever couple of years.  I was torn about whether or not to go to Mount Auburn today, as I had much to do.  I decided to take a brief trip there, and it was sunny as I left.   As I wended my way through the cemetery and just before I got to the dell I drove up on a wild Turkey strutting about in the road. I pulled over and got many pictures; I was quite surprised to see a Turkey milling about, I had heard there weren’t any in Mt. Auburn, but apparently there’s at least one. I hope it has company.  I stood around watching it for several minutes, it did not seem particularly perturbed by my presence which is nice.   It eventually wandered off up an embankment and I wandered off back to my car.  

  I carried on another minute and arriving high side of the dell where I’ve had so much luck I parked my car, and engaged in one of my favorite activities; taking pictures of Robins on people’s gravestones.  The one above this paragraph turned out particularly well.  This Robin was shocked at how handsome I am so it’s beak was hanging open. 

After shocking nature with my supreme aesthetics for a while I started down the path by the Irish poet’s grave marker.   On my right I noticed an experienced birder who actually showed me how to identify the Black-Throated Greens that I have seen en masse lately.  He told me that he and another birder there had just seen a Mourning Warbler, a Magnolia Warbler, and a Canada Warbler in the bush a few minutes prior.  The Mourning Warbler is exceedingly rare; spotted perhaps once every couple of years by a couple of birders and then it vanishes again.  I saw something moving around in the bush and snapped about 30 pictures of it, but it was against the back drop of the sky with the sun still quite bright, so they didn’t come out well.  The picture at the right is the best of that first batch of pictures I got of it.  You can tell it’s a Mourning Warbler at least.  All I could see was a grayish-blue head, yellowish below the neck, and a tiny black bib.  I also saw what I thought was a really washed out looking Wood Thrush, like if someone ran a thrush through a washing machine about 30 times it would look like this.  I went around to the high side of the spruce bush and the other people there confirmed that was the Mourning Warbler.   My first ever sighting of one, and what may actually be my last!  I asked if they saw a thrush in there too, and they said there was a Swainson’s Thrush in the area as well, I described what I saw and they confirmed that was actually the Swainson’s.  Another first time sighting!  Several minutes passed with no further sound or sighting of either bird so we hooked back around the spruce bush into the dell along the path.  While there we spotted a Scarlet Tanager across the dell, as well as a Black & White Warbler. I’m starting to notice the B&W’s creep around like nuthatches quite a bit.  

The sordid underside of the Tennessee Warbler

   After several minutes of observing (the fairly experienced birder there had a pair of Svwaroski 10x42 EL’s….note to self: Win lottery and buy a pair) the guy with the nice binoculars said he heard the Tennesee again, this time outside of the dell, across the street sort of diagonally in this huge tree.  We went over, and after a few minutes I spotted the bird, pointed him out, and got about 10 pictures.   By now it was overcast, so they didn’t come out great, the one at right was the best of the bunch.   The Tennesee Warbler is a rather muted colored Warbler, looking almost like a Vireo in some ways.  The song was a dead giveaway to the guy in our party though, and I was able to match up what I saw with my binoculars to the Peterson guide, it was definitely a Tennesee.   Suddenly overhead we heard a Canada Warbler flying over, and it landed in a tree a short distance away.  I spotted it with my binoculars but was not able to get any good pictures.  That marked the 4^th first time species I had seen today.   In addition to the rarity of the Mourning, the Tennesee is fairly rare, seen maybe a few times per year, and the Swainson’s and Canada are both fairly uncommon in the area as well.  

                Returning to the dell after the Canada had flown off in the same bush we heard the Mourning Warbler.  After skulking about for a bit (me, not the Warbler) I was able to get into the underbrush and get several decent pictures, and get some great looks at it with my binoculars.  It’s a very simple bird; blue-gray head, yellowish everywhere else, and a black bib.   The pictures aren’t my best work, as now the sky was overcast and the underbrush dimmed much of the light, but you can tell it’s a Mourning Warbler.  We must have been an odd sight to the birds in the area.  There were five of us skulking around the outside of the shrubbery.   

