There, there, there and back again

Spring keeps rolling on in! It's been another interesting and exciting week around the region. In fact, with all that's happened, I'm kind of dumb-founded to think that only seven days ago I was on Nantucket with the gang.

Tuesday, the day of the Red Sox re-opener in Oakland, I led a woodcock walk at the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary. Kathy Clayton, a fellow program leader, and I had seen them displaying back on March 9, and they were still at it hot and heavy earlier this week. Walking the trails at the sanctuary we had a sharp-shinned hawk, northern harriers, our northern shrike and more. All in all, a wonderful night that ended with a strange distant sound that may have been a fisher attack. But it was so drowned out by the sound of the hundreds of spring peepers around the sanctuary that we may never know.

Wednesday I attended the Mass Audubon education staff meeting at the Broadmoor Wildlife Sanctuary in Natick. As is my custom, I got there early enough to walk for an hour around the property, catching some early moring tree swallows on their boxes, as shown above. During the lunch break I got the chance to visit the resident great horned owl nest on the property, at left. The owl's moved in on an old heron nest, and if I was the heron, I think I'd take it up in court rather than try to make the eviction myself.

That night, I headed for the Lloyd Center in Dartmouth to help with a Breeding Bird Atlas 2 meeting (I'm a regional coordinator for the project). While witnessing a red-shouldered hawk display put on by the staff, I heard the familiar hoot of a barred owl in the distance. I then gave it my best "Who cooks for you?" and called in a dueting pair, a probable breeding record for the area. Great horned and barred in one day, without any darkness! What are the chances?

Thursday brought a meeting at Plimoth Plantation forthe upcoming FlightPath exhibit of shorebird photography from Plymouth Beach, and Friday, of course, meant Friday Morning Birders. For the four billionth Friday in a row, it rained. No worries!  David Ludlow and I found 56 species of birds for our attendees, including American kestrels and Wilson's snipes at the Daniel Webster Widlife Sanctuary in Marshfield, and this mute swan at Store Pond in Plymouth, one of three we saw sitting on nests around that city. We also found a Canada goose on a nest in Marshfield, and a total of seven confirmed breeding records in the region. I told you spring was here...

This morning I led "All Around the Mouth of the North River," based on my new book The North River: Scenic Waterway of the South Shore, now out from the History Press. Got my first great egret of the season, out on Damon's Point in Marshfield, and first chipping sparrow, right outside my window at the North River Wildlife Sanctuary office. I guess no matter how far you roam, there's always a reason to come home.

Tonight is "Timberdoodles and Tapas!" Every good birding adventure starts with hors d'oeuvres, I always say.