Recapping the last few weeks

Townsend's Warbler on right

 Now that the pressure is off of chasing every bird under the sun, all I really want to do is make memories and document them with my camera. I want to have as few bad days birding as possible and drive home with a smile on my face as close to one hundred percent of the time as I can. The last few weeks have been great. I didn't do too many blogposts because I needed the post about the Christmas Bird Count to stand alone for a while so people that may be interested could see it.

   However, I have done all kinds of adventures. Most of the birds are still around if anyone is interested in finding them. 

January 28, Bourne, MA

   In a snow flurry I drove to an area near Scusset Beach I staked out a Townsend's Warbler. This is a west coast species. They don't show up very often so I went down to Bourne to look for it. It was living in a backyard and eating at a feeder. It took over an hour staring into a backyard before it ate at the feeder. A lot of people must have been there in the days before me because a cop drove by. He never slowed down and just gave me a polite wave.

January 29

I went to go see the Varied Thrush that has been hanging out in Chepachet for over a month. I saw it feeding within ten minutes of being there but the real highlight were the bluebirds that came to the road while I was parked feeding on berries right across the street in perfect light.

Varied Thrush

After I left the thrush and bluebirds I went for the number one bird I wanted to get a photo of that I have seen. The species...Evening Grosbeak. The good news is I saw a whole flock. The bad news is they were pretty far away and they never stopped moving so I didn't get any wall hangers despite fifteen minutes of trying. So mission accomplished that I got photos, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

Feb 5

I went to of all places, Cranston to see Rusty Blackbirds. Rusty Blackbirds are one of three species I really want to see/photograph this year. Ninety minutes and 210 photos later, that mission is complete. I had only seen Rusty Blackbirds once in my life. They are really cool and enjoyed watching them. A couple of photos, then more adventures below

Feb 11

   I decided to try my luck at Salisbury Beach again. There are a lot of good birds in that one area. Long Eared Owl has been there for a week. Seeing one would be a lifer. White Winged Crossbill has still been reported, and I really want a photo. Those are the two birds I wanted most but there is a Snowy Owl there now. Continuing birds include Red Crossbills, Common Redpolls, Snow Buntings, and a Hoary Redpoll that would be a lifer.

   Unfortunately this was not the best day birding. I didn't see White Winged Crossbills or the Long Eared Owl and neither did anyone else. I did see the Snowy Owl one hundred yards in the marsh. I did get a photo upgrade of Red Breasted Nuthatch. Despite dipping on the two reasons I went there. I enjoyed my five hours spent.

Northern Harrier taking off

Red Breasted Nuthatch

It's not too often I get a face show of
Northern Harriers. They have a face like an owl

Snowy Owl keeping far away from people

The only Red Crossbill I saw.
Female

Feb 12

   Since I dipped on so many birds on Thursday, I figured I'd try to dip on a mammal on Friday. So I went, for the third time, looking for River Otters. As usual, I had missed them. Apparently they spent all day on the ice yesterday playing and people got amazing photos. This morning, while I was nursing a migraine, I missed them by an hour.

   While I was dipping on the otters, my friend Jan refound a Yellow Breasted Chat that was seen yesterday in Beavertail. Other friends Carlos and Jess found a Rough Legged Hawk in Matunack, the first one since 2019.  The hawk is the rarer, therefore "better bird" but I wanted the Chat more. I was only 20 minutes away. Despite being so bright, Chats are a very hard bird to see and photograph. They are very shy and like to hide in the thickest, densest cover they can find.  I ended up meeting Carlos and Jess, then later Sue. We found the Chat. I had only seen three others before and only had one photo of a blurry lemon in a tree. I got two clear photos of today's Yellow Breasted Chat.  

   After seeing the Yellow Breasted Chat I did go down to Matunack for the hawk. Two other birder friends were on it so I had it as soon as I stepped out of the car. The sky had turned grey and the bird was far away. Still, I only had one photo of a Rough Legged Hawk and it was flying away. So despite not getting any great photos of it, I did get an upgrade of what I had.

Rough Legged Hawk

Even though I am not keeping a year list, I have decide to keep track of photo upgrades. Mostly so I can remember the location and date. January was excellent. I got 3 life birds, 11 photo upgrades and two out of the three lifers I got a life photo. So far in February I've gotten four photo upgrades. The Chat, Rusty Blackbirds, and Rough Legged Hawk are all rare birds (the fourth is the Red Breasted Nuthatch). So far so good, making birding fun again!