          We also noticed that at the base of the bush scuttling around in the underbrush was the Swainson’s.  I got a couple of pictures, but again the lighting conditions were awful so they’re fairly blurry, but you can see one at the bottom here if you ever wondered what a Swainson’s thrush would look like to someone with really bad vision.  It began to sing intermittently as it moved slowly up the embankment.   It’s song is quite haunting, like the ghost of a Wood Thrush singing.  We lost the Mourning a bit later, and the Swainson’s moved back up the hill.   I left after that, with the Swainson’s serenading me with its ghostly song.  What a great day of birding!

May 21, 2011 Saturday

Sunny, Mild, Breezy

                A nice day out, I had other work to do but didn’t want to pass up the opportunity for some bird-watching.  This is the peak of Warbler season, so I’m trying to get out as much as possible.   I went to the dell as usual, but I’m thinking of checking out some other areas next time.

                The first thing I saw as I walked along the high path around the dell was what I thought was a rose-breasted grosbeak male, but without the red patch.  I took several pictures, and when I got home I tried to identify it for several minutes.  I then realized that because of the shade it was in I could not see the blue back on it.  Once I realized the back was blue, I could identify it as my first ever sighting of a Black-Throated Blue Warbler.  It really is a beautiful bird.   The mallards were out enjoying the dell and eating the scum that has started to form on the top of the pond, as mallards are wont to do.  I also watched a titmouse take a bath at the edge in some fetid water. I can’t imagine that doing much. 

                Outside of the dell a bit, on the side where it opens up to the rest of the cemetery, I spotted a Magnolia Warbler in a large tree, as well as a Northern Parula Warbler.  Both were singing quite a bit, although I still haven’t seen any females of several warbler species yet this year.  Total sausage party.

                At this point I realized I had not seen the owls in about a week so I trekked over to their nest and saw that one of them had left the nest and gone up to a higher branch and was looking at the observers that gathered with what can only be described a  malevolent look.   There was a male Northern Oriole also bouncing about in the branches around the Owl nest, although they paid it no mind.  This particular male was very small however, I don’t recall seeing one quite this tiny in some time.  Still, it was quite photogenic, and I obliged nature and got a few pictures of it.  Circling overhead during all this were two Red-Tailed Hawks, I presume the parents.  I need to get over to their nest fairly soon.

                On my way back towards the dell I ran into some other birders who seemed to be tracking some unknown warbler at the top of some trees as it flitted back and forth.  I heard it singing, and the couple of people there seemed to be excited because apparently it was the song of a Bay-Breasted Warbler.  I have no ever-loving idea what a Bay-Breasted Warbler sounds like, but everyone else seemed pretty excited.   I  spotted and pointed out what looked like a rather large, odd-looking sparrow.  After the others spotted it they confirmed this was actually a Bay-Breasted Warbler.  I wish I had gotten a bit of a better look at it, it was quite interesting looking, very chestnut dominated warbler.  I just checked dictionary.com and apparently “bay” is a term for reddish-brown.  You learn something every day.  After this I carried on and spotted a Scarlet Tanager, which again avoided capture by my camera.  This bird is quickly becoming my vex.

            Also in the area was a Redstart, which I got one decent picture of.  I’ve always enjoyed them, back when I was younger they were among the first warbler I learned to identify.  It was sitting near the top of a tree, singing contentedly.  Also at some point I apparently snapped pictures of another Warbler, but did not realize until later (I’m writing this after the  24^th when I saw what I thought was my first ever Canada Warbler) that it was a Canada Warbler.

