What is up with waterfowl in New England this year?

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. But wow, there are quite a few very interesting sightings going on around here.
- Pink-footed Goose in Falmouth back in January
- a likely "wild" Greylag Goose in Connecticut
- Tufted Ducks showing up in RI, MA, and ME
- a flock of 17 Greater White-fronted Geese in Saugus, MA
- Eurasian/Common Teal in various locations
- several "blue" Snow Geese being seen in MA
- Ross's Goose being found in several locations in MA

I'd been looking forward to the weekend all last week as reports had been coming in on a daily basis about a flock of 7 Ross's Geese that were being seen well in Ipswich, MA - which is just far away enough that I wouldn't be able to see them on a work-day. Pamela had not seen one before (well, she saw one for less than an sec from hundreds of yards away some time back, but admiringly never counted it on her list) and my only two previous sightings were when one bird popped it's head out of a group of Snow Geese for a few moments then disappeared again - so it was definitely a BVD (better view desired) bird for me. Seems like many birders I've spoken to have a similar story.

I didn't sleep well Friday night, but this was mitigated by hearing an Eastern Screech Owl not too far away from our bedroom window. This may not sound terribly exciting to some of you, but this is the first time I have ever heard an owl from my home, in any of the places I have ever lived. And I never expected to hear one at the house we bought last year. It is on a small plot in a pretty tightly packed suburban neighborhood. I think my yard list (which I don't really keep) consists entirely of: House Sparrows, Starlings, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Mockingbird, White-breasted Nuthatch, Herring Gull, and Red-tailed Hawk (note that all except the House Sparrows were seen from our yard, not in our yard). So hearing this owl was pretty exciting to me! Anyway...

Thankfully, the Ross's Geese continued through the weekend, and although they were a bit far away for photography (not that I didn't try as evidenced by the photos to follow) we did have wonderful lengthy looks at the flock and were able to study some of the details that seperate them from their larger cousin, the Snow Goose. These smaller geese have rounder heads, stubbier bills, and lack of the thick "grin-patch" that the Snow Geese have.





When we arrived, we found that our friends Laura & Mark were leading a "leader's choice" BBC trip that I had planned to go on, but had slipped my mind, so that worked out well. Also, my friend Jason was there with his family - it's funny, every time I show up to some great sighting that has been posted lately, he's already there! He gets around the area quite a bit, writes and posts photos at his blog, Brewster's Linnet, has recently begun "twittering", and is involved with the Menotomy Bird Club, as well as being the webmaster for the Brookline Bird Club.
After a start like that, the rest of the weekend was bound to be pretty good - we turned up a few other goodies like Northern Shrike and spotted the handful of "blue" Snow Geese that had been seen occassionaly at Plum Island. Pam and ducked out of the trip mid-afternoon in order to run some errands, which I have since discovered was probably the biggest mistake of the weekend, as the group witnessed Short-eared Owls copulating in Salisbury! Check out Jason's post for a full description of the event (as well as the rest of the day).
On our way home, we did make one more pass at the Ross's Geese, just in case they had moved any closer. We arrived just in time to see them take off and head north (where they apparently decided to roost on Plum Island that night).

Sunday morning, Pamela decided to sleep in while I led a trip form the Menotomy Bird Club to Horn Pond in Woburn. This is a trip our friends Paul & Diana usually lead, but since they are in Oaxaca, I stepped in to see what we could find. Cool and overcast, I still had four participants ready to get out and see what spring migrants have shown up. We missed seeing the Great Horned Owls that are pretty regularly found in the pines (hopefully they are off nest-building somewhere) but did have a grey Eastern Screech Owl. The highlights of the trip for me were a very active & singing Brown Creeper, my first Eastern Phoebe of the year (yes, Spring is coming!) as well as a very vocal Red-bellied Woodpecker outside of a cavity that I suspect will be used for breeding this year - nice to find those early!
After the trip was over, I picked up Pamela we got some breakfast, ran some errands, then decided to make a run at the 17 Greater White-fronted Geese that have been hanging around in Saugus, MA. They are at a wildlife sanctuary that does not have easy access, so we tried to spy them from a distance at other locations, with limited success - I saw them, but at such a distance that if I didn't know that they were there, I probably would've overlooked them - but it did count to make it a 5.5 goose weekend - Canada, Greater White-fronted, Brandt, Snow, Ross's and "Blue Goose" (ok, I grant you that the 'blue goose' is just a morph of the Snow Goose, but it's rare enough to get a half-credit in my book)