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Ryser915

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Just checking in, how's everyone doing?

I've been super busy with work and bird-related side projects, but I'm still lurking around here sometimes, and try to post photos when I can.

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Been awhile since I've checked in here for real.

How is everyone doing these days?

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Who has 500px?

2 min read
Hey all...I just copied everyone else and joined 500px,  and so far I think it's pretty cool.

My link is here - 500px.com/ryser915

Find me on there and I'll add you guys.

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I haven't updated this in a long time...

The first warblers are being reported to my south...this means spring is finally coming and this absurd ridiculous winter with 100+ inches of snow fall can be behind us. Has everyone else had as ridiculous of a winter as we have had in Massachusetts???

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January Big Day - 110 Species


A big day in Massachusetts birding is an attempt to see as many species as possible in a 24 hour period. These days are usually done in May, when most breeding birds, as well as most migrant birds can be found. The weather is also usually very comfortable, and species totals can be anywhere from 160 and beyond. Winter big days in Massachusetts are more rarely attempted, and are very difficult. It's usually very cold, there are 5.5 hours less of daylight than in may, and there are far fewer species present in the state. Up until last year the record was 107, and before that it was 83. Last year, my two friends Jeremiah and Marshall beat the record with 109. This year Jeremiah, Marshall, my other friend Jeff, and I decided we wanted to try and beat that record. Here's the report I submitted to the local listserv.

On 1/16, Three friends (Marshall, Jeremiah, and Jeff) and I did a January big day. Our goal was to beat Marshall and Jeremiah's record setting effort of 109 from last year. We achieved our goal, by one, and set the new Massachusetts record with 110. We had a nice plan going out, and split up the day before for scouting, which helped a lot. The weather was gorgeous, with light to moderate winds and comfortable temperatures. Dawn was a bit breezy and chilly, but the evening was gorgeous and comfortable.

Our big day began at 3:15 am with owling in Falmouth, where we failed to drum up a Long-eared Owl. We owled for two more hours in various locations around Mashpee and elsewhere, and despite outstanding conditions for owling, did not have one owl of any species. Our luck turned around in Barnstable however, where we had a close calling Northern Saw-whet Owl and 2 Great Horned. Despite a valiant effort, we could not come up with a Barred Owl. We moved onto the West Harwich Conservation Lands, where we scored a predawn calling Virginia rail.

After some debate on where to be at dawn, we decided on Coast Guard Beach in Eastham. Aside from taking care of most of the basic waterfowl, we had surprise Green-winged Teal and Gadwall in the marsh, a single Black-legged Kittiwake , several gannets, along with flyover Common Redpolls and Snow Buntings. We also (quickly) enjoyed the Razorbill show, with hundreds of birds streaming south at dawn, some very close. Our count of 1000 is probably very low.

We moved onto Nauset Beach where we had nothing new, and quickly left for Wellfleet. We birded Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary for a quick twenty minutes, where although we missed the crossbills, most of the passerines there, including 4 Field Sparrows, were new for us. We next headed south to Fort Hill, which held a nice group of new day birds. Highlights included refinding a Northern Shrike that Jeff and I had the day before while scouting, along with one Saltmarsh and one Seaside Sparrow.

We continued our trek south, stopping in Orleans at various locations. Orleans highlights included 2 Eurasian Wigeons, 12 Ruddy Ducks, a Red-shouldered Hawk, a Wilson's Snipe, and a Winter Wren. We then ticked off a few new freshwater waterfowl in Harwich, with Lesser and Greater Scaup, Common and Hooded Mergansers, and American Coot.

Next began a frustrating hour long thicketing tour of Barnstable, where we hit many thickets hard and couldn't even kick up a Hermit Thrush. Our spirits were raised soon after though, when we refound a Black-headed Gull on North Bay in Osterville that Jeremiah had while scouting, and had a surprise Glaucous Gull at Millway Landing in Barnstable. We made a few more stops in the Barnstable/Osterville area along the way, and had Pine Warbler, Eastern Meadowlark, Marsh Wren, Gray Catbird, Eastern Towhee, Hermit Thrush, as well as overdue Golden-crowned Kinglet and Northern Mockbird. Before leaving the cape, we stopped at Wakeby Pond in Mashpee, where although we missed Bald Eagle, we had a surprise male Barrow's Goldeneye, followed by a 1 minute stop at Marston Mills Pond, where we had Mary Kelleher's Northern Shoveler.