May 19, 2011

Mild, very misty

This afternoon I decided to head to Mount Auburn, since weather like this usually means a frenzy of birds to observe.  It generally doesn’t really make for great photographing, but I figured I’d give that a shot too.  I’ve been sticking around the Dell, since I have had a ton of luck there so far.  The first thing I noticed was the sound of several Wood Thrushes singing, I spotted one in the underbrush on one the high-sides of the dell.  Walking along the path that goes around the high side of the dell I came across an Ovenbird, actually several.   They were flying to the path and back into the underbrush, and then down into the dell.  As I carried on I also ran across one of the omni-present Yellow-Rumped Warblers.  The dell on this day reminded me of when I was a little kid and I’d wake up early in the morning, before the sun rose.  Over the dike where the forest grew on the flood plain was a deafening racket from the birds that made it sound like a jungle.   I always wanted to go over that way and see what kind of birds were there.  On this day the dell was that raucous, and I could hear Ovenbirds, Warblers, Thrushes, and all sorts of birds screaming. 

I decided to descend into the dell, and there I saw a couple of Gray Catbirds, a male Northern Cardinal, and a White-Throated Sparrow mucking about.  I also spotted another Black-Throated Green Warbler.  For a bird I had never seen before this past week they’re quickly becoming one of my most expected and common sightings.   Also down on the lower levels of the Dell was a Northern Parula Warbler, also becoming a regular on my list.  I was never great with my Warblers until recently, fortunately there were a few experts here earlier in the season and I was able to finally identify a lot more of the Warblers I was seeing.  I met someone coming from the opposite side of the Dell who had seen a Canada Warbler, but I never got a chance to spot it this day.  

I left the Dell for a while and ran into a Black & White Warbler hopping about in the top of a fruit tree, and also saw a Scarlet Tanager, which once again evaded my attempts to take some decent photographs of it.  This bird is vexing me.   Returning to the Dell I spotted an Ovenbird, and my first Magnolia Warbler of the season, always a welcome site.  

I took a few pictures, but honestly with the conditions they did not turn out great by any stretch of the imagination.

May 12, 2011

Sunny and mild, a bit breezy. 

 

                I bought a new 55-250mm zoom lens for my Canon XTi and decided I wanted to try it out, so I headed over to Mount Auburn to see what was up.  I didn’t bring binoculars, as I just intended to snap off a few test shots of the scenery and maybe  a couple Robins.  So of course it turned out to be my most productive day of birding so far this year.  As soon as I parked my car, along the high side of the dell, near the monument to an Irish poet, I noticed a few people gathered looking at a stand of trees.  They pointed out an Indigo Bunting to me.  He was actually rather plump and healthy looking, and was flying about near the tops of the trees.  I snapped off several shots; this one wasn’t the clearest I took, but I enjoy it because he looks like he’s waving to me.  In short order our group noticed what others identified as a Black-Throated Green Warbler.  I had never seen one before, but took a couple of quick pictures and was later able to confirm it was indeed a Black-Throated Green.  I honestly thought it would be greener on top, it’s really just a dark yellow more than anything.  Still a pretty bird, it reminds me of a Yellow Rumped Warbler in many ways.  Shortly after we noticed another brightly colored bird, this one a Scarlet Tanager again in a similar position as the Bunting.  I got a few pictures of him, however none of them came out that good.  He only stayed around for a few minutes before heading for parts unknown.   

 

                I continued on, and actually came across several Yellow-Rumped Warblers.  I often confused them with Mangolia Warblers when I first see them for the season, though the yellow rump is a dead giveaway usually.  I actually got a good picture of one of them that you can see at the right here.  As I traveled on around the Dell I saw some Black & White Warblers, a mix of both male and female.  There were also the omnipresent robins and chipping sparrows that seem to haunt the graveyard en masse each year.  I also got a good look at the hawks as well, I need to go over and try to find the nest before the young fledge for the year.  I also got a good look at a noisy male Northern Oriole as it sang from the top of a branch near the dell.  I haven’t seen many females of any species lately, usually I would assume this was because they were nesting, but even for the species that are probably just passing through I have not seen any females.  It’s been a total sausage party for the birds of Mount Auburn so far. 

