random yard birds

                                          Great Horned Owl at the Wing Island Banding station

Oystercatchers & Tree Swallows

So a number of Tree Swallows have moved into the boxes I put out at Belle Isle, very excited about this.

I stopped in to check on my favorite family of Oystercatchers after missing them the week prior. This time they were in their normal spot !

                                                     White- throated Sparrow

Mining adventures

Exploring some mining areas both locally and out of state. This location in  Newbury, was the first mine in Massachusetts. Now overgrown caves in conservation areas, we could only locate one section of the mine, we could not find the other area in the thick forest.

                                                     Caves blasted out of the rock face.

                                                          Casey excavating a mining hole

                                                       Kirkland looking for specimens 

                                                     Serpentine, one of the minerals found at the Devil's Den

 Casey and I took a short adventure to Maine. We mined an old Mica mine in the state forest.  This specimen contains; Garnet, Black Tourmaline,  Quartz and Smoky Quartz. Casey and I dug through some of the blast dumps ( areas dynamited when the mines were open) also we excavated areas some new locations. This area has large Quartz deposits, along with lots of Mica and various types of Tourmaline. 

                                  Matrix with a Black Tourmaline growing through it. 

Late afternoon Screech

A drive through West Newbury yielded one of the Screech's  sleeping in the afternoon sun.

Snowy Owl Winthrop

Today while doing some work at Winthrop Beach I noticed a white blob further down the beach. The blob wound up being a Snowy, appeared to be a male bird...very beautiful.

 

The dark coloration near the bill is blood, the owl was eating a Buffle Head (Duck)

                                               Scared off by a dog on the beach, consider following state law when on beaches. In winter wildlife spends alot of energy staying alive, help them out by following rules that are in place.   

Dead Long-eared Owl

Today I found the remains of a Long-eared Owl that had been eaten by another Owl. Likely the winter resident Snowy Owl that predated the LEOW, but also Great Horned Owl is possible. While I have not seen Great Horned Owl in the area, the wooded area where the LEOW was killed seemed good for a GHOL ambush. Either way a sad thing to find, as Long-eared Owls are not a common find.

 Initial kill site, the LEOW was entirely plucked, "white wash" next to the kill consistent with predication from another Owl. The following day I found a pellet containing a leg section of the LEOWs leg bone. The Owl must have returned to feed on the remains, or check on the remains.

                                                 Long-eared Owl talon, the only thing remaining from the Owl

                                                         Primary and secondary feathers

Snowy Owls

Lots of Snowy's around again this year. Perhaps not as many as the last few years, but no problems locating them. Today at work while making my way around Belle Isle this little lady was sitting on the boardwalk. Yesterday 2 Snowy's had a quick battle at the reservation then headed over towards Logan Airport. Belle Isle has alot of squirrels, rabbits, voles, and rats...so with so much prey I think it is a pretty good location to see this beautiful large raptors this winter.