Sunday, October 13, 2013

Exciting sighting by Brian C.

Titmouse
Saw the 13 turkeys foraging a front yard on Winchester St. before I arrived at the park at about 7:45 a.m. It started off a little chilly at 46 degrees, but it was clear and the sun was coming out.

I ran into David T. in the lower gardens as he was leaving. He was excited to have seen a clay colored sparrow which sadly, I never did see. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of all the great birds that had been seen by Matt, Haynes and Mary Lou this week, but it wasn't to be. Did have fun watching the titmice, chickadees and nuthatches going crazy with the sunflower seed heads. This one is getting ready to chow down.

Nuthatch acrobatics
Saw many of our regulars; robins, blue jays, gold finches, song sparrows, catbird, and mourning doves. Then, as I rounded the bend of the path on the golf course side, I saw a bright yellow warbler. Couldn't quite identify it at first. The two closest birds in Sibley's were the prothonotary or a Wilson's. Then I saw a very colorful female or juvenile common yellowthroat. Thankfully, Jonathan turned up and we actually saw the bright yellow warbler again. We got a pretty good look at it and determined it was a female or juvenile Wilson's. The prothonotary would have been a long shot really.

By then, Mary Lou had arrived. We saw a couple of juncos house finches and chippers. A large "V" formation of Canada geese flew overhead. Several grackles appeared, some cardinals and a swamp sparrow.

Young Deer
As we headed to the upper gardens Mary Lou spotted a young deer who was heading that way as well! It was pretty quiet up there. Saw some chickadees, more chipping sparrows, several goldfinches, cardinals and a white throated sparrow.

As we were leaving, we met a guy named Will, who was from Concord. It was his first time at our park and he was there because he had seen a posting from Brian C. on Massbird. Brian, who had been at the park very early in the morning Saturday, saw a blue grosbeak!!!, and a rose breasted grosbeak in the lower gardens. He also found an American woodcock and three Eastern screech owls.

1 comment:

  1. Sorry to hear you missed the Clay-colored Sparrow, but at least it is still being seen. Oddly enough I had one in the yard this afternoon, totally odd and unexpected but glad I had the opportunity to study the one Nahanton with Haynes. Mine was in with a flock of house sparrows, so worth keeping an eye out. But the Wilson's warbler is a great find! I had read about Brian's findings on massbird, recently he was on an owl quest and he found so many, numbers and different species.

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