Small Earthquake

Looks like we just had a small earthquake in New England.

And I thought earthquakes were why I moved to MA instead of the west coast!

Wednesday Update: here is a link to an article from NPR.

Birds, Blogs, and Windows

Since starting this blog I have been searching for more local birding blogs. One of my favorites that I have found is Circling the Smiling Pond. I thought it would be nice to share this blog with you in lieu of my own adventures which have been sorely lacking. This blog frequently explores the Charles River Peninsula and other areas in Needham and further afield as well. Two of the author's recent posts have been about birds and window strikes (a downy, and a pine warbler) and made me remember that NPR recently had some articles on the danger that windows pose for birds and how to mitigate them:

How Glass Kills Birds
How to Make a Bird Friendly Building
Architects Aim for Safer Skies

This particularly makes me thing of the construction at the Hammond Pond shopping area and it makes me shudder to think about how many birds we will loose if these new buildings have lots of glass and don't take into consideration our migrating friends. My only experience so far with window fatalities was a dead cuckoo in the parking garage of my former job. A 12 story glass building was immediately adjacent and must have proffered the offending window.

Praying Mantis

This morning I was walking to work in Newton when something flying caught my eye.  It had the look of a very large but skinny insect. I stepped closer to get get a better look as this fine specimen climbed up a shrub on improbably long and skinny legs.

After getting some pictures I tried to discover more about this preying mantis. While I am certainly no expert on insects a little hunting around online led me to believe that this was a Chinese Mantis. Apparently preying mantis is the common term for all mantids, of which there are several thousand species. The Chinese mantis was introduced to the US in 1895 for pest control and is now established in the northeast as the largest mantid we will find. The mantis has sharp spines on its forelegs that it uses to catch prey. The craziest thing that I learned was that there has even been a documentation of a one of these Chinese mantids catching a hummingbird, though probably rare occurrence.

Plovers, Sandpipers, and Herons at Hammond Pond

White-breasted Nuthatch

 I've already mentioned the spotted sandpipers that frequent Hammond Pond, but I wanted to head back and see if I could find more shorebirds. One of the effects of the eutrophication of Hammond Pond is that there are some very shallow mud banks where silt and run off are beginning to fill in the pond. When the water level is low, has happens frequently in late summer, the mud flats are exposed, making this a great stopping point for migrating shorebirds. While eutrophication may not be good for the health of the pond, it does have a nice side effect for birders.

On my recent visit to Hammond pond I caught a number of Canada geese and a few mallards before I could faintly make out a green heron across the pond. In the parking lot I made out some white breasted nuthatches, chickadees, and a goldfinch.  At the  overlook on the North side of the pond, I could make out no fewer than three green herons and a great blue. On the mudflats to the east there were several killdeer making a ruckus. My pictures of the shorebirds all turned out horrible due to the glaring sun and distance. A few spotted sandpipers were working the lily pads and mud flats and occasionally flew around the pond in search of a new foraging area. But then I noticed maybe five small sandpipers that were dwarfed by the killdeer. I think they were least sandpipers, but I have trouble identifying peeps (and other shorebirds for that matter). In a previous summer I even caught a semipalmated plover which was quite a surprise. For me these shorebirds may be some of the best in Newton (though I haven't fully explored the purgatory cove area much...) making Hammond Pond fun birding spot in the late summer and early fall.

The Black-bellied Whistling-duck of Great Meadows

Black-bellied Whistling-duck

 It has been too long since I got out for some serious birding. I decided that my first trip out on Sept 1st should be to Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Concord Unit. (There is also a really great blog about Great Meadows with useful information.) While not in Newton, Great Meadows is about a 30 minute drive from Newton and is one of the closest major birding spots in our area with lots of waterfowl and other water loving birds.

In July a couple of black-bellied whistling-ducks showed up at great meadows and drew a lot of attention. The northern edge of this whistling-ducks' range is the very southern tip of Texas, so having one show up in MA was quite a treat. I had seen a few weeks ago that the whistling-duck was still hanging around and thought I'd make Great Meadows my destination and see if the whistling-duck wasn't hanging around.

Great Egret in the American Lotus

Upon arriving at at the Great Meadows parking lot, I instantly heard cedar waxwings, catbirds, a Carolina wren, and robins. Then as I made my way down the dike path between the two pools I could start to make out some herons. When I was finally able to see between the cattails I could make out great blue herons, great egrets, a snowy egret, and a whole mess of canada geese. (The snowy egret is rather unusual for this location.) While I was watching the herons another birder said that there was a really rare duck just further up the path, and so I headed that way thinking of the black-bellied whistling-duck. 

