Birds of the North

After doing absolutely nothing yesterday, I decided to get out today. There have been some "good birds" on the Massachusetts South Shore the last few days. I considered going to look for them yesterday, but I was on call from work. I didn't want to be an hour from home if we had an emergency at work, so instead, my head found my pillow and my eyes closed.

So after I got out of work today I made a beeline for Carver, MA. There has been a Tundra Swan at Atwood Reservoir. I had never been there, however, the good people at Massbird gave easy directions to the pond. The reservoir is in the middle of cranberry bogs. It is about a ten minute walk to the pond. I saw swans right away but they were not the one I was looking for. A guy coming from the other direction told me the swan was about a half mile walk around the pond. I thanked him and headed in that direction. Sure enough, there it was with a bunch of Canada Geese.  I got some pictures and watched it for twenty minutes or so. On my way back to my car, I also saw a Hermit Thrush.

Snow Geese

I hurried back to my car and made my way to Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield. Four Snow Geese had been seen since at least Thursday. You know those days when you pull up to your fishing spot and the fish are blitzing right in front of you and no one is there? That is what today was like for me on the birding front. I pulled into Daniel Webster (DWWS, from here on out) and there was a turkey walking on slippery snow right in front of me. To my right, the four snow geese could be seen from the lot. I walked down the path and got some halfway decent pics of them. They flew off along with the flock of Canada Geese.

I walked the path to Fox Hill. DWWS has a lot of hawks that winter over there. I knew if I went up the hill I'd see some. Sure enough some Red Tailed and Northern Harriers were flying over the field. However one of the "harriers" didn't look right. It didn't have the white rump that is a telltale sign. It also looked chunky and had thick wings.

The reason was because it was a Short Eared Owl. It flew around getting closer and closer to me. It was actively hunting. After a few minutes it perched on a bluebird box about thirty yards from me.  It only made for proof pictures. However, in my spotting scope I could study its facial disk and even stare into its yellow eyes.

Heavily cropped picture of the Short Eared Owl

All in all, it was a hell of a lot more fun way to spend the afternoon than I did yesterday

Like Bobby Darin, this guy was slipping and sliding