Unexpected Warbler and a couple new additions!

This past week I had tried for Worm-eating Warbler about 5x I'm Uxbridge. A couple weeks ago I heard one but couldn't get a photo. Today I was able to find two. The first one was not having it.  He sang a could you times and flew off. I was having trouble with my camera and the focus wasn't working fast enough. But further down the trail I came across another one that wasn't shy. The gem of the week was a Hooded Warbler. Kevin Bourinot messaged me that he had found the bird about a mile in the woods in Lancaster. I was able to go a couple hours later. After finally getting on the right trail and not being murdered by bugs I was able to hear him singing. I took three photos and had to run out of there because of the bugs. It's a great unexpected bird. What's next?!?

Blackpoll Warbler- Millbury #169

 Hooded Warbler-Lancaster #170

Eastern Wood-Pewee- Uxbridge #171

Worm-eating Warbler- Uxbridge #172

"Upgrades"

Great Crested Flycatcher

Ovenbird

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Wilson's Warbler Redemption!

Headed out again to Westborough WMA. Today I only birded the Ballfields entrance. First thing I heard was a Willow Flycatcher. I had this "same" last year a day later. Flagged as early on eBird. I recorded the audio and obviously took its picture. My main goal today was obviously Wilson's Warbler.  Last year on this date (Westborough WMA- Last Year 5/13/14 Checklist) I had a Wilson'sWarbler here. Today would be no different. I made up for yesterday's blunder of not getting the picture of one. This is probably the worst possible shot I could ever get of a bird. Very blurry but clearly shows a Wilson's Warbler, so it works for me! In this one apple tree (thanks Alan for teaching me about the tree) I had over 15 species of birds in a couple of hours. The highlights of the tree was Brown Thrasher, Magnolia, Wilson's, and 2 Canada Warblers. Today's checklist ( Checklist). I still get joy in finding Canada's in migration. I still have yet to come across a fallout of warblers. I am still in need of the following if you come across them: (thanks Tom Pirro for the Cliff Swallow tip)

Least Bittern
Cattle Egret
Brant
Northern Goshawk (maybe a nest)
Ruffed Grouse (consistently)
Long-eared Owl
Whip-poor-will (daytime)
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Cliff Swallow (they must nest in this county somewhere!!!!)
Evening Grosbeak
Yellow-breasted Chat
Bay-breasted Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Mourning Warbler
White-eyed Vireo

Willow Flycatcher- Westborough #167

Wilson's Warbler- Westborough #168

Additional Photos and Upgrades

Canada Warbler

Canada Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

 Common Grackle

Still adding species!

This morning I decided to head back to Rutland State Park and Ware River IBA. I was looking for a Nashville Warbler which breeds on Whitehall Rd. I was walking down a path and the bird was already singing. The first photo I took for a record shot ended up being the best one.In the 10 min walk around that path I pulled off 21 ticks. 14 being Deer Ticks. eww. I drove over to the the Whitehall Pond bridge to follow up on an old tip from Josh Gahagan about Cliff Swallows nesting under the bridge a few years back. I didn't see any evidence of that this year. While doing that a Veery popper up right along the road. Easy photo. I then went back to Uxbridge's Rice City Pond to see if I could photograph a Worm-eating Warbler. I did find him but unfortunately I was unable to get a photo. I am just glad that he returned! Ill get him! I did walk the trail to the sand pits. Lots of Prairie Warblers and I was able to add Indigo Bunting and Black-billed Cuckoo photos! I love the cuckoos! I finished the day at Broad Meadow Brook hoping for a Cape May Warbler that everyone and their moms are finding there...no luck. I did however find an Eastern Screech Owl thanks to some Blue Jays that were going crazy about it. 16 species of warbler today.

Nashville Warbler- Oakham #163

Veery- Rutland #164

Black-billed Cuckoo- Northbridge #165

Indigo Bunting- Northbridge #166

3 New Birds....a Colony find.

I birded this morning with Alan Marble. Goal was to find our yearly Worm-eating Warbler in Uxbridge. Others had him the other day and I have now failed 4x. He was found after my second try and 2x after he was found I failed to locate him. However I did get to add a Red-eyed Vireo and Common Yellowthroat..(finally). I was hoping for Black-billed Cuckoo but not yet! On the way home from Rhode Island and 3 min from home I found a Bank Swallow colony. I was able to get a photo of one. I had found Bank Swallows already this year but snatching a photo of one among many other birds was hard. I had driven all the way to Sterling to a previous colony but they weren't there. This is a pretty cool find!

