I have returned from my hiatus and am back in action!

It seems like it has been ages since last I graced you all with my presence and my whereabouts! Never fear, for bird watching will always be on my mind, just a matter of having the time and mula to do so.


At any rate, I usually spend my Saturday mornings to early afternoons with the fine folks and even more intriguing animals and birds over with Wildlife Care at Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary. I have been giving my time, roughly 3 hours at a time, once a week for the past several months since late January of this year. It truly is an honor and a privilege to work with the animals over at WLC, most in particular the birds they tend to there. From the American Crows to the Raven, to the raptors (American Kestrels, Broad-winged Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, Turkey Vultures) and owls (Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls, Eastern-Screech Owls), to even the Mallards, Pekin Ducks, and our "ambassador" Canada Goose, I just can't get enough of them. It is my hope to continue working with these amazing creatures over at Drumlin for as long as possible, of course depending on what life throws at me in the future.


After my time was done today at Drumlin, I shot over to Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge to finally get some physical exercise, to find some sense of solitude, and to see what birds I could possibly find through all the fierce winds we had whirling about today! As expected, not much in the way of activity was observed, thanks in part to the winds and also the simple fact I was there from 12:15 to 3:30 pm when birds typically are not as active. Our avian friends are more apt to be active in the dawn to mid-morning hours and also during the late-afternoon to dusk hours. The best bird of the day was seeing a Brown Creeper while hiking along Petapawag Trail....just fantastic looks at one of my all-time favorite birds! What I found most amusing was its propensity to follow this one White-breasted Nuthatch around from tree to tree. While the nuthatch probed the tree by walking up and down all sides of the trunk and branches, the creeper would, as is characteristic, walk in a spiral from base to crown until the nuthatch moved on and then would keep following aforementioned nuthatch! Its like the White-breasted Nuthatch was the Brown Creeper's best buddy or older brother! Of further note was seeing good numbers of Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers and Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Juncos. Here is the full list of birds seen....not many, but here they are all the same:

Location:     Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge--IBA
Observation date:     10/16/10
Notes:     Please also note that weather conditions were as follows: Mostly Sunny, temps in the mid 50s, winds at times in excess of 25 mph.
Number of species:     9

Canada Goose - Branta canadensis     11
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens     2
Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus     1
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata     5
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus     26
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis     3
Brown Creeper - Certhia americana     1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - Dendroica coronata coronata     18
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) - Junco hyemalis hyemalis/carolinensis     18

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)


To finish the day, I joined up with my always dependable good buddy Kirk Marshall and attended a banding demonstration of Northern Saw-whet Owls over at Drumlin Farm from 7 to 9:45 pm. What a freaking treat that was! For one, neither Kirk or myself had ever seen a Saw-whet Owl, and for me, this was my first banding demonstration of any kind! These lovely little owls (they only average 7 to 8 inches in length, from crown to tip of tail) are just so damned cute, especially with those huge saucer eyes that are so very startling yellow in contrast with their black pupils, pale facial disk and rufous-colored, streaky chest! We got to see how the tags were put on and how they recorded the data they obtained from each owl they captured. By the time Kirk and I had left Drumlin, from my best recollection (I was too concerned with the individual owls themselves afterall), we had 7 Saw-whets captured, banded, data-recorded and released back into the wild. I do wish I could count these Saw-whets as a Life bird, but that would be cheating. Yes, they are wild birds, but they were not seen on normal, everyday terms, as in just being out birding and chancing upon one in the wild, unfettered and not tampered with. These wild owls were captured in nets, tagged, measurements taken and finally released. Oh well.....one day Kirk and I will chance upon a Saw-whet in the wild just doing its thing without human interference! I did take a few pictures, but they are on my camera phone and not readily accessible to download to my laptop and thusly, upload to Facebook and this blog. The memory however, shall always remain, etched in my mind!


Truly a superb day it was....now it is time to catch some shut-eye and sleep in! Happy birding to everyone!

eBird Report - Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary, 9/18/10 - The Buff-breasted Sandpiper is still in attendance!!

Hello my fellow birders! Just a fairly quick notation here about my 55 minute trek at Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in search of the reported Buff-breasted Sandpiper that had been seen over this past week and was initially sighted this past Saturday (the 11th) by Pamela Sowizral, Kathy Seymour and her birding group that she was leading that Saturday morning! So yes, as the title of this post implies, the Buff-breasted is still present in the southern section of the Boyce Farm Fields, chilling and perusing along with at least a Baker's dozen of Killdeer (probably more there)! A half-dozen Eastern Bluebirds (most of them immature) were hanging around the bluebird boxes they have up near Boyce Field. Other highlights were a Red-tailed Hawk buzzing by right over my head near the entrance of Wildlife Care while I was walking back to my car; a Red-bellied Woodpecker noisily looking for insects near the Education Center and a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird zipping around and perching near the array of bird feeders that are situated near the main parking lot/walkway up to the Nature Center. I hope other folks get a chance to see this Buff-breasted, for it was definitely a Lifer for me today! Happy birding everybody!

Location:     Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary
Observation date:     9/18/10
Notes:     Buff-breasted Sandpiper is still present at the Boyce Farm Fields near the southwestern quadrant of the area along with numerous Killdeer.
Number of species:     19

Red-tailed Hawk - Buteo jamaicensis     1 (Wildlife Care area)
Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus     13 (Boyce Farm Fields)
Buff-breasted Sandpiper - Tryngites subruficollis     1 (Boyce Farm Fields)

Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura     1

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris     1 (bird feeder area near parking lot)
Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus     1 (near Education Center)

Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens     1
Eastern Phoebe - Sayornis phoebe     1
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata     6
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos     2
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus     9
Tufted Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolor     3
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis     5

Eastern Bluebird - Sialia sialis     6 (Boyce Field area)

American Robin - Turdus migratorius     10
Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis     4

Baltimore Oriole - Icterus galbula     1 (Drumlin Loop Trail)

American Goldfinch - Spinus tristis     7
House Sparrow - Passer domesticus     8

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

A fine day it was yesterday (04/24/2010) with Wildlife Care at Drumlin Farm!

Hopefully volunteering over at Wildlife Care on MAS Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary will open some new pathways, some new doors down the road, but even if it doesn't, the memories I have garnered will last a lifetime!

After having complete morning chores (cleaning indoor and outdoor enclosures, laying food out, etc), A'ndrea Cutler, the interim Wildlife Care Supervisor (sadly she'll be leaving this upcoming Sat, the 1st of May) gave Andrea Coughlan (Wildlife Care Assistant) and myself a brief intro into handling a couple of the birds that at times go on program. Both Andrea and I got to have a red-morph Eastern Screech Owl and an American Kestrel perch itself on our outstretched hands (gloved of course). It was truly amazing to be so very close to these beautiful creatures, to see them in all their glory (even if they are captive and imprinted).

Afterwards, I assisted A'ndrea with the installation of new perches and ladders for our 2 non-flighted Broad-winged Hawks that have an outdoor enclosure on "Bird Hill". Then I assisted A'ndrea with the Broad-wingeds' health check-ups and then not too long afterwards, proceeded to release these beautiful raptors into their newly renovated "home"!

I then assisted in afternoon chores, including feeding the mammals and birds some afternoon snacks, and then when it was time to close up, help usher in the Pekin Ducks, Canada Goose, Mallards and female Turkey Vulture back into their indoor enclosures. I know not every day will be like yesterday, but I most certainly and thoroughly enjoyed myself!

Here are the pics of me with the red-morph Eastern Screech Owl and the American Kestrel: