Snowy's

Davey called with a Snowy sitting in front of the house. Looks like duck is on the menu !

Long-eared Owl

I flushed a Long-eared Owl while stomping around in the woods this week. I did not even see the owl, which had to of either been directly on the ground or sitting about a foot off the ground in the brush. I always seem to find this species of owl ranging from about 2 feet - 5 feet off the ground, never higher. I did not attempt to follow the owl further once I flushed it, but always cool to see.

Owls

Every time I drive into the reserve this Barred Owl is literally sitting in the road so I pretty much have to take a picture of it. Also Snowy Owls have once again returned to Plum Island. Interestingly enough for the first time that we know of 2 Snowy Owls actually stayed at Logan airport and the Boston harbor islands this year. However this bird is a new arrival. The poor quality of the Snowy picture is due to rain and only taking one quick documentation shot.

                                                                     Horned Lark

Saw-whet Owl banding

It has been a great banding season so far. This week we saw the first large movement of birds. Warm incliment weather and mainly south winds have offset the migration by a few weeks. Thursday we caught & banded 25 Saw-whets, and one red phase Eastern Screech. Mainly hatch year birds, and mostly female.

Summer Tanager & Great Horned Owl

Well the storm brought a beautiful female Summer Tanager to the reserve ! I love storm birds ! I also found a Great Horned Owl in West Newbury today, crows alerted me to the birds presence.

Barred Owl & Saw Whet Banding

I have been slacking on the picture front of my birding, but I have been out and about none the less. I am helping with banding Saw-Whet Owls this season at Drumlin Farm. The season has started slow with poor weather and Southern winds, but this week is shaping up to be a good one.

 Lots of interesting Sparrows about on Plum, I have seen Lincoln and a Clay Colored. Also I found about 40+ Red Knot roosting on the beach in front of 10th street, which was a first.

Finally today my neighbor Geoff notified me of a Barred Owl so I went and took a few shots of the fellow, he appeared a tad wet.

More Fall Migration

So both Winthrop and Plum Island continue to hold great birds. On Plum yesterday Geoff Woods and myself had 9 Red Knot, its the first time in a few years I have had this many together. Nahant Beach had somewhere between 2000 & 2500 birds the other day, I think also a high number in recent years. The status of our migratory birds is reaching or has reached critical levels. Areas that once held vast flocks of birds have dwindled down to nothing. With my job affording me the ability to be out everyday observing birds, it's a real wake up for the status of shorebirds. The "large" flocks of Semipalmated Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plover only hold small numbers of White-rumped Sandpipers, Dunlin, and Sanderling.

                                                                     Red Knot

                                                                  Least Sandpiper

                                                        Semipalmated Sandpiper

                                                                    Greater Yellowlegs

                                                              Black-bellied Plover

                                                               Feeding in Algae

                                                       "Peeps" Semi-Plover forefront