                At this point I decided to go check on the Great-Horned Owls and see how the nest was doing.  The young ones have grown quite a bit in the last couple of weeks, it’s shocking.  At this point they look like the adults at least size-wise.  They are starting to get the tufts above their heads.  One of the young ones seems to be larger than the other.  The picture at right is of him or her.  It’s amazing how fluffy they look at this point in their lives.  I took about 50 pictures of them and when I got home could not figure out why all the photos looked so unsharp.  It’s actually because of the owl’s plumage, that’s just how they look at this point in their lives.  A note about the nest construction: The parents decided to build it out of bramble this year, perhaps to keep predators away? It’s going to be hard for the young ones to walk out on the branches before fledging on account of this however.  It’s very hard to get a good look at either of the young owls as well, on account of the branches, vines, and bramble that’s there.  As a side note, another observer told me that earlier in the week there was a whole dead Red Fox up in the tree laying over the nest that the birds ate over the course of several days.  Good times.

April 28th, 2011 Thursday

                This morning while lying in bed I thought I heard a Rufous-Sided Towhee  calling somewhere out in my neighbor’s yard.  I was still dozing and chalked it up to a semi-lucid dream, when again I heard the song.  I got up out of bed, got my binoculars and camera, and was able to locate the Towhee in my neighbor’s hedge.  I tried to get a few photos, but again it was fairly well hidden so the pictures came out fairly blurry.  He was there for quite some time throughout the morning. I did as requested, and drank some tea with breakfast.   Later in the day the Towhee was still in the hedge kicking about through the underbrush. 

April 24, 2011 Easter Sunday

The weather is nice today, mild and sunny with a slight breeze.  I’m at Mount Auburn Cemetery with Wendy to go bird watching.  We started by heading down from the Washington Tower towards the dell.  While on the rim above the dell and facing a stand of pine trees another person pointed out a male Great-Horned Owl.  He appeared lethargic and sleepy, probably because it’s the day which is night for an owl.  Another group of people passed by and told us that around the bend traveling away from the dell there was the owl nest, and that a female was in a tree along with two baby owls.  We easily found the nest part way up the tree, and joined a crowd taking pictures.   The young owls appeared to be attempting to squawk at passer-bys.  I do not believe I’ve seen a Great-Horned Owl before; in Southwick I think we had Barn Owls that would whinny in the night.

             After sitting there for a while I thought I heard a distinct “Towhee!” call coming back from the way we had come.  I started walking back that way when I heard it again, and it was answered by another. I was happy since the Rufous-Sided Towhee is my favorite bird and I have not seen one in about 15 years.   As I came around a bend I saw a flash of white on a tail as a Towhee dove into a hedge off to the left of the path, and continued to call from there. I walked around the hedge a ways until the bird eventually flew off, I’m not sure where its’ companion went.  The towhee flew to another nearby hedge, and I followed; this was repeated for several minutes.  Eventually I got a few somewhat blurry pictures on account of Towhees liking low hedges.  It eventually started to sing from one of the hedges it was in, imploring me to drink my tea.  It started to work its way down to the dell, stopping every few trees to sing. While in the Dell it flew back towards the tower, and I elected to hang out in the dell since it would take me quite some time to find the Towhee again, and there was some activity in the Dell.  Flitting around in the underbrush I along with several photographers found a few Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, I believe they are the first ones I have ever seen.  As soon as I spotted them I knew they were kinglets, and I was pleasantly surprised when I saw their caps and they turned out to be the much less seen in these parts Ruby-Crowned.  Also in the dell were a pair of mallards dabbling in the algae, which amused Wendy greatly. 

             Also of note as we headed back were the omnipresent Robins in the cemetery, as well as the usual crowd of Jays, the first Catbird I’ve seen there this year, and some titmice and chickadees. Overall it was a very busy day and we got to see a ton of birds; I got to see a Towhee for the first time in a decade and a half, and I saw two species I had not previously seen.  Good time, good times.