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MASSBIRD for Sunday, July 12, 2009
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Subject: Fw: migrant passerine, already?
From: Lynette Leka <lynetteleka(AT)yahoo.com>
Date: 12 Jul 2009 7:07am
the Tree Swallows have started filling the utility wires on Pine Island Road in
Newbury - I have never seen that this early, it usually occurs in mid to late
August, during staging for fall migration
-----------------------------
Lynette Leka
Newbury, MA 01951
email: lynette.leka(AT)yahoo.com
"...we are borrowing against the world's supply of inexpensive energy in the
same way that we borrowed against the illusory equity in our homes." The New
Yorker, March 30, 2009, p.21
--- On Sat, 7/11/09, Timothy Spahr <tspahr(AT)cfa.harvard.edu> wrote:
> From: Timothy Spahr <tspahr(AT)cfa.harvard.edu>
> Subject: [MASSBIRD] migrant passerine, already?
> To: "Massbird List" <massbird(AT)world.std.com>
> Date: Saturday, July 11, 2009, 6:36 PM
>
> Hi Birders,
>
> I had a single migrant warbler pass overhead
> this morning in Marlborough at dawn. This
> bird flew north to south, very high, and gave
> several buzzy "zeet" flight notes, suggesting
> it was a Blackpoll, Bay-breasted, or Yellow
> Warbler. If pressed, I'd have to guess
> it was a Yellow Warbler, as these are often
> early migrants.
>
> Seems funny to be talking about migrants already
> when I'll be out atlasing tomorrow!
>
> good birding
>
> Tim Spahr
> Marlborough
> tspahr(AT)cfa.harvard.edu
>
>
>
>
>
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Dow Brook/Bull Brook Reservoirs, Ipswich ,
7/11/09
From: "Jim Berry" <jim.berry3(AT)verizon.net>
Date: 12 Jul 2009 9:42am
> Location: Dow Brook/Bull Brook Reservoirs, Ipswich
> Observation date: 7/11/09
> Notes: Atlas block Ipswich 8; visited the Dow Brook and Bull Brook
> reservoirs (whose outlet streams quickly join together into the Egypt
> "River") and nearby Turkey Hill, the latter for an informal vegetative and
> wildlife survey with another open space committee member on some newly
> acquired town land. It was on this wooded hill (the last unprotected,
> undeveloped hilltop in Ipswich) that the pewees and towhees were heard.
> Number of species: 34
>
> Canada Goose 13 no young seen
> Great Blue Heron 1
> Great Egret 1
> Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 ad
> Mourning Dove 5
> Chimney Swift 1
> Belted Kingfisher 2-3, one apparently a begging juvenile
> Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
> Downy Woodpecker 3 one fledgling seen
> Northern Flicker 3
> Eastern Wood-Pewee 4 singing males
> Eastern Kingbird 2
> Warbling Vireo 1m
> Red-eyed Vireo 3m
> Blue Jay 3
> American Crow 1
> Black-capped Chickadee 7
> Tufted Titmouse 13
> Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 (yet another conifer grove--in this case red
> pines--where I keep hearing them but haven't been able to confirm them)
> White-breasted Nuthatch 8
> House Wren 4 family of chattering birds, the fledglings with
> whitish gapes)
> Wood Thrush 3 nest with one egg found on bent-over red maple
> sapling, clearly a 2nd nesting or 2nd attempt--not the first time I have
> seen this species nest on a bent-over sapling and a good reason to focus
> on them, as well as upright saplings, when looking for WOTH nests
> American Robin 12
> Gray Catbird 9
> Pine Warbler 1m
> Common Yellowthroat 2m
> Eastern Towhee 3 these towhees were in a heavily forested area,
> something I don't see much anymore
> Chipping Sparrow 5 pair building nest in white pine along
> powerline, another presumed second (third?) nesting
> Northern Cardinal 2
> Indigo Bunting 1m
> Red-winged Blackbird X
> Common Grackle X
> Baltimore Oriole 3
> American Goldfinch 8
>
> This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
Jim Berry
Ipswich, Mass.
jim.berry3(AT)verizon.net
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: early-staging tree swallows
From: "Jim Berry" <jim.berry3(AT)verizon.net>
Date: 12 Jul 2009 9:58am
Lynette, my guess is that many swallow nests failed in the endless rain. It
must have been hard for swallows and swifts to find enough food for
themselves, let alone their young. It also struck some of us in Essex
County that there were far fewer tree swallows around this year, for
whatever reasons. It will be instructive to see how big the tree swallow
numbers are later this summer, since the horrible weather seemed to blanket
the northeast and presumably affected birds nesting to our north as well.
Jim
Jim Berry
Ipswich, Mass.
jim.berry3(AT)verizon.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lynette Leka" <lynetteleka(AT)yahoo.com>
To: <massbird(AT)theworld.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 7:07 AM
Subject: Fw: [MASSBIRD] migrant passerine, already?
