Week 7

Things seem to be picking up here in New England with small local movements among varying temperatures and weather with some snow and ice, but also a few mild days. The Plaistow Circle continues to produce more species, but the Salem patch is slowly catching up.

Plaistow Circle

A friend and I went for a walk through Webster Natural Area, a hotspot at the north end of my circle.We had at least one Common Redpoll flyover…score! A nice opportunity to quiz my friend, a quick learning beginner, on the flight calls. We continued to the edge of the Powwow River where we picked up a few ducks and a random Mute Swan flyby.

On the way home I spotted a daytime roosting Barred Owl as I was driving down Route 108 – unfortunately it was in someones yard, and the bird was happily snoozing in the sun.

Later in the week I did some solo birding along the Merrimack River in West Newbury where I had this amazing moment with a Bald Eagle.

After picking through lots of diving ducks on the river including Bufflehead, all three Merganers, Common Goldeneye and Greater Scaup, I was rewarded with a female BARROW’S GOLDENEYE with a small group of Common. This was my first Barrow’s in Massachusetts and although not super unusual to find on the Merrimack, it is only the 2nd one in Essex County so far this year.

I also ticked an overdue American Black Duck, Carolina Wren, Wild Turkey and much to my surprise I hadn’t reported Rock Pigeon until this week!

In hopes to add more gulls to the patch list, I spent some time picking through the gull flock on the river but was unable to find anything new despite having 7 different Iceland Gulls of various plumage.

The neighborhood Red-shouldered Hawk continues and is taking to the ole snag as usual.

Total: 62 / 5 new (Barrow’s Goldeneye*, CAWR, WITU, AMBD, ROPI) / Month total: 46


Salem Circle

The Salem Circle got off to an exciting start when I caught up with an old buddy! The riches of local birding can come in various forms…like seeing this Red-shouldered Hawk (#52) on the exact same snag you saw him on 5 years ago, nearly to the day! The first photo is from Feb 13, 2014 and the third was this morning Feb 15, 2019. The middle photo was last year in the same spot as well, only in mid-January.

Another similar situation has been happening on my ride home – the Barred Owl I saw two days in a row back in Week 5, has been seen hunting from the same trees nearly EVERY DAY!

When I didn’t see him one night I was presented with ANOTHER owl about 2 miles away — Barred owls have been everywhere!

This little Eastern Screech Owl pushed out the usual gray-morphs this season, and has been quite obliging on my limited visits.

The only other addition to the Salem circle was Turkey Vulture, an increasingly common bird to see in the winter months in New Hampshire.

Total: 53 / 2 new (Red-shouldered Hawk, Turkey Vulture) / Month total: 43

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