Weekend birding wrap-up, Jan 10-11th

It's that time of the week again, where I can try to take a few minutes and re-cap what birding I was able to get in over the previous weekend. (Weekday birding this time of the year is restricted to pretty much what I can see out of my building's windows, which isn't much more than the most basic feeder birds - Downy Woodpeckers, Juncos, Goldfinches and Chickadees.)

This weekend started out on Friday evening with a meeting of the Essex County Ornithological Club. It was members night, where people show off their photos and videos, as well as do book reviews, read poetry and sometimes even sing. It was a pleasant night, and I wish I could make these meetings a bit more often.

Saturday morning was once again very very cold, but cold temps do not stop hearty northeastern coastal birders (as long as their are Dunkin' Donuts every couple miles and a warm car to run back to and return feeling to your extremities!) Paul picked us up around 7am, and we headed north to Gloucester, where we joined a Brookline Bird Club field trip led by our friend Linda Ferraresso.
This time of the year, there are plenty of coastal specialities that we go out for, including a variety of gulls, sea ducks, and alcids, and always have our eyes out for that rare bird that might pop-up. Cape Anne (of which Gloucester and Rockport are a part of) is situated such that it provides relatively close looks from land at passing sea birds, but also seems to catch some nice vagrants. Our group missed the King Eider this time around, although it was seen by others that day (sometimes it's just a matter of him being behind a rocky outcropping that you can't get to the other side of) but we did get some other targets like all three scoters, Glaucuous and Iceland Gulls, as well as a nice yet distant look at a Black-headed Gull. Black Guillemots were also spotted, as well as Purple Sandpipers. An unexpected find was an Eastern Screech Owl sunning itself in the the hole of an owl box which I spotted while Paul and I were "whinneying" and trying to get a chat to pop out. I don't think he was reacting to us at all, just out to enjoy a bit of rare sunlight. Around lunchtime, Paul, Pamela and I splintered off from the group to head up to Salisbury to see if the Yellow-headed Blackbird was still being seen. A few other birders were already there, and the bird put in an appearance a few moments after we arrived. Not the rarest bird, as there seems to be one or two reported each year mixed in with a blackbird flock, but nevertheless a nice bird (and a state bird for all three of us).

We then headed to Salisbury Beach State Reservation to check the pine grove for owls as well as to see if we could get good looks at any of the many White-winged Crossbills that had been seen lately. (I had seen a few females a week before, but really I wanted to get good looks, and hopefully photos of the males) We passed one photographer that looked like he had a flock, but by the time we found someplace to park, the birds flew off, not to be seen again that evening. With the threatening snowstorm that was predicted the skies were darkening early, which also worked to our advantage, because it fooled a Short-eared Owl into thinking it was dusk earlier, and was out hunting over the sand dunes.

Paul and I walked out one of the boardwalks to see how close it would come as it was making it passes, and were rewarded with simply amazing looks as the bird flew within 20ft of us without giving us a second look. Once again - unbelievable experience, but less than stellar photos. Oh well.


Sunday morning we woke to find that the predicted snow storm was still going on, although slightly less then what we expected. By the time we took down our Christmas tree, cleaned up, and made waffles, the snow had stopped with accumulation only amounting to about 6". I shoveled the driveway, and we headed out. My goal again was to try and get a photo of a male White-winged Crossbill, so we headed back to Salisbury - really the best place to photograph them. The fir trees that are throughout the camper area are rather low/stunted from the constant winds coming off the ocean, so when the birds are there, the are pretty close. Upon pulling into the park I noticed one lone bird on a branch and stopped to take a quick look - hoping to get perhaps my first Pine Siskin of the year, but really just expecting a goldfinch. Glad that I stopped, as it turned out to be a Common Redpoll, and within a few minutes was joined by 8-9 more for just a few seconds before the flock flew off - never to be relocated again while we were there. Circling the park, we finally noticed some activity in a tree near the edge of the park - finally a group of crossbills with several males feeding. I jumped out of the car, no gloves and only a baseball cap to protect against the cold and wind, but finally managed a few shots of the beautiful little finches.



Every time I see these birds (or Red Crossbills) I remember the scene from David Attenborough's Life of Birds, where he mentions that crossbills are the only birds that can move their mandibles sideways in order to help crack open the cones, and extract the seeds. I know I've said this before, but if you have not watched it yet, go out now and get yourself a copy of Life of Birds, or borrow it from your local library - do what you have to, but watch it soon - you'll be glad you did.