I am currently in need of a few birds. So if you are reading this (does anyone even read this?) and spot one you can email me at justindlawson@gmail.com (it comes instantly to my phone).

Least Bittern
Cattle Egret
Brant
Northern Goshawk (maybe a nest)
Ruffed Grouse (consistently)
Long-eared Owl
Whip-poor-will (daytime)
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Acadian Flycatcher
Cliff Swallow (they must nest in this county somewhere!!!!)
Evening Grosbeak
Yellow-breasted Chat
Bay-breasted Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Mourning Warbler
White-eyed Vireo

Red-eyed Vireo- Uxbridge #160

 Common Yellowthroat- Uxbridge #161

 Bank Swallow- Sutton # 162

A few expected birds.

Yesterday there were two Cape May Warbler's at Broad Meadow Brook. They were right in the parking lot. I went and tried for them but unfortunately I couldn't see them. I thought I heard one singing but I was 100 percent so I didn't count it. I spent a few hours at Westborough WMA clearing my mind. I was heavily distracted and only half-ass birded. I basically was only looking for Wilson's Warblers and Black-billed Cuckoo's. I had over 50 Yellow Warblers and over 20 Blue-winged Warblers. One of the best area's for Blue-wingeds. There were also 2 Orchard Orioles at the ballfields entrance. I still get excited seeing them. The biggest letdown was when I had a Swainson's Thrush 20 ft from me and then disappeared into thin air before its photo could be taken. I was able to upgrade a few photos although not the best but better than what I had.

Today I decided to bird an area that I have been to but never really birded before. Wells State Park in Sturbridge. There were a good amount of Wood Thrushes around. Love hearing that song. I also really enjoyed hearing 2 Brown Creepers sing. That's a great song! Another one of my favorite songs that started as soon as i walked into the park...Winter Wren.  I was able to tally 45 species in a little over an hour. I added Great-crested Flycatcher, Bobolink, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and Scarlet Tanager.


Wells State Park

Scarlet Tanager- Sturbridge #156

Great Crested Flycatcher-Sturbridge #157

Bobolink- Southbridge #158

Ruby-throated Hummingbird- Charlton #159

Upgrades


American Redstart

Yellow Warbler

Today I had planned on going to Rutland State Forest to look for warblers. My friend Kim joined me in my search. I was after Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Blue, and Nashville. I didn't find a Nashville but instead I did get a Magnolia Warbler that I also had the other day but had no picture of it. The bugs today were crazy.I was also able to get a picture of a Least Flycatcher but not a Great-crested Flycatcher which I was after. This evening I went to try to find a Worm-eating Warbler but I've still yet to find one. One of the highlights was getting a photo of a Canada Warbler. Tomorrow I will do Westborough WMA in hopes of Wilson's Warbler and Great-crested Flycatcher. I still haven't freaking photographed a Common Yellowthroat!  I am currently at 155 species.

Black-throated Blue Warbler- Oakham #150

Blackburnian Warbler- Oakham #151

Magnolia Warbler- Rutland #152

Chestnut-sided Warbler- Rutland #153

Least Flycatcher- Rutland #154

Canada Warbler- Hubbbardston #155

Red-headed Woodpecker....Success!

Well the day birding wise turned out awesome. The day just now ended on a sad note. I will start sad first. My wife just called me outside to look at the car. In the grill was a bird....it ended up being a Blue-winged Warbler. One of my favorite birds of all time. I am very sad. This poor guy flew all the way up here just to die. That really pissed me off.

I started the day in Millbury again birding Martha Deering WMA. I was able to get a better photo of the Black-throated Green Warbler. I also found a Magnolia Warbler. Just like with the Black-throated Green Warbler this Magnolia was in the same location as the year prior...to the date! Amazing. Unfortunately a Blue-winged Warbler wanted to chase it off before I was able to photograph it.

