Road Trips (2): Quincy MA

Ruby on rail

Our other road trip this summer was to Quincy, Massachusetts for our favorite science-fiction convention, Readercon, which I blogged about a couple of years ago.

such purple, very finch, wow

Our friends Barbara and Jim drove us up, and as we do every year we stopped at Traveler Food and Books in Union CT (they seem to have no website, but here's a newspaper story about them). They have good food, a used bookstore in the basement, and they give away free books with every meal; highly recommended.

They also have bird feeders right outside their window, and the feeders are quite active.

eating on the run

So we got in some bird-watching while we ate. (I don't seem to have ever blogged about the place before; how odd.)

looking sharp

Even through the window, I got some pretty decent photos. The hummingbird feeder was used by four birds, which I think were a female with two fledglings, and a male.

showing the kid the ropes

Telling a female from a juvenile is hard with Ruby-Throateds, but I saw one plain-throated bird bird show up with another on two occasions, and the second bird I think was different each time.

what the heck, one more hummingbird photo

And the male came from the opposite direction. Males have nothing to do with raising the young, anyway.

Readercon used to be in Burlington MA, and we'd go to Middlesex Fells on the first morning before the con began. This year, we went instead to the nearby Blue Hills Reservation. It seems very nice, but we got there a bit late in the morning, so the birding was slow. We did hear a bunch of singing Scarlet Tanagers, but nothing presented itself for a good photo.

full bloom of youth

The hotel in Quincy was set on the top of a hill, and at the bottom was a nice pond. Ther were geese and ducks, of course, and a Green Heron hunted on the far side. Closer up, the Red-Winged Blackbirds were abundant, including the interesting bird above, one of a group of what appeared to all be young males. Note the epaulettes; I don't think I've seen them so yellow before.

color photo, black-and-white scene

Also there were chickadees chasing each other around in low trees. This fellow had a lot to say, both singing and scolding.

Mother's Day Fallout

Prairie Warbler

One thing you will hear birders talk about is "fallout". This doesn't have anything to do with nuclear weapons--it's about bird migration. Sometimes during the spring migration, when conditions are just right--southerly winds at night, then rain a little before dawn and heavier storms just to the north--you wake up in the morning to find that migrating birds have descended on local parks and green spaces in huge numbers. They've been forced to fly low by the rain, and some have had to turn back from the storms in the north, and they all fall out of the sky after a long night's flight to frantically feed and then rest for the next night's flight.

On Mother's Day, May 8, New York City had an epic fallout event. By noon, according to one experienced birder's compilation of observations over a hundred species of bird had been seen in Central Park, including two dozen kind of warbler.

American Bittern

In the Ramble, three very unusual migrants were within a hundred yards of each other. In the area called the Oven, and American Bittern spent the day hunting in the tall reeds. It's bulbous form was clearly visible from the rocks overlooking the Oven from the west ("Willow Rock").

After the early rain, it turned into a beautiful day, and many people rented rowboats on the Central Park Lake. When they approached the Oven, birders would call to the rowers to turn back so as not to disturb the Bittern by coming too close.

Chuck-Will's-Widow

Fifty yards to the northeast, a Chuck-Will's-Widow roosted very close to a path. Chuck-Will's-Widow (named for its call) is a nighttime hunter of insects. By the time it was discovered in the mid-morning, it had eaten its fill and was quietly waiting for evening, relying on its cryptic coloration to hide it from the large mammals only a few yards away.

Let me digress here. On twitter, I saw a drawing by Alan Messer of the Chuck and environs. It's a great example of how drawing can sometimes be much truer than photography. The detail and depth-of-field of the drawing were simply not possible in a photo under the dim lighting.

Yellow-Crowned Night Heron

Fifty yards in the other direction from the Bittern, a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron hid out at the end of the Point, red eye glaring balefully out of the depths of a willow tree. So, three birds, all rare visitors to Central Park, sen within about ten minutes.

