1/11 – TOWNSEND’S WARBLER and Gloucester

Yesterday, Jim Orrico and I headed up to the Cape Ann area of Massachusetts to chase the previously reported Townsend’s Warbler and to do some birding in the Gloucester area. The Townsend’s Warbler coupled with some great birds in Gloucester made the day a hugely successful one.

Our morning started off at Jim Berry’s house in Ipswich, where it didn’t take long to secure the adult female Townsend’s Warbler. We ended up spending over two hours with this stunner, enjoying the antics of the feeder birds and a nearby Hermit Thrush in between visits.

We then moved on to Gloucester, where, after enjoying an awesome seafood lunch with a first cycle Iceland Gull present just out the window, we headed to the Jodrey Fish Pier.

Our highlights at the pier included two more 1st cycle Iceland Gulls, a Razorbill, three Double-crested Cormorants and a Red-throated Loon.

Double-crested Cormorant

Our next stop was the Elks Club on Atlantic Road where some of the best birds included seven Red-necked Grebes, a Surf Scoter, a flyby Northern Pintail and last but not least, an ABSOLUTELY STUNNING adult male King Eider not 1000 yards offshore.

It was then time for Brace Cove, a gorgeous cove nestled into the shoreline. We ended up spending a while at the spot, just taking it all in and enjoying the birds. And they did not disappoint. Northern Pintail, Razorbill, Iceland Gull (1st cycle) and Gadwall were some of the highlights.

White-winged Scoter and Northern Pintail

Our last stop was the famous Niles Pond, where the gull show did not disappoint. Numbers below:

463 Herring Gull — a couple of odd individuals were present, one a candidate for Thayer’s, but we were unfortunately unable to go beyond that conclusion, which is often the case for odd HEGUs!

100 Great Black-backed Gull — this is not an estimate but an exact count of the Great Black-backeds present!

1 Glaucous Gull — an awesome first cycle bird.

3 Iceland Gull — two first cycle birds (one pale and one rather dark) and a fantastic adult.

Other great birds at the pond included Ring-necked and Ruddy Ducks and a number of Gadwall.

Glaucous Gull

Iceland Gull

Overall, it was a very successful day of birding. I am very excited to return to Gloucester (especially Niles Pond!), and Jim and I discussed spending another day later in the winter.

-Alex

1/6 – PINK-FOOTED GOOSE, Somers

Again with some free time today, my mom and I headed up to Somers to look for the Pink-footed Goose (Anser brachyrhynchus) found yesterday morning by Mike O’Leary. Pink-footed Goose is a bird I’ve wanted to see for a long time and is an exciting one to see in my home state. Yet, there was hardly any search element to seeing the bird.

Basically we pulled into the Somersville Pond lot around 11. I was surprised to not find any birders there but even more surprised to find the Pink-footed Goose after just two minutes of scanning through the flock. Around a half an hour later the geese were spooked but the first field we checked held what looked like the entire flock (including the Pink-footed Goose). We spent the next couple of hours enjoying this bird, which, much to our delight came pretty close and gave great looks just before we left. Definitely one of the most painless rare goose chases I’ve ever had!

Greg Hanisek provides fantastic detail in his blog post on the origins of this flock and other rare geese in Connecticut. Definitely worth checking out.

Photos and (phonescoped) video below:

What a bird!

-Alex

1/5 – Common Chaffinch, NJ

Common Chaffinch, Union Township, NJ

I was lucky enough to have some free time today, which gave my dad and I a chance to chase the Common Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) in Union Township, New Jersey. Found on December 20th, proving this bird of wild origin is a tricky matter. We ended up getting nice looks at the bird, seen twice for about a minute each time during a ten minute period.

