eBird Report - Ferdinand, Vermont, 2/6/10 - Northern Hawk Owl & Boreal Chickadees - YES

Good day fellow Mass Birders!

I understand that posts usually should be about birds seen within the borders of our beloved State of Massachusetts, but I thought it would be prudent to pass along this report and information along, because how often does one get to observe a Northern Hawk Owl?!

My friend Kirk Marshall and I decided to make a day of it visiting the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont to see if we could spy our little eyes on the main prize, the Northern Hawk Owl that was last reported on VT Birds on January 30th by Mark Barriger of Cheshire, CT. There were many snowmobilers in the area considering the pull off spot and location of the NHO is right near one of the trails in the VAST system, but none of this, nor the presence of myself and 4 fellow birders (including Bob Stymeist and his wife) seemed to bother this amazing owl who obviously was very cooperative! After observing the NHO for a good 20 minutes or so, Kirk and I headed roughly 2 miles or so east on Route 105 to South America Pond Road which takes you into Wenlock WMA.

We ourselves pulled off the side of the 105 and walked down South America Pond Rd to see what we could see. We had not realized this, but for those going to check out this particular area, there is also a small parking lot of sorts about 500 feet or so on SA Pond Rd (please note that this road has not been cleared very much, so if you do go in, I hope you have good winter tires on). Kirk and I walked down this road for about a half to .75 miles or so, then walked on back. Along our travels there we came across numerous Black-capped Chickadees, but interspersed with them were a few Boreal Chickadees, some we could not get on, and a few we definitely could! One Boreal Chickadee kept flying within 5 feet of Kirk and myself back and forth across the road, seemingly checking us out. It was amazing (though still not as amazing as the NHO in my opinion!) Several White-winged Crossbills were heard by us, but we could never get on them. Also, a couple of Grey Jays and a few Red-breasted Nuthatches (we could hear many others) also graced us with their beautiful presence!

All in all what a very beautiful and glorious day!

For further information, here is some copied text from Barriger's post back on the 30th of January: Ferdinand Hawk Owl - The location is 2.5 miles east of the John Boyland State Airport at a snowmobile crossing of Route 105. The Northern Hawk Owl was approximately 500 feet south of Route 105 in an open area along the Nulhegan River. The GPS coordinates for our viewing location were        N 44.78001 W 71.78243. This location is about 6 miles east of Island Pond (Brighton), VT.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <do-not-reply@ebird.org>
Date: Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 8:09 PM
Subject: eBird Report - Ferdinand, Vermont , 2/6/10
To: gbil4243@gmail.com




Location:     Ferdinand, Vermont
Observation date:     2/6/10
Notes:     Please note that the Northern Hawk Owl was seen at the location the marker shows on the map provided. After observing the NHO, my friend Kirk Marshall and I went a bit farther east (about a couple of miles or so) on Route 105 to South America Pond Road in the Wenlock WMA. It is there that we saw the 3 Boreal Chickadees, the numerous BC Chickadees and heard several White-winged Crossbills, but could never get on them. The Red-breasted Nuthatches were seen amongst both species of chickadee. A couple of seemingly tame Grey Jays (as is their nature) came by to check things out!
Number of species:     5

Northern Hawk Owl - Surnia ulula     1
Gray Jay - Perisoreus canadensis     2
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus     X
Boreal Chickadee - Poecile hudsonica     3
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis     2

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