Off and Running
Are you ready for all this? Here's a rundown of the past two weeks.
On Monday, April 7, a friend and I took a common day off to visit Cape Cod for some birding. We started with a pre-dawn walk at the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield to check unsuccessfully for owls, but instead scored timberdoodling American woodcocks. From there, it was straight - okay, with a Dunkin' Donuts stop on the way - to the Beech Forest in Provincetown, where she fed the chickadees and red-breasted nuthatches by hand while I snapped some pics. At Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary we met the little blue heron at left, and on we rolled until we ran out of Cape to see. After crossing the bridge for home we stopped at the Myles Standish State Forest to listen for singing pine warblers and watch for foraging ring-necked pheasants.
The next day I joined three other birders, Charlie, Joe and Allan, on an exploratory walk through Scituate's Glades for the Breeding Bird Atlas 2 project, finding a surprise osprey on a pole that was not used in 2007. That afternoon, the South Shore Sanctuaries staff brought a van full of volunteers to Mass Audubon's Visual Arts Center in Canton to see the current exhibit and even a little behind the scenes. That night, I led a woodcock walk at Daniel Webster, finding a sharp-shinned hawk and a northern shrike on the way to Fox Hill, and numerous woodcocks doing their thang in the failing light of the setting sun.
The next week was a blur - eye doctor, Friday Morning Birding, Celtics game (the win against the Bucks), two days in Maine (L.L. Bean, bowling, Scarborough Marsh, Cape Elizabeth, Portland Head Lighthouse, Lenny the 1700-pound chocolate moose, left). On Monday the 14th, I gave a talk on hawks and owls to the folks at the Duxbury Senior Center, then did our North Hill Marsh Waterfowl Survey (ring-necked ducks, wood ducks, green-winged teals). Tuesday night the 15th I gave a talk on Mass Audubon's Baltimore Oriole project, and on Wednesday I met a friend in Boston for burritos and a chance to see the fork-tailed flycatcher in Brighton, also a miss.
Thursday I "atlased" a block with a friend who needed some tips on places to go, and Friday, with my co-leader David Ludlow chasing Henslow's sparrows in North Carolina, I led Friday Morning Birders to Duxbury Beach and the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary, picking up several new birds for the year (eastern towhee, greater yellowlegs, black-bellied plover, etc.). Saturday morning I led a sunrise walk at the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary and then the Friday Morning Rewind, retracing our Friday morning steps for those who missed them. The sunrise walk in particular did not disappoint, with a palm warbler, a lingering rough-legged hawk and more.
Sunday morning, after brunch, I received a call from Tim O'Neil, who had led our full moon hayride on Saturday night at Daniel Webster. Snow goose! Luckily, as you can see, it was still there when I got there this foggy morning, Tuesday, while working my breeding bird atlas block.
Got all that? Good, because I have to pack. I'm off to the Finger Lakes for a few days of rest, relaxation and...birding.
