Lone Hoodie!

Female Hooded Merganser

It was about 9:15 when I arrived today and about 36 degrees. I realized Haynes was there milling around in the upper gardens so I headed right up there.

It was fairly quiet, save for some chickadees and song sparrows etc. No sign of the bluebirds, although last year at this time, I had seen a couple in the vicinity of one of their favorite birdhouses. 

We walked down to the lower gardens in hopes of seeing the hermit thrush which Mary Lou saw yesterday and surprisingly, after a few minutes, it turned up in the same area where it's been seen before! We had a nice look
at it.

Down near the soccer field we saw at least 16 robins, a goldfinch, caredinal and a mockingbird which seemed to enjoy terrorizing some of the robins. We also saw an interesting bird with an unusual wing shape high in the sky and flying very quickly. Haynes is fairly certain it was a merlin which is exciting as I think I saw this bird earlier and didn't know what it was.

At the pond, we saw a red winged blackbird in a tree and a laid back mallard couple as well as this female Hooded merganser which I believe Mary Lou also saw yesterday. She was all alone. I hope she finds a handsome guy to settle down with!

Night of the Woodcock

Jupiter (left) and Mars (right)

Inspired by Suzette's woodcock encounter, I headed to Nahanton late yesterday afternoon, arriving around 5:30pm. I figured at the vary least I had a few minutes to explore before the woodcocks started displaying, so I walked around the lower gardens where I may have glimpsed the hermit thrush while tons of grackles streamed overhead. The soccer field was chalk full of about 40 robins, while the brush by the trail held a song sparrow and an American tree sparrow. A distant cooing gave away a mourning dove. I mallard pair was dabbling in the vernal pool and across the river there was a tree dripping with red-wing black birds giving their "Conk-la-ree" calls.

I finally made it up to the meadow and found Jane who also came to get a front row seat for the show. This night, the woodcocks started about 10 minutes later and our first sign of them was a little wing-whir and seeing them fly by. In flight this odd creature appeared more like a moth or bat than a bird, with short wide wings and stubby little tails. But no bat or moth has such a long bill! We stayed for about half an hour drinking in this marvelous sight and were lucky enough to have one woodcock land close enough to us that we could just make him out in the darkness. With every "peent" call he gave he opened his wings a tad as if to shrug, threw out his chest, his head back, and opened his bill has if each "peent" took all the force he could muster. All told we could make out 3 calls: the "peent" which starts Suzettes video below, then at 7-8 seconds he gives some grunting calls more like a rail, then at 11 seconds the video ends with the wing-whir. The woodcocks best auditory feat is a more twittering wing-whir (maybe with some vocalizations?) give at the height of his aerial display is just hard to capture and best enjoyed in person.

As I walked back to my car by the gardens there were woodcocks "peenting" in the soccer field and in the lower gardens! I am quite confident we had at least four woodcocks, but it could have been so much more. Nahanton Park was all Woodcock Meadow for this evening.

Woodcocks Here!

Brian told me he had heard that woodcocks have been seen in Massachusetts, so I had to check it out this evening. And there they were!

I arrived at 5:30 and about 5:50 I heard the first peent. Then there was a flurry of flying all around me. Afterward it seemed to die down quickly until I finally realized they had moved to a different part of the meadow. They kept changing locations, but it was so much fun to hear and see them perform their dance.

Below is short video…(mostly auditory, but one flies by)

On Saturday, I had the shock of my life as I headed from the parking lot to the lower gardens. Sometime between last Sunday and this Saturday, half of the lower garden area had been completely cleared! I'm assuming these will be Newton Community Garden plots run by the City. I'm glad the City was organized this year and that it was taken care of before nesting season.

Otherwise, in addition to our regulars, it seems some red winged blackbirds have arrived.

P.S. I've added a new blog to our bloglist. Susan A., who used to be on the board of the Newton Conservators, moved to Long Island a few years ago. She now has a new blog called The Tangled Wood. I think you will enjoy reading her thoughts on nature as she untangles and restores a wooded area near her home.

Skulker Seen and New Nest Boxes!

Skulker (our hermit thrush)

Having returned from 5 days on Longboat Key, Florida it was a rude awakening to arrive at the park! Having experienced temps of 80's, lots of sun and the most beautiful birds, I was at Nahanton, freezing (28 degrees) and desperately looking for signs of life!

Mocker

I  was greeted by a flock of juncos in the parking lot and a couple of song sparrows. Finally saw a couple of chickadees and heard a nuthatch and some titmice down near the soccer field as well as this mockingbird pictured to right.

Not one duck in the river (who could blame them). Finally saw some robins and a goldfinch in the scrub near the picnic tables. As I was leaving to walk the path by the river, I saw a lone tree sparrow foraging with the juncos. Were they the same juncos I had seen earlier or a different flock? I was happy to see the tree sparrow as I haven't seen one in several weeks.

American Tree Sparrow

No signs of life in the upper gardens, which for me has been true much of the winter. The lower gardens have been a little more fruitful. We had the starlings that have been here for a while, some robins and the house finch family.

As I was staring into the brush, I suddenly saw the hermit thrush (pictured top, left) that I believe Matt had seen a while ago. I was so surprised when he reported it that we would still have a hermit thrush deep into the winter, but there he/she was, skulking in some shrubbery. Totally made my day!

Later I met Brian and Phillip at the park. Brian installed a Great Crested flycatcher nest box and two bluebird boxes. Check out the Nahanton Park Facebook posting as well. We're very grateful for the time and energy Brian and Phillip have spent installing nest boxes each year and also maintaining and cleaning them out each spring. Thank you!!

Almost to March...

32 degrees and sunny today at about 8:00 a.m. I was hoping to the the hoodies so I headed towards the river. I could hear a red-bellied woodpecker in the woods near the JCC. The path by the soccer field was filled with chickadees darting back and forth and hanging upside down. I could hear the Peter, Peter, Peter of the titmice and I saw a nuthatch high up in a tree calling sharply as it scoured the bark looking for something good to eat. Lots of geese flying overhead.

House Finch

A few juncos were hanging out in the shrubbery across from the Nature Center where the sun was warming them up. On the dock, I spotted my hoodies (mergansers). There was just one couple - too far away to photograph. As I headed down the path, I eventually came to a mallard couple and decided I need a lot more practice learning about the video on my camera. I still haven't got it down yet so excuse the poor quality.

The upper gardens were dead quiet. I did see raptor flying overhead. It caught my attention because of the shape of the wings. They were much curvier and thinner in flight then the red tail, and I got a decent view of the head. However, I have no idea what it was and coincidentally, as I was leaving the park, a red tail appeared in the sky above my car and it confirmed for me how different the two were.

The lower gardens were quiet too. The robins and starlings were hanging out like last week, each flock filling up a large tree. I finally heard a goldfinch and a cardinal and then discovered a house finch couple in a shrub quietly basking in the sun and eating red berries. It seems a little strange - no blue jays, no song sparrows, no tree sparrows, no white throated sparrows.

16 Degrees and Climbing?

Cold Junco!

It was a very cold 16 degrees when I arrived at 7:10 a.m. I was hoping to see some ducks so I headed down there first. As I headed down the driveway towards the soccer field I heard the plaintiff call of a mourning dove. It sounded so sad, which was sort of how I was feeling considering I finally had a free morning to go birdwatching and it was so damn cold!

Saw a large flock of juncos, some of them looking pretty cold and puffed up! A lone mallard couple was visible in the river.

Robin in the sun

As I walked all around the park, surprisingly, despite the cold, I either heard or saw many of our regulars, but it wasn't until I got to the lower gardens and the sun started shining more brightly, that there was quite a lot of action. All of a sudden, a tree filled up with about 16 robins. When I looked again, they had been replaced by 6-7 starlings. Chickadees started zipping around and all of a sudden two male cardinals were flying back and forth looking unbelievably bright red in the sun.

Song sparrows foraged on the ground under the big tree in the middle of the gardens and then the robins reappeared as a roving gang near the bird houses (golf course side), combing the ground, turning over all the leaves in their path. A lone titmouse appeared and joined them. I heard goldfinches flying overhead but couldn't see them. The mourning dove appeared and basked in the sun but flew away when I tried to take its picture. A mockingbird shrieked.

Mary Lou suddenly appeared and asked if I had seen the golden crowned kinglet. Well, that was exactly what I had been hoping to see, with no luck. She showed me the scrub where she had seen it and sure enough it reappeared and we got a great look at its brilliant golden crown. And by the time I left, it had climbed to a whopping 21 degrees!

Postscript: Mary Lou just emailed me. She saw a female Belted kingfisher down by the river!

Our Sister Blog

Wild Newton Blog

Please join me in congratulating one of our contributors, Matt B., on his beautiful new blog "Wild Newton". He resurrected a blog that inspired many of us, called "Newton Birding" created by Scott R. We were very sad when Scott was out of the country for a year and we couldn't read his posts or view his excellent photography. However, he will be joining Matt as a contributor and I can't wait to read about their sightings.

Wild Newton will be our sister blog and will include any and all areas of Newton. Click on the image, or Wild Newton to view. We also have a link under our "Websites and Blogs of Interest" category.