After the Storm...

Singing Song Sparrow

8:30 a.m. 40 degrees and cloudy.

I went to the park to check out the effects of the crazy Nor'Easter we had on Friday. There were several big trees down, but mostly in the soccer field/pond area. Between the rain loosening roots and the wind, this particular storm seemed to bring down a lot of very large trees.

Tufted Titmouse

I started in the lower gardens where the song sparrow pictured at left was singing away. There were a couple of blue jays, a cardinal singing choo, choo, choo, some chickadees, tufted titmice and robins. A couple of seagulls flew overhead as well as some noisy grackles.

The upper gardens had much the same with addition of some white-throated sparrows, Canada geese flying over head and a beautiful red-tailed hawk circling high in the sky.

Bee Hive Protection

D. Reilly's beehives are obviously very well protected this year. I've never seen them so well-packed with insulation and wraps etc. That should help them survive until warmer weather. I was hoping to see the Eastern Towhee that Haynes has been seeing, but no such luck today so I headed down to the river.

Cardinal

The pond area was very quiet. This is where several large trees had crashed to the ground, some of them blocking the path. However the soccer field was covered with robins. In deference to Haynes, I tried to count them and got to at least 55+ robins. Wow! I was also surprised to see several cedar waxwings flitting about in the brush (see picture at right below)!

The river seemed the most active location by far. Grackles were flying back and forth across the river (which is quite high as you can imagine). Several chickadees were calling as well as titmice. I saw my first chipmunk of the season scurrying through some brush. An American Tree sparrow landed on a branch right in front of me and a silly robin was singing. It barely opened it's beak, so at first I thought I was imagining things, but if I looked really closely, I could see it's chest heaving up and down. Even saw a few juncos flashing the white on their tails. They were busy foraging on the ground near the nature center with a group of song sparrows. A couple of goldfinches made themselves known when they landed nearby.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Cedar Waxwings

There were two red-bellied woodpeckers that I could hear. One was on the park side of the river (pictured at left) and the other across the river. He was very busy drilling into this dead old trunk.

I think it would be worth a trip at sunset to see if the woodcocks have started their displays. Maybe I'll give it a try tonight or this week.

Sparrow Smorgasbord

Quick pass through the park on this beautiful morning brought a whole bunch of sparrows ... Song Sparrow and Junco, of course, but also single White-throated Sparrow (upper garden), American Tree Sparrow (ice on pond), Fox Sparrow (end of upper field), and Eastern Towhee (upper garden).

Spring?

The Song Sparrows were singing this morning at Nahanton Park. I met up with Paul and we walked through the park. The most exciting place was the back of the upper garden, where we found two Golden-crowned Kinglets and this early Eastern Towhee.

Foxes and Crowns

Saturday morning at the Park, with some nice birds. I found the Carolina Wrens that have been sounding off there for a couple of months, in the trees along the golf course.

There were at least two Golden-crowned Kinglets around. This seems to be a banner year for these little guys.

Hardest to find were the Fox Sparrows. They were in their usual location -- the far end of Woodcock Meadow (= Upper Field) -- but made themselves very diffiicult to observe!

Strangely, no Juncos and no American Tree Sparrows.

52 Morning Doves and an Eastern Towhee

'Nuff said.

Wind and sun

Bright windy day in Nahanton Park, with Suzette. We found the first Tree Sparrows of the season and a Fox Sparrow (probably one of several) in the copse near the upper parking lot. Also Juncos, Song Sparrows, and White-throated Sparrows. From the upper garden, we saw this hawk soar by --

-- which the picture shows to be a Coopers Hawk, looking short-tailed on account of the wind. In the margin between pond and soccer field, along with some Chickadees, we found this Golden-crowned Kinglet --

Beautiful Orange-crowned Warbler!

Cardinal Foraging

Clocks turned back and an extra hour of sleep!

Got to the park at 7:15. It was cloudy and gray and about 50 degrees.

Didn't post last week because it was so quiet, but the highlight was a black-throated green in the upper gardens which totally made my day.

Today, the usual seagulls were flying overhead. It was family time in the lower gardens. Along the scrub on the beginning of the path loop were families of house finches and gold finches enjoying tiny little orange berries. The chickadees were in on it too. At least 10 mourning doves paraded along the path. 

Some robins and blue jays, but not in the huge numbers seen previously. Song sparrows were singing and in the distance I could hear a white-throated sparrow and a carolina wren. Several juncos twittered and flew about.

I ran into Mary Lou and we were surprised at how very quiet it was. We walked to the upper gardens which was equally quiet save for a cardinal, some house sparrows and gold finches when suddenly, an orange-crowned warbler appeared in the attractive honeysuckle vine which the hummingbirds love. We got a great view and it was very distinctive with the black line through it's eye, yellow undertail and olive green/gray back. Since we had seen one on Haynes' walk early in Oct., we had to surmise that it was most likely a second one, but who knows...