I then was alerted that the Red-headed Woodpecker had been present all morning. I rushed to Sterling and was immediately greeted by its call before I even got out the car. I was also able to get its photo!  Also in Marsha's yard was a Northern Parula I was able to get a record shot of! I wanna thank her so much for allowing myself and other birder's to be on her property! Only took me 5 tries!

I left her house and headed to Sutton to try for Grasshopper Sparrow. Took about 10 minutes and one started calling and popping up!

I was riding the good luck wave to Rice City Pond. I was hoping for Worm-eating Warbler. Negative. I hopped on over to River Bend Farm where I was able to get 3 Orchard Orioles.

Lastly I stopped at St. Phillips Cemetery in Grafton and snapped a horrible digiscoped photo of a Green Heron.

Then at home...well tragedy.

Red-headed Woodpecker-Sterling #145

Northern Parula-Sterling #146

Grasshopper Sparrow- Sutton #147

Orchard Oriole- Uxbridge #148

 Green Heron- Grafton #149

Upgrades

Wood Duck

Black-throated Green Warbler

Baltimore Oriole

Gray Catbird

Red-headed Woodpecker Stakeout, new species.

This morning I absolutely had to go out and clear my head and not think about the things I am going through in my private life. I headed locally at first and was able to pick up a Black-throated Green Warbler in the same exact tree on the same exact day as last year! That's pretty cool. The only difference is today I totally took the worst documentation photo of all time! I added some FOY's on my walk through Martha Deering WMA. The highlight for me was a calling Barred Owl and a new bird for Millbury, a Northern Waterthrush. Later in the day I saw that Jeff had photographed the Red-headed Woodpecker so naturally I had to go sit and wait. The bird never showed back up I was able to explore the area a bit more.  I then headed over to Bolton Flats thinking I could get a Solitary Sandpiper....nope....but I did get over a dozen Least Sandpipers and 31 Glossy Ibis! Bart Kamp was there and told me of another spot to go look for Solitary Sandpiper...So I did and found them! My last stop was Gate 40 at Wachusett Reservoir...I am so glad I did. A Long-tailed Duck was close enough this time for a record photo! While scanning the gulls I got onto 2 gulls that were a nit smaller and had different flight patterns....they were Bonaparte's Gulls! not a bad day in the "I could miss these birds this year type-of-way".

Black-throated Green Warbler-Millbury #140

Least Sandpipers-Bolton #141

Solitary Sandpiper-Bolton #142

Long-tailed Duck- Clinton #143

 Bonaparte's Gull-Clinton #144

Upgrades

White-throated Sparrow

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

chased the Red-headed Woodpecker again....

I went back to try and see the RH Woodpecker again...negative! I will get that damn bird! It;s a long time coming to get that in the county! I found one on my own in Dec of 2013 in Essex County. That checklist is here http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S16102739. While waiting for the bird Marsha ran out and said a White-crowned Sparrow was underneath her feeder. I was able to get a picture of it! Nice to get it out the way now instead of fall. I had two at my feeder last spring!

White-crowned Sparrow- Sterling #139

...and here come the birds...

Today there was an explosion of new birds. Last night's wind brought in a whole bunch of first of years and allowed for some type of snapshot to be taken. I started at Brierly Pond Conservation Area  in Millbury. Some good birds there but I was finally able to get a picture of an Ovenbird. I hit other local areas in Millbury and was able to add some expected birds.  At Westborough WMA I came across many other expected birds but from me the highlight was absolutely 3 Rusty Blackbirds! I definitely thought I was going to have to wait for the fall.

Gray Catbird- Sterling #128

                                                                 Ovenbird- Millbury #129

Blue-winged Warbler- Millbury #130

Rose-breasted Grosbeak- Millbury #131

Wood Thrush- Millbury #132

Prairie Warbler-Millbury #133

 Baltimore Oriole- Westborough #134

Warbling Vireo-Westborough #135

Rusty Blackbird- Westborough #136

Yellow-throated Vireo- Westborough #137

American Redstart- Westborough #138

Upgrades

Eastern Kingbird