We left the cape and headed towards Plymouth. En route we had our first pigeons of the day, along with another Red-shouldered Hawk, this time an adult, on the roadside in Sagamore. We stopped at Ellisville Harbor in Plymouth, where we quickly had our target Black-bellied Plovers. Manomet Point was next, where we had our only Harlequin Ducks of the day. Finally we ticked the Iceland Gull downtown, and dipped on Lesser-black Backed Gull. Cumberland Farms in Middleboro was our final stop of the big day.We started by hitting a thicket along Rt. 105. This gave us Merlin, American Kestrel, Sharp-shinned Hawk (nearly missed for the day), Savannah Sparrow and Brown Cowbird. We moved on to the River Street entrance, where Horned Lark and White-crowned Sparrow were both new. We scanned hard for Rough-legged Hawk but could not get one. Just as the sun began to set, 4 Short-eared Owls appeared and began hunting all at once, with 2-3 being in our binocular fields at one time, several times awesomely close to us (one even grappled with a harrier!). This was amazingly entertaining, and a fantastic way to end a great day. On our way out, we again called futilely for Barred Owl, and had our 110th species for the day, an Eastern Screech Owl.

Misses for the day included Northern Pintail, Rough-legged Hawk, Bonaparte's Gull, Brown Creeper, Fox Sparrow, Bald Eagle, Eastern Bluebird, Double-crested Cormorant, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Duck, American Pipit, Wild Turkey, Dovekie and a few others. 130 is definitely possible!

Full list: 110 species --- Only 3 birds: Marsh Wren, Eastern Towhee, and  Eastern Meadowlark, were not had by the entire team. Our most rare finds from the day are capitalized.

Brant
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Gadwall
EURASIAN WIGEON - - 1 m, 1 f; Arey's Pond, South Orleans
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
NORTHERN SHOVELER  - - Imm. male; Marston Mills, Barnstable
Green-winged Teal
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Common Eider  
Harlequin Duck - - Manomet Point, Plymouth
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE - Male; Wakeby Pond, Mashpee
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck - - Barnstable
Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Northern Gannet
Great Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Turkey Vulture
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK  - - 2; Barnstable & Sagamore
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Virginia Rail  - - Several; Harwich & Barnstable
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover  - - 2; Ellisville Harbor, Plymouth
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Purple Sandpiper
Dunlin
Wilson's Snipe - - Town Cove, Barnstable
Black-legged Kittiwake
BLACK-HEADED GULL - - Adult; North Bay, Osterville
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Iceland Gull - - Plymouth
GLAUCOUS GULL - - 2nd year (probably); Millway Landing, Barnstable
Great Black-backed Gull
Razorbill - - Impressive flight at dawn; Coast Guard Beach, Eastham
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech-Owl
Great Horned Owl
SHORT-EARED OWL - - 4(at once!); Cumberland Farms, Middleboro
NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL - - Barnstable
Belted Kingfisher
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
NORTHERN SHRIKE - - Fort Hill, Eastham
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
Horned Lark
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
Winter Wren
MARSH WREN - - Jeremiah only, OK Hoffman Marsh, Barnstable
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Hermit Thrush - - Barnstable
American Robin
Gray Catbird - - Barnstable
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
PINE WARBLER - - Barnstable
Eastern Towhee - - Ryan and Jeremiah only, Osterville
American Tree Sparrow
Field Sparrow - - Several; Wellfleet & Barnstable
Savannah Sparrow
SALTMARSH SPARROW - - 1; Fort Hill, Eastham
SEASIDE SPARROW - - 1; Fort Hill, Eastham
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow - - 8 (including 1 adult), Cumerland Farms, Middleboro
Dark-eyed Junco
Snow Bunting
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark - - Jeremiah only; Great Marsh, Barnstable
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
COMMON REDPOLL - - 2; Coast Guard Beach, Eastham
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow


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