In terms of origin, the current ABA Checklist lists four accepted records of Common Chaffinch in North America (singles in Newfoundland, Quebec, Nova Scotia and Massachusetts). As Paul Lehman mentioned, an important part in determining the provenance of this bird is knowing what subspecies it is. I am personally not familiar with Common Chaffinch subspecies at all, but this bird definitely appears to be of one of the northern races (either F. c. coelebs or F. c. gengleri). This is good in supporting wild origin, as a bird of a population from a more southern race (i.e. the Canaries or Azores) would almost surely be of captive origin. However, the northern populations (especially gengleri) are migratory. That knowledge paired with the fact that Common Chaffinch is one of the most abundant birds in Northern Europe leads to the conclusion that vagrancy by northern birds has occurred and could be the case here.

Also, the bird does not show any overt signs of captivity, such as bands, rings or wear on feathers and tail or out-of-season molt. Behavior-wise, the Chaffinch was loosely associating with a flock of White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos and has been seen around the property in the company of these birds. Nothing about the bird’s actions seen so far point to captivity.

So, we have a Common Chaffinch, likely a bird of the migratory northern races on the east coast of North America. The bird does not display any overly apparent signs of captivity and is associating with the native species. Usually I’d be saying “awesome….everything points to countability, I’ll just put it on now.” That’s my usual approach with these kinds of birds – typically very liberal as to origin. Today on the ride home I asked myself the question: “If I were a member of the NJBRC, would I vote yes to this bird with the current information about it I currently possess?” The answer: NO. I realized, that, if I were a committee member, I’d want much more CONCRETE proof, be that a feather or bowel sample (to send in for testing) or a chance to band the bird and take a closer look at it myself. Although we can never be certain even with that information, I’d like a lot more info before I voted to accept this bird onto my state’s list.

Origin aside, it was a great bird to watch and an awesome one to have on this side of the Atlantic! Photos below:

-Alex

December 2011 Photo Quiz

The second of the monthly photo quizzes. As with the first, all photos in this quiz were taken in December 2011 and only December 2011. Answers can either be posted in the comments area of emailed to be at alexanderburdo AT mac DOT com.

(Note: Unlike last time some photos were NOT taken in the Northeast.)

Enjoy!

-AB

Paruli-day!

In preparation for tomorrow’s Westport CBC, I spent a good part of today scouting. I did most of the Pine Creek route, then moved over to Ash Creek for a while. In a word, today flabbergasted me. It was definitely my most successful birding day in Fairfield in December characterized by FOUR species of warbler: Nashville, Orange-crowned, Common Yellowthroat and Yellow-breasted Chat as well as other highlights such as Pied-billed Grebe, Peregrine Falcon, Winter Wren, Gray Catbird, Eastern Towhee, Fox Sparrow, both Kinglets, etc, etc. The four parulidae species were definitely the biggest highlight, the excitement of which will certainly take a while to rub off.

The Wood-Warb story basically went like this: Starting at Pine Creek, I immediately made my way up to the landfill. As I was walking up the hill, I thought I heard a chip that sounded like that of a Wood-Warbler and quickly stopped. Not two seconds later a Nashville Warbler flew in, quickly followed by an Orange-crowned. Photos were not obtained of these two, although the looks they gave were pretty darn good. Continuing on, I nabbed two Winter Wrens, one in the vicinity of the landfill and one near the base of the hill. Once down I made a sharp right, meaning to retrace my steps after I reached the Salt Meadow Road entrance. Crossing the small creek, I began to pish in the brush right near that entrance, hoping for a catbird (late cats had been seen here in years before) and instead got a Common Yellowthroat and Yellow-breasted Chat followed by a Gray Catbird. By this point I was absolutely shocked. Amazed. And just a little befuddled It would be a few hours and many more highlights seen before the day came to the end. None, however, matched the quartet of Wood-Warblers, although they were all pretty fun.

Photos below:

Common Yellowthroat

This bird looks like a 1st year female based on the VERY LIMITED extent of black on the face

Yellow-breasted Chat

Sharp-shinned Hawk

American Robin

Northern Harrier

Golden-crowned Kinglet

American Tree Sparrow

Almost seems to be saying "put the camera down and back away slowly and quietly"

-Alex