> the Tree Swallows have started filling the utility wires on Pine Island
> Road in Newbury - I have never seen that this early, it usually occurs in
> mid to late August, during staging for fall migration
>
> Lynette Leka
> Newbury, MA 01951
> email: lynette.leka(AT)yahoo.com
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: RE: early-staging tree swallows
From: "John Galluzzo" <jgalluzzo(AT)massaudubon.org>
Date: 12 Jul 2009 11:58am
On Friday, while we were out on our regular walk for South Shore Sanctuaries, we
also noticed that tree swallows had started gathering at Third Cliff in
Scituate for the flight south. The oddity of the whole event was the fact that
they were ready to go before the shorebirds had really arrived (we had a total
of seven migratory shorebirds).
John Galluzzo
Weymouth
________________________________
From: massbird-approval(AT)world.std.com on behalf of Jim Berry
Sent: Sun 7/12/2009 10:01 AM
To: Lynette Leka; massbird(AT)theworld.com
Subject: [MASSBIRD] early-staging tree swallows
Lynette, my guess is that many swallow nests failed in the endless rain. It
must have been hard for swallows and swifts to find enough food for
themselves, let alone their young. It also struck some of us in Essex
County that there were far fewer tree swallows around this year, for
whatever reasons. It will be instructive to see how big the tree swallow
numbers are later this summer, since the horrible weather seemed to blanket
the northeast and presumably affected birds nesting to our north as well.
Jim
Jim Berry
Ipswich, Mass.
jim.berry3(AT)verizon.net
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lynette Leka" <lynetteleka(AT)yahoo.com>
To: <massbird(AT)theworld.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2009 7:07 AM
Subject: Fw: [MASSBIRD] migrant passerine, already?
> the Tree Swallows have started filling the utility wires on Pine Island
> Road in Newbury - I have never seen that this early, it usually occurs in
> mid to late August, during staging for fall migration
>
> Lynette Leka
> Newbury, MA 01951
> email: lynette.leka(AT)yahoo.com
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Blockbusting Gooseberry Neck, Westport 7/12
From: "Mark Lynch" <moa.lynch(AT)verizon.net>
Date: 12 Jul 2009 4:32pm
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.
Mark Lynch/Sheila Carroll
Moa.lynch(AT)verizon.net
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Cliff swallows in Haverhill MA
From: njlandry(AT)verizon.net
Date: 12 Jul 2009 4:50pm
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[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Tree Swallows - World's End, Hingham_7/12
From: Les Tyrala <geoclock(AT)msn.com>
Date: 12 Jul 2009 5:28pm
My geology and birding walk this morning for the South Shore Bird Club at
World's End, Hingham, yielded at least 800 tree swallows massed over the meadow
on the north side of Planter's Hill. An unusual sight for what is not even
mid-July.
Les Tyrala and Jill Goddard
Quincy, MA
geoclockatmsn.com
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Purple Martins ~ Plum Island
From: Sue McGrath <newburyportbirders(AT)comcast.net>
Date: 12 Jul 2009 5:28pm
Birders,
On Friday evening, July 10th, I conducted a round of nest checks and
discovered that one of the replacement nests I prepared in early July
had fresh green leaves added to it. The green leaves are the final step
prior to egg laying. Another nest cavity revealed a fresh nest with a
few green leaves as well. The martins are attempting to renest! I
watched several martins in a cherry tree, rubbing the green leaves on
themselves to aid in reducing the mites. Other martins were on the guide
wires, sitting in the sun preening. Nearly all of the June nests were
heavily infested with nest fauna due to the environmental conditions.
Blackflies, blowflies, nest mites and fleas overrun martin nests, and
the birds become weakened. Those infested nests were disposed of, and
the nest cavities were disinfected.
Thank you to all the people who have contacted me expressing interest in
the Adopt-a-Gourd program for the 2010 nesting season!! The gourds are
more weather-proof; the nests in gourds are cleaner and freer of nest
fauna, and the clutches are larger than those in the 6 inch, square,
wooden, T-8 boxes. If you would like to adopt one of the Purple Martin
gourds for the 2010 season or learn more about the program, please
contact me off line.
Best wishes,
Sue
Sue McGrath
Newburyport, MA 01950 USA
978-462-4785
REPLY TO: newburyportbirders(AT)comcast.net
www.newburyportbirders.com
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: 7/5-7/12 Duxbury Beach - Whimbrel, GYellowlegs,
jump in Willet count
From: Rick Bowes <rbowes(AT)bowesweb.com>
Date: 12 Jul 2009 5:22pm
Busy times mean limited snatches for birding and unfortunately lags
in reporting. Below are brief highlights from outings on Sun. 7/5
and Sat. 7/11 - reported in full on eBird. Also notable Willet
observations for 7/9 and 7/12.
