Birding into the new year

It's been a while since I posted last, and even longer since I posted about any recent birding.  The winter so far hasn't cooperated with me much for getting out in the field.  The weather on the few days that I have had off has often been bitingly cold or had blinding snow (or both).  That's not to say that I've not made it out at all - just that it has been much more abbreviated than usual.  Here is a summary of the birding that I have been able to get in since the new year started.
Of course, on January 1st, we had to go out and start our new year lists, and as with every year, we join our friends Mark and Laura on their annual Brookline Bird Club New Year's trip. Paul and Diana joined us early morning to check on a Saw-whet Owl that I had seen a week earlier in the same spot that one was found last year - would have made a very nice way to start the year, except that we were not able to find it.  (BTW, my first bird of the new year was an American Crow - go figure! We then began working our way up towards Newburyport to meet the BBC group.  Along the way we stopped to watch a large group of European Starlings that were feeding on sumac.

We then joined the group for a few hours birding in Salisbury, adding some of the standard New England coastal birds to our year list - Common and Red-throated Loons as well as Common Eiders were quickly added, and a few minutes sea-watch added White-winged Scoter and Long-tailed duck to the birds seen on the ocean, and Common Goldeneye in the harbor. We also added Snow Buntings, Horned Larks and a single Lapland Longspur.  Of course, being the first day of the year, all the more common birds are breifly exciting too (if you keep a year list) so we were able to add our more common birds - Blue Jays, Cardinals, chickadees, Mallards, Blcak Ducks, Red-tailed Hawk - the birds you see on an everyday basis around here.  Then, our contingent wrapped it up early due to prior commitments. That Sunday was an absolute wash - the snow was terrible and driving was very dangerous.  (Yes, I tried, but we had to turn around and go home.)  I undrestand that there were still a few CBC's that didn't cancel though - I hope everybody was smart and stayed safe.
This past weekend we had our annual Brookline Bird Club Owl Prowl led by our friends Eddie and Mark.  The goal, of course, is "to find by sight or by sound all seven species of owls wintering on the Massachusetts mainland in one day." Paul and I started the day at 2am at Horn Pond to see if we could find any of the many Eastern Screech Owls that reside there.  The night was clear but very cold, and in the few minutes we could spend before heading out to meet the group we were unable to coax any to respond to our calling (which frankly is somewhat odd).   Swinging by to pick-up Pam, we then headed to the meeting place on the north shore at 3am and the day kicked off in full swign.  I am not going to give a complete blow-by-blow of the entire day (15 hours total) but we turned up 5 species of owls - Eastern Screech, Great Horned, Snowy, Short-eared, and Saw-whet.  Try as we might, we were unable to turn up any Long-eared Owls this year, and Barred simply evaded us in all the locations known to any of the participants.  Our Saw-whet from last year did make for a nice sighting, as well as a life bird for a few in the group:

Some additional highlights from the day was seeing many Rough-legged Hawks, of both light and dark morphs, as well as picking up some unexpected sparrows for the year list, including a brief look at a Chipping Sparrow and a relatively cooperative Swamp Sparrow.  (But honestly, the owls really do win the day)

This Sunday broke clear and cold - very cold.  It was only between 11 and 13 degrees depending upon what weather service you trust, and with the light breeze, it felt like it was in the mid-single-digits.  Pam and I slept in (trying to catch up on a bit of the lost sleep from Saturday's all day owl prowl) then decided to go back to Dracut MA to see the Red-headed Woodpeckers that have been reliably seen there for some time now (want to add them to the year list while I can, and let's be frank - when do I ever need an excuse to go watch woodpeckers!)

Within a few moments I was able to locate both an adult and a juvenile Red-headed, although other woodpecker activity was low.  (I was rather expecting Red-bellied and maybe a Pileated, but neither made their presence know while I was there.)

Still in a woodpecker frame of mind, and only a few hours to go before I had to go home and get ready for work that afternoon, we then headed back into Cambridge where we stopped at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in hopes of turning up both Red-bellied Woodpecker and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  The sapsucker obliged, but the Red-headed continued to elude me.  No matter, with the way that their population has grown in the last few years, I fully expect to see them in no time.

And for no other reason than I like this photo - here are a few Downy Woodpeckers that were "facing off." 

The photo doesn't show it, but they had been doing the typical woodpecker confrontation moves - fanning their tails, wing fluttering, and waving their bills from side-to-side (almost like a conductor's baton).  I always enjoy seeing behavior like this in advance of the breeding season when they are working on setting up their territories.

Hopefully as the month progresses, there will be plenty more to blog about - including the Superbowl of Birding, where the Bloggerhead Kingbirds will be competing again this year!