| Bill & Nancy's Bird Diary |
31 August 2008
We spotted a Perigrine Falcon over the Southbridge Airport.
Nighthawk Watch
-25, 26, 27 August 2008
We had numerous folks join us for a 3 day nighthawk watch. We started off from the store each evening at 6:00pm. On Monday the 26th we walked along Route 20 eastbound and spotted 52 nighthawks along with sparrows, mourning doves and a nice look at a yellow warbler. Our best stop on the nighthawk watch was in Friendly's parking lot. Armed with binoculars and fortified with ice cream cones we had great looks at the nighthawks feeding low over the Friendly's parking area.
On Tuesday the 27th we ventured to Morse Road and out along the river, we saw 46 nighthawks, numerous cedar waxwings and had a great horned owl calling across the river.
On Wednesday the 28th we walked around the backside of the elementary school and out along Cedar Lake. We spotted 24 nighthawks, sparrows, mourning doves, chipping sparrows, crows and gulls.
We had nice weather all three evenings and while the numbers were not large we had a great time.
-16 August 2008
We took an early morning walk to Westville Dam on Saturday August 16th. The day was bright and the wildflowers and swamp weeds were blooming brightly! We saw or heard European Starling, Gray Catbird, Mourning Dove, Tree Swallow, American Crow, American Goldfinch, Barn Swallow, Cedar Waxwing, Great Blue Heron, Chimney Swift, Blue Jay, Eastern Kingbird, Song Sparrow, Yellow Warbler, Eastern Phoebe, Common Yellowthroat, House Wren, Downy Woodpecker, Mallard, Ruby throated Hummingbird, Meadowlark, and Killdeer.
-3 June 2008
Sunset Kayak Trip Quinebaug River Canoe Trail
We had another nice evening kayaking on the Quinebaug River Canoe Trail. Once again the weather had been questionable during the day, but it turned out to be a nice evening with comfortable temperatures and a nice breeze which kept the mosquitos at bay.
We saw or heard American Robin, Blue Jay, Red-winged Blackbird, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Kingbird, Veery, Great Blue Heron, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Virginia Rail, Grackle, Tree Swallow, Coopers Hawk (with prey in it's talons), Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Warbling Vireo, Mallard, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Warbler, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker and Hairy Woodpecker. We also had good looks at Muskrat and Beaver, and heard Bull Frog, Green Frog, and Gray Tree Frog.
-20 May 2008
Sunset Kayak Trip Quaboag River
It wasn't a sunny evening, but our first sunset kayak trip was enjoyed by all. It turned out to be an overcast evening and it was a bit cool, but the upside was there were no mosquitoes!
We had great looks at yellow warblers that were glowing like little yellow orbs just 10 feet away on the tips of the swamp grass. We also saw or heard Turkey Vulture, Mourning Dove, Robin, Blue Jay, Cardinal, Great Blue Heron, Mallard, Wood Duck, Kingfisher, Red winged Blackbird, Grackle, Catbird, Canada Goose, Common Yellowthroat, Warbling Vireo, Green Heron, Baltimore Oriole, Tree Swallow, Eastern Kingbird, Common Nighthawk, Veery, and Swamp Sparrow. Our mammals included Beaver, Muskrat, and Deer. All and all a nice paddle.
-31 March, 2008 - Salamanders on the move
Tonight is a warm rainy night, we saw 19 salamanders on the road to Holland. Keep looking...salamander migration is on.
-19 March, 2008 - On the lookout for Salamanders
It was one of the first rainy nights of spring, and some brave souls came out to look for salamanders. The weather just didn't cooperate, it was less rainy than predicted and it was a bit too cold. We did find 3 Wood Frogs and after the group dispersed we did find 1 salamander. Keep your eyes open for the next rainy night.
-16 February, 2008
Brimfield/Holland
It was one of those frigid February mornings, with temperatures in the teens. Not the kind of day that you would normally see a lot of species. But this trip was graced with 37 species of birds. The birders made their way through locations in Brimfield and Holland and turned up the following:
Hooded Merganser 5, Common Merganser 5, Wild Turkey 2,Turkey Vulture 1, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, Coopers Hawk 1, Red tailed Hawk 1, Ring-billed Gull 4,Rock Pigeon 7,Mourning Dove 20, Belted Kingfisher 1, Red-bellied Woodpecker 3,Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1, Downy Woodpecker 8,Hairy Woodpecker 2, Blue Jay 25, American Crow 15, Common Raven 2, Black-capped Chickadee 18, Tufted Titmouse 8, White-breasted Nuthatch 3, Carolina Wren 1, Golden-crowned Kinglet 1, American Robin 1, European Starling 30, American Tree Sparrow 6, Song Sparrow 4, White-throated Sparrow 2, Dark-eyed Junco 23, Northern Cardinal 7, Red-winged Blackbird 7, Pine Grosbeak 3, House Finch 20, Common Redpoll 30, Pine Siskin 6, American Goldfinch 21, House Sparrow 23
|