7/9 & 7/12--- The waters north of the Powder Point Bridge all but
disappear at dead low tide leaving a wide expanse of mud flats at the
beach end of the bridge. There are trickles of water in a few
places that shrink to almost nothing (think dried up watering hole in
the desert), and then quickly thicken as the tide returns. The
degree and speed of the cycle depends on the height of the
tides. During migration on days when I don't have time to "really
bird", I will grab my morning coffee and shoot across the bridge,
check out the flats, and return - total time about 15
minutes.. unless, of course, I find something, in which case ......
Typically so far this summer there have been a handful of Willets, an
egret or two, and a hodgepodge of gulls. On 7/9 things changed -
Willets were everywhere! Every small bit of water seemed to have one
or more Willets poking into it, and more were working the mud near
the edges. I proceeded to count them one by one, and when I finished
I had tallied 54 in that relatively small area. And as an extra
bonus, among them were 4 Greater Yellowlegs (first of fall)!
For curiosity sake, prompted by the big number, I decided to make a
quick run down as far as time would permit to see how many Willets I
could count. I made it to the 3rd xover before time ran out winding
up with 74 actually counted. There are easily 6 pairs (more likely
10-12) south of the 3rd xover in the Gurnet Marsh so I think is safe
to say that a fair estimate would be at least 85-100 Willets on the
north-south portion of Duxbury Beach - especially if one allows for a
few I surely missed along the way.
Given that some migrants of other species are appearing (see below),
I'm thinking that some of these Willets may well be migrants. It
seems far too many to have come just out of the marsh north of the
bridge. The presence of the 4 Yellowlegs among them suggests maybe
this is, at least in part, a flock of nonbreeders heading south. I
went out again this morning (7/12) at low tide, and once again the
numbers were impressive (this time 49 Willets but no
yellowlegs). Whatever the reason, it would appear if one wants to
see a few Willets, being in that spot an hour or so either side of
low tide would be one way to do it! (Low tide today was 9:47am and I
was there at 10:15)
Other notes:
I got out on July 5th and 12th near high tide. Both days the beach
was mobbed and as a result there was virtually nothing to see north
of High Pines. The marshes of High Pines were beleagured by
windsurfers buzzing the water's edge and a couple of them were even
jumping the HP peninsula at peak tide. Needless to say the birdlife
was not amused and not much in evidence. No respite on the ocean
side either as there were vehicles practically wheel-to-wheel the
length of the beach down to the 3rd crossover. Both days were sunny,
in the low 70s and very breezy 10-20mph.
The highlights were
7/5: A flock of 11 Dowitchers speeding down the bayside about 20
feet above the water and then circled the High Pines marsh and
appeared ready to land in the marsh by the cove south of HP, but for
no apparent reason they suddenly accelerated their pace - rising up
to 50 or more feet this time - and headed southwest toward the
channel leading out of the Bay.
7/5 From the Plum Hills parking lot I scoped an Oystercatcher in the
grasses at water's edge on the Saquish side of the Gurnet Marsh. The
nor'easter and high tides of late June that wiped out the nest seems
to have resulted in most of the AMOYs moving on ( I had 10 in
mid-June). I hope to look for them specifically this coming week,
but observing is now difficult due to the high grass and timing of
the tides. Who knows, maybe "our" birds are the ones that recently
showed up on Plum Island! The pair of unsuccessful breeders are
sporting yellow bands marked MX and MY.
7/11 While in the pulloff by the marsh south of HP, I noted a dark
bird coming up the shoreline with no white in its wings. As it got
closer its long bill became apparent, and my first Whimbrel of the
season flew past me. As it reached HP it circled back and landed in
the marsh with a cluster of 4 Willets.
7/11 A Piping Plover is still incubating her 4 eggs in the
exclosure not far off the road just north of the 3rd xover. Any day now.....
Shorebird counts (7/5), (7/11)
Black-bellied Plover 6, 15
Piping Plover 6 (4 ad 2 juv), 8 (5 ad, 3 juv)
Killdeer 2, 2
Am. Oystercatcher 1, 0
Greater Yellowlegs 0, 0 (4 on 7/9) FOF (First of Fall)
Willet 21, 34 (85-100 on 7/9)
Whimbrel 0, 1 (FOF)
Least Sandpiper 6, 9
Short-billed Dowitcher 11, 5
And... the official ISS count period resumes 7/15 after a 30 day hiatus....
Rick Bowes
Duxbury, MA
rbowes(at)bowesweb.com
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Marblehead Harbor American Oystercatcher-7/12-
credit David Ely
From: adn315(AT)aol.com
Date: 12 Jul 2009 5:28pm
----INCLUDING text/plain MIME SECTION----
Massbird,
>From the lighthouse David had one flying down the harbor a day or two
ago.Today, I got a single bird which came in
just about at low tide on the rocks furthest from the harbor seawall.
