June 2, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

So Warbler season is pretty much over at this point, but I took a trip to Mount Auburn anyway to see what was shaking. As soon as I drove in the side gate I immediately ran into the turkey,  it actually charged my car sort of, and then wandered off to a grassy area to eat.  I got a bunch of nice pictures, before leaving to check out the dell, which was pretty much absent warblers.   Down by Willow Pond I spotted a turtle chilling on a log, so I got some pictures of that, as well as some of the flowers that are blooming.   On the way out I stopped again to get some more pictures of the Turkey, one of which you can see at the right here.

         Below here you can see a picture of one of the flowers, I think it's an iris, as well as the turtle sunning itself on the log. I also ran across a song sparrow at some point, calling from some foliage.  It was a nice trip, the Turkey has been an added surprise the last couple of trips.   I also need to check on the owls again at some point, although they very well might have fledged by now. I'll have to look for them around the dell, which is where the parents like to hang out.

May 29th, 2011: Sunday

Sunny, hot; about 86. 

For a change of pace today Wendy and I went to Arnold Arboretum.  I had not been there for a month, so I decided to see what was happening.  The Yellow Warblers I saw there were actually what inspired me to get the 55-250mm lens on my camera, as the 18-50 I had was not cutting it for capturing pictures of such a tiny bird.

                The path, I think it was called Willow Path that we usually go down to head across the marsh was supposedly closed due to a wall collapse.  We went down it anyway, like bosses.  Right away we saw a bunch of birds bathing in the stream; Catbirds, doves, house sparrows, and there were also goldfinches everywhere.  The catbird at right is not actually having a violent seizure, it’s enjoying the cold water.  Not a bad idea considering how humid and hazy it was out.  It was pretty disgusting in retrospect.  Wearing a thick polo shirt with jeans probably wasn’t the best call I’ve ever made, but I survived. 

                We made our way out to the path that cuts across the marsh and holy cow had that thing grown over since the last time we went.  Wendy commented that it looked like we were cutting a swath through a jungle as we went through.  There were brambles all across the path, so in that regard wearing jeans was a good decision.  We were serenaded as we went through by a Song Sparrow and a Red-Winged Blackbird that was making lazy circles around us and singing from the cat tails.  Wendy likes Red-Wings quite a bit, the red on their shoulders impresses her.  As we cut across the marsh we were accosted by a few bees, but other than that we escaped unscathed.  As we reached the other side I heard the Yellow Warbler calling and decided to see if I could get a few decent pictures.  I literally took 100 pictures of it, and sorted them when I got home.  A large amount of them were crystal clear, which is nice considering the last few times I’ve gone out I have not been able to get the type of photograph I’m used to taking.  Here’s a few of them, but first another shot of the Red-Wing:

I like this shot because I got the tail flaring out.

 And now for some Yellow-Warbler

Here are a bunch more shots of the Warbler. I’m very happy with how they turned out.

 

Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my beak?

As we wended on down the road after rejoining civilization and continued on deeper into the Arboretum we actually came across a couple of Brown-Headed Cowbirds. I have not seen any cowbirds since I came to Boston, in fact I had remarked about this about 15 minutes prior to running into this pair. 

These ones appeared to be particularly tame.  They let us approach quite closely, although they did appear perturbed, they let us get quite close.  These shots are probably the clearest I have taken with this lens and camera.  They tottered about for a while in the grass before eventually flying off, and Wendy and I carried on. 

                We kept going, and eventually button-hooked down this other path, apparently a vine garden was towards the end of the path.  I have never seen so many lilacs in one place before, off to the side of the path that leads down to the vine garden.  At the base of one of the bushes was a male Yellow-Shafted Flicker that I got several good pictures of.  Wendy got some pictures too; it was the first Flicker she had seen.  So that’s always positive. Below is a picture of the Flicker.  

              

  We carried on through the vine-garden and at this point I had a brief but awful allergy attack, not sure why.  I saw a Northern Mockingbird as we entered the vine garden.   It’s worth noting because I have not seen a ton of them this year.  Not sure where they’re all going or if it’s something ecological happening.  Now here are some pictures of flowers:

As we left here’s another picture of a Red-Wing that I snapped off,  it looks like it was about to making a bombing run on someone.  All in all it was a great day of bird watching, the pictures came out great, and Wendy liked the vine garden quite a bit. I think she wants a vine garden in her yard someday.  Not a bad thing to have I must say.  I will be returning here again at some point to walk the other trails and see what nature has in store for me then.

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.