eBird Report - Chesterfield Gorge Reservation/Gilbert A. Bliss State Forest, 8/15/10 - A surprising variety of birds out in the Highlands!

Its been a little while since last I left ya'll with my whereabouts in terms of birding. And so, here I am! Did ya miss me??! I suppose not, but who cares, because whats important is that I have more birdiness to share!!


I chose to join my Dad on a little excursion to the rolling hills of the Highlands of Western Massachusetts in Hampshire and Hampden counties. Our target location was Chesterfield Gorge Reservation (well, for me it was). My Dad's goal, since he is an avid fly fisherman, was to check out the Westfield River. He hadn't been there since probably around 2001. This was, to my recollection, my first time visiting this area. Plus, I am finally putting my Trustees of Reservations membership to good use!


Both of us expected for the river to be low in volume, and it sure was. This bit of a drought we are in seems to be worse than I thought. A Trustees staff member at the parking lot of Chesterfield Gorge commented on this, saying that a good friend and local had not seen the Westfield River that low since 1953! Here is hoping for a good tropical system or two to come through, for all of the Bay State could use the rain!


Anyhow, onwards-ho we must go. While Dad tended to the fish in the Westfield (there were not many to be had, as unfortunately expected due to the low water levels), I followed the East Branch Trail from Chesterfield Gorge through the Gilbert A. Bliss State Forest all the way down to near the Indian Hollow Campground just over the Chesterfield/Huntington town-line in Huntington. I approximate I hiked 4.5 to 5 miles down, so thus, a total of 9 to 10 miles of hiking all told. I honestly did not expect to see much in the way of species of birds, at least in variety. I figured I would come across a good number of the usual suspects, but beyond that, not much else.


It had started out as I had feared (though I would've enjoyed my day nonetheless), but around Noon-time and from thereon out, it became much more active in terms of numbers of birds and variety! Such highlights are as follows:


Cedar Waxwings were virtually everywhere up and down the Westfield, as well as copious numbers of the Massachusetts State Bird, the infamous Black-capped Chickadee (definitely got sick of seeing Black-caps after a while....even the Waxwings!) A surprising number of Belted Kingfishers were observed, surprising because the waters were so low. But to no surprise, the Kingfishers stuck to areas near the bigger pools and the gorges themselves. 5 Common Mergansers were floating and diving along together in one of the broader stretches of the river with deeper waters. It was also a bit surprising to see these birds since again, the water levels were so low (but not low enough in that section apparently). For me, the biggest and loveliest surprise of all was the variety of warblers seen for this time of year here in MA! 3 Blackburnian Warblers, 3 Common Yellowthroats, 4 Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers, 4 American Redstarts, 5 Black-and-white Warblers and lastly, 1 Canada Warbler were observed! Just lovely! I know the fall migration has not started quite yet, so all these birds must've been breeding in this area! The most wonderful of these warblers was seeing the Blackburnians, Black-and-whites and the Canada, much to my delight! Anyhoo, the full list of birds seen is below, as always!


As you can see, considering the numbers of times I used the word "surprise" in some form in this post, I was very pleasantly surprised to come across what I did out in Western Mass! Goes to show, no matter what time of the year it is, ya never know what you'll come across.....another reason why I love bird watching so very much.....its just a pity I cannot go out more often! Happy birding everyone!!

Location:     Chesterfield Gorge Reservation/Gilbert A. Bliss State Forest
Observation date:     8/15/10
Notes:     Hiked approx. 4.5 miles down the East Branch Trail paralleling the Westfield River down to the meadows that are just southwest of the Indian Hollow Campground, then obviously, reversed direction. Numbers of waxwings and chickadees (particularly waxwings) are conservative.
Number of species:     30

Common Merganser - Mergus merganser     5
Spotted Sandpiper - Actitis macularius     1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris     2
Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon     4
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens     3
Eastern Wood-Pewee - Contopus virens     4
Blue-headed Vireo - Vireo solitarius     1
Warbling Vireo - Vireo gilvus     3
Red-eyed Vireo - Vireo olivaceus     7
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata     9
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos     2
Common Raven - Corvus corax     1
Tree Swallow - Tachycineta bicolor     8
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus     46
Tufted Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolor     13
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis     2
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis     9
American Robin - Turdus migratorius     13
Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis     1
Cedar Waxwing - Bombycilla cedrorum     38
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - Dendroica coronata coronata     4
Blackburnian Warbler - Dendroica fusca     3
Black-and-white Warbler - Mniotilta varia     5
American Redstart - Setophaga ruticilla     4
Common Yellowthroat - Geothlypis trichas     3
Canada Warbler - Wilsonia canadensis     1
Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia     2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - Pheucticus ludovicianus     2
Baltimore Oriole - Icterus galbula     2
American Goldfinch - Spinus tristis     14

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

eBird Report - Rock House Reservation, 7/4/10 - Quite the variety near da Quabbin!!