Veery

Of course, there were a lot of more expected migrants. All the brown thrushes were in, like the Veery above. On the south slope of Summit Rock, right by Central Park West, Tom Fiore had sixty thrushes in an area about 40x50 feet, including Hermit Thrush, Veery, Swainson's Thrush, Wood Thrush and Gray-Cheeked Thrush at least.

Cape May Warbler

Maybe the biggest story was the warblers. According to Tom Fiore's end-of-day roundup of sightings, people saw at least 28 species of warbler in the park (among 115 or more total species) by day's end.

Hooded Warbler

Considering that there are only 35 or 36 species of warbler that move through the area in migration, and three of them are normally done migrating before May, 28 in a day is really impressive. (I had only twelve that day, myself, and 48 total species, but a big chunk of my day was spent on social obligations.)

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

And of course, the full complement of permanent resident birds were on hand. Here's a Red-Bellied Woodpecker portrait to finish up.

Winter woodpeckers and such

There's quite a variety of woodpeckers in Central Park this winter. To start with, there's a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers, who I've mostly seen in the Ramble between the Gill and the Ramble Arch. The male is an exceptionally fine-looking bird.

hello, handsome!

Isn't that a good-looking bird?

The hairy's smaller cousins, Downy Woodpeckers, have been all over the place.

ohsocute!

A few Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are overwintering, which I don't think I've seen in Central Park before. I'm told they're fairly common at this latitude in winter, however.

just hanging out

The ones I've seen on my morning walks like to hang motionless off trees. i think they're waiting for sun to warm up the sap.

There are quite a number of Red-Bellied Woodpeckers around. This one likes to stash food in the posts of Laupot Bridge.

clever bird

The White-Breasted Nuthatch isn't a woodpecker, but they also stash food in odd places. They're a little more secretive about it, though.

waiting for me to go away

First signs of Spring

This morning I watched four Red-Bellied Woodpeckers converge on a tree at Azalea Pond in Central Park and have a full and frank exchange of views.  It was the first time this year I've heard Red-Bellieds giving their territorial "kwirr!" call.

Elsewhere in the Ramble, I watched a Hairy Woodpecker at work--large he was, and handsome; and had a brief glimpse of a Red-Breasted Nuthatch.  Those were both first-of-year sightings for me.

By the Ramble Arch, a House Finch sang loudly and persistently, trying to hasten the Spring.

A New Birding Year begins

The year got off to a slowish start for me. Usually, I spend New Year's Day going all over Central Park getting as many ordinary birds as possible along with whatever rarities are around. I do it this way because I use the eBird "year Needs" list, and it's a little annoying to see dozens of "Common Grackle" reports for the first few days of the year.

This year, though, I decided to start by looking for the several rarities I knew were around Manhattan. I started with a swing around the Reservoir, where the three drake Ring-Necked Ducks are still in residence,

ducks in residence

and then went down to the Village for another look at Couch's Kingbird, who put in a quick appearance.

continuing Kingbird

Then I sent up to Hudson River park in Chelsea, where I dipped on my old friend the Eurasian Collared-Dove, who I know is still around. I also didn't see any of the resident Ravens. I decided to to troll Riverside Park looking for the Black-Headed Gull found there by Jacob Drucker. I'm not sure I'd know a Black-Headed Gull if it crapped on me.

Friday and Saturday I was in Central Park, which was a bit sparse. I did have both Sharp-Shinned and Cooper's Hawks at Maintenance on Friday, and the Chipping Sparrow is still maintaining his place at the Evodia feeders against all comers.

Chipping Sparrow tells a Titmouse what's what

Sunday I finally made it up to Randall's Island, where several remarkable birds--Tennessee Warbler! Cackling Goose! Orange-Crowned Warbler! Lesser Black-backed Gull!-- had been reported, but none of them appeared for me. I did see Field Sparrows.

rather late for Field Sparrows

Always a cheerful sight, they were hanging around with a small flock of Juncos and a few House Sparrows, which was working both sides of the Bronx Kill west of the railroad bridge.

And since then, my morning jaunts through the Ramble on my way to the subway have started filling in my species list.

confiding woodpecker

How's your New Birding Year going?

Busy days in the Ramble

Friday, I got out of work early and visited Central Park in search of a Bluebird reported in the Ramble by Alice Deutsch. I went back on Saturday morning for a longer walk. No Bluebirds, but the Ramble was very birdy. The normal winter residents were out in force. There were Tufted Titmousim (Titmouses? Titmousoi?) in great numbers.

Titmouse in morning light

There were plenty of White-Breasted Nuthatches around, too.

Nuthatch doing the Nuthatch thing

There's usually several Red-Bellied Woodpeckers in the Ramble, but I think there are more than usual now.

finding something to eat in the post on the bridge railing

Red-Bellieds are usually sedentary, but I have read that the will migrate sometimes when conditions are bad on their home grounds.

Among more traditionally migratory birds, there are a lot of Fox Sparrows around.

e pluribus Fox Sparrow

I saw a dozen on Friday and nearly as many Saturday, mostly in Mugger's Woods.

Saturday, there were a couple of Rusty Blackbirds going up and down the Gill between Azalea Pond and Laupot Bridge.

infrequent visitor

They were very confiding. Rustys are not regular visitors to the Park, although we usually get a few sightings.

Among a cloud of Goldfinches bathing near the Gill Overlook, there were four or five Pine Siskins.

blending in with the Goldfinches

Siskins seem to be irrupting this winter, so there will likely be a lot of sightings in the next few months. I wonder if Crossbills will come in as well?

While looking around the Tanner's Spring area just before leaving the Park, I mused that I hadn't seen any Kestrels lately. Of course, I hadn't been searching too hard; I reasoned that if some regularly scanned their usual perches long Central Park West, they could probably see one every day.

Right after that, in the meadow just north of Winterdale Arch, I saw a bird fly onto a low branch of a tree full of Robins and some other birds. It few out again immediately, followed--after a stunned half-second--by every bird in the meadow. It was a Kestrel, and he had just snatched a Junco right off the branch.

Kestrel, Junco prey, and a mobbing Blue Jay

The kestrel was mobbed by Blue Jays, Robins, Mourning Doves, Sparrows, and whatever else was around. They chased him from tree to tree, back and forth across the whole area, the Jays screaming, the Kestrel calling a shrill kli kli kli kli kli. The Kestrel would light in a tree with his prey, still calling, and some seconds later fly off again, Jays and allies in hot pursuit. Two or three times a piercing shriek rose above the general clamor. I don't know if it was the Kestrel screaming, or the world's angriest Jay, or perhaps even the unfortunate Junco.

I wish I were good at photographing birds in flight, it was quite a sight in my binoculars. After five minutes or so, The Kestrel finally flew far enough away that many of the pursuing birds gave up. Unforgettable!

Photo interlude

I didn't go anywhere interesting today. Nothing much came in today that I heard about--maybe a few more Black-and-White Warblers out on the Point--so here's a few recent photos I haven't put on the blog already.

Cedar Waxwings, I love their little pot bellies.

It's easy to overlook what a good-looking bird a White-Throated Sparrow is.

The drab Pine Warbler that spent most of the winter in the Ramble hasn't been seen in a while. I guess that's another story whose ending I'll never know.

We're still seeing the Baltimore Orio;les who overwintered near Evodia, though. I assume this male will have his pick of the best nesting areas, since there won't be any others for another week or two yet.

I wonder if this Ring-Necked drake I saw the other week is the one who was on the Reservoir during the winter. That one liked to pal arounmd with Mallards, too.

The "kwirr!" call of the Red-Bellied Woodpecker is a common sound in the Ramble now.