Carpenter Bee and Evening Primrose

I was in luck, the whistling-duck was up on a muskrat lodge in easy viewing distance from the trail. I tried to catch some pictures and got some that were good enough to show him off. But I soon realized that the other photographers were getting far better shots with their better equipment (if you would like to see some better pictures check them out at this blog).  I was still excited to take what pictures I could and to have such great views of the bright red-orange bill and white eye-ring. At first he was sleeping, then he stood up for a little while before flying into the water next to a pair of black ducks, probably foraging time. While watching the whistling-duck, I also spotted some wood ducks and mallards. The water was quite low in the pools so there didn't seem to be as much activity as there could have been.

Common Whitetail Dragonfly

Further along the dike, there was a painted turtle sitting on a leaf of an American Lotus and a large variety of dragonflies hovering over the path. I heard a pair of warbling vireos in the trees by the river while there was a large flock of red-wing blackbirds over the cattails of the upper pool. My last two good finds of the day were an osprey flying over the pines to the east and an accipiter who flew about 10 feet away from my head as I stood in wonder watching as she headed into the trees.

The Owl and the Nuthatch

These were certainly an odd pair of birds for accidental sightings within 12 hours.

Last night I was relaxing beside an open window enjoying our current cool night air when the insect chorus was joined by a new songster. This was a rolling whistle and it took me a minute to recognize it for the "whinny" song of an Eastern screech owl. His song was soft and blended in with he other nights sounds. Some night I'll have to I find him, if I hear him again. Just as I started to make an audio recording, his song became softer and I'm not sure that it's good enough to share. Earlier in the spring I heard the "bounce" song of a screech owl in Newton as well, they apparently are doing well in our suburban environment. If you would like to listen to the different screech owl songs, Owl Pages has great recordings, though they refer to the whinny as the B-song and the bounce as the A-song.

Then this morning walking Newton Centre, I was startled by the call of a red-breasted nuthatch! My first in Massachusetts. While the song of the more familiar white-breasted nuthatch is similar, the red-breasted sounds more like a kid playing a toy trumpet: "yang-yang-yang."

All in all two great surprises to find, let alone within 12 hours.

Fieldnotes from the Midwest

 While I haven't been exploring locally recently, I thought I'd make up for it by sharing some of my finds from the Midwest.  I find it slightly ironic that many of my new life-birds (and 5 of the 6 species shown here) can also be found in Massachusetts, though with much less frequency.

Upland Sandpiper

One of my target birds was the Upland Sandpiper and now after encountering a few families of these birds, they have become a favorite. I was lucky enough to have a few pose for photographs and was able to hear its distinctive wolf-whistle song. These sandpipers were heavily hunted for game and is still targeted in the West Indies during migration. The past and present hunting combined with decreases in suitable habitat means that the upland is showing alarming population declines. In the northeast, the upland sandpiper lives almost exclusively at airports and in MA they can be found at Hanscom AFB in Concord, Plymouth Airport, and Otis Air Field on the Cape. I am determined now that I will have to search for a upland sandpiper in MA.

Dickcissel

The dickcissel's coloration is similar to that of the meadowlark, with a black V across his yellow chest. While quite sparrow-like the dickcissel is actually more related to cardinals. While they prefer extensive grasslands and fields of the midwest, they travel widely and some may be moving East. Dickcissels are also regular vagrants in MA, and there are even two ebird records in Newton (one of which is at Nahanton Park), while they are found more often at Millennium Park in the fall.

Gray Partridge

The when I first spotted a pair of gray partridge, I was hoping to find a bobwhite, grouse, or other native bird, but the partridge was introduced from Eurasia for hunting, much like the ring-necked pheasant. Even though they aren't native, they were an excellent find.

While not found in MA, the closest location to find them is up around Montreal.

Spotted Towhee

This spotted towhee is the western cousin of our more familiar eastern towhee except with white spots on his back. Their songs also share many similarities.

While very rare in MA, just at the beginning of this year one was found in Rockport.

Red-headed Woodpecker

I don't think I am at risk of offending anyone by saying that I think the red-headed woodpecker is the most stunning woodpecker in the states. Apparently a quite aggressive bird in maintaining territory and will also destroy nests of other species.

While the red-headed woodpecker is most common in the south and midwest and uncommon in MA, there is currently an individual that many have seen at New England Biolabs in Ipswich.

Lark Sparrow

The lark sparrow's distinctive facial pattern sets it apart from other sparrows and makes it easily identified.

Along with the dickcissel, the lark sparrow is a rare but regular vagrant in MA, with a number of sightings each fall, with the nearest ebird sightings at Millennium Park.