It is often best for anyone to visit new places and experience new sights as often as one can, for there is just so much to thoroughly take in and enjoy here in Massachusetts! Today, on the birthday of our nation, was one of those days. I seldomly venture out to western Mass, but since my father had invited me to join him on this day while he fly-fished the Swift River near the southern end of the Quabbin, how could I refuse?! For my part, I had to come up with a local place to visit while my Dad spent hours on end fishing in the crisp and refreshing waters of the Swift River that flows out the back end of the Quabbin Reservoir. So, I perused through my Trustees of Reservations guidebook and came up with the closest piece of land they had, that being Rock House Reservation in West Brookfield.

I knew it was going to be a hot day, as all the meteorologists had forecasted for not only this weekend, but the whole next week as well. Still, since it was higher in elevation and humidity levels were still in the comfortable range, hiking Rock House was quite pleasant, despite the incessant and bothersome flies. The most striking features of Rock House are the numerous and massive glacial erratics dispersed throughout the property, as well as Carter Pond (that was man-made, but picturesque nonetheless; I was kinda hoping a Solitary Sandpiper might be around, since the environs seemed like it would be ideal for one to show up....but alas, no luck there). Highlights for birds observed were certainly a few pleasant surprises, such as a Common Raven calling and flying overhead near the back edge of Carter Pond, a male Blackburnian Warbler flitting the treetops and singing, and an absolutely striking male Indigo Bunting singing from the powerlines that bi-sect the reservation. All told, I spent 2 and a half hours traversing the approximately 3.3 miles of trails that criss-cross Rock House Reservation. Yet another fine property that is in the hands of The Trustees of Reservations. Hehehe, the only gripe I had was the fact that there were no trail brochures left for the property at the information kiosk near the main parking lot off of Route 9. Oh well, thats what exploring is for isn't it?! Happy birding to everyone and I hope ya'll had a killer Independence Day weekend!

Location:     Rock House Reservation
Observation date:     7/4/10
Number of species:     36

Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura     1
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens     1
Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus     1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) - Colaptes auratus [auratus Group]     1
Eastern Wood-Pewee - Contopus virens     2
Eastern Phoebe - Sayornis phoebe     1
Eastern Kingbird - Tyrannus tyrannus     1
Red-eyed Vireo - Vireo olivaceus     4
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata     2
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos     3
Common Raven - Corvus corax     1
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus     5
Tufted Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolor     7
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis     2
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis     3
House Wren - Troglodytes aedon     1
Hermit Thrush - Catharus guttatus     1
Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis     3
Cedar Waxwing - Bombycilla cedrorum     4
Yellow Warbler - Dendroica petechia     3
Black-throated Blue Warbler - Dendroica caerulescens     2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - Dendroica coronata coronata     1
Black-throated Green Warbler - Dendroica virens     1
Blackburnian Warbler - Dendroica fusca     1
Prairie Warbler - Dendroica discolor     1
Ovenbird - Seiurus aurocapilla     2
Common Yellowthroat - Geothlypis trichas     1
Eastern Towhee - Pipilo erythrophthalmus     5
Chipping Sparrow - Spizella passerina     3
Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia     1
Scarlet Tanager - Piranga olivacea     2
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis     2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - Pheucticus ludovicianus     1
Indigo Bunting - Passerina cyanea     1
Purple Finch - Carpodacus purpureus     1
American Goldfinch - Spinus tristis     6

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

Here are some general directions copied and pasted directly from the Trustees website for getting to Rock House: From the Mass Turnpike (Exit 8), take Rt. 32 North toward Ware where it joins Rt. 9. Stay on combined Rt. 32/9. When the routes separate, follow Rt. 9 East for 1.1 mi. to entrance and parking (12 cars) on left.