Sanctuary- have started looking for a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron recently
without success- no postings
on the board.
Davis Noble
Marblehead, Ma.
adn315(AT)aol.com
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[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Big cone crop
From: Tombwhawk(AT)aol.com
Date: 12 Jul 2009 7:42pm
----INCLUDING text/plain MIME SECTION----
Hi Folks:
I have spent some time in the Quabbin area, several days in Berkshire
County and around Hampshire County. Every where I have been I have
noticed a heavy Eastern Pine cone crop this summer. Also on some of the White
Ash trees some have no seeds developing where others seem to be loaded with
new seeds. This could help in a Northern Finch invasion hopefully this
coming late Fall and Winter.
On Friday, July 10th there was a male Hooded Warbler still singing in
the town of Sheffield. In Egremont we found a beautiful male Ring-necked
Pheasant. First one I have seen in several years.
Tom Gagnon, Florence (Bear Country) Massachusetts
**************An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy
Steps!
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222377098x1201454399/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd=Jul
yExcfooterNO62)
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[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: Vesper Sparrow Confirmed, Townsend 6, 7/12
From: MResch8702(AT)aol.com
Date: 12 Jul 2009 8:24pm
----INCLUDING text/plain MIME SECTION----
Each of the last 2 years I've had a lone singing male Vesper Sparrow in my
Townsend 6 BBS block in what used to be a sand quarry. Never any sign of
a female or nesting activities. Today I went back to the same spot and had
no singing Vespers but ran into a juvenile Vesper Sparrow - confirmed!
I've lately found that spishing works well to attract juveniles. Worked
today for the juvenile Vesper, Song, Chipping and Field Sparrows, and
Yellowthroat, House Wren, Hermit Thrush, and Indigo Bunting.
Also ran into a family of Killdeer with 3 tiny babies - so cute!
Yesterday had a family of Barred Owls - 1 adult and at least 2 young
squawking for food. The adult had a very large bird in its talons that looked
like a Cooper's Hawk. The bird was almost as large as the owl. Wow!
Atlasing sure is fun!
Mike Resch
Pepperell, MA
**************An Excellent Credit Score is 750. See Yours in Just 2 Easy
Steps!
(http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222377098x1201454399/aol?redir=http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=668072&hmpgID=62&bcd=Jul
yExcfooterNO62)
----DELETED text/html MIME SECTION----
[ << | >> | ^^ ]
Subject: CT Report 07/12/2009
From: Roy Harvey <rmharvey(AT)snet.net>
Date: 12 Jul 2009 10:50pm
From Mardi & Townsend Dickinson, Captain Steve Nezas & Deanne:
07/11/09 - Norwalk, Norwalk Islands, Westport mid waters--
7AM-11:30AM, PARISITIC JEAGAR, 12 WILSON'S STORM PETRELS. 5PM-7:45PM,
15 WILSON'S STORM PETRELS.
07/12/09 - Norwalk, Norwalk Islands -- 6:30AM-10:30AM, 20+ WILSON'S
STORM PETRELS two rafts of 10+ in each. Plus I picked up a shearwater
type but could not catch it to ID it. The shearwater was cruising at
quite a clip. 8 adult BLACK SKIMMERS on Norwalk sand bar beyond
Calf's Pasture going out. Hopefully tomorrow we can Id something new.
Photographs taken.
From Glenn Williams and Phil Rusch:
07/12/09 - Stonington, Stonington Point -- 7:30-10:00AM, 26 Wilson's
Storm-petrels.
07/12/09 - Groton, Avery Point -- 4 Common Eiders.
From Al Collins:
07/12/09 - Stamford offshore -- 4 Wilson's Storm Petrels.
07/11/09 - Stamford offshore -- 1 Wilson's Storm Petrel.
From John Marshall with Roy Harvey:
07/12/09 - Roxbury, Painter Hill Rdj -- SEDGE WREN, telephone pole
544, across from the dirt road, toward the white barns and fence,
coordinate N41 degrees 34.508 minutes, W73 degrees 17.986 minutes,
singing steadily from 5:25 to 5:55, then less regularly until 7:30
between poles 834 and 544. Not heard from 7:30 to 8:10. Note that
poles 834 (original reported location) and 544 are adjacent to each
other, 834 to the left and 544 to the right.
From Frank Mantlik:
07/12/09 - Stratford, Short Beach Park -- 11:15 am, 5 adult BLACK
SKIMMERS resting on low-tide bars of Housatonic River.
From Mark Scott:
07/11/09 - Westbrook marshes, south side of Shoreline East train
tracks -- LITTLE BLUE HERON.
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