Most often for me over the years, Easter is relatively unmemorable. The usual spending time with family (always welcome nonetheless), the usual stuffing your face, the usual stomach-ache afterwards. But on this past Sunday's Easter, it was a day I surely will never forget!
I met up with Kirk in Burlington by 7:30 am, then we headed off to Great Brook Farm State Park in Carlisle, MA to get our bird on, after having had a long, arduous and dull week at work. Yesterday was a much needed day outdoors, and Great Brook Farm (and Oxbow as I will mention later) did not disappoint!
We had had aspirations of coming across at least one of the 2 Winter Wrens at Great Brook, but we were in the wrong area (stayed around the Meadow Pond trails). But thats okay, because we were treated with something we had not seen before (though I have yet to see a Winter Wren....my nemesis bird!), something that one might find in a nature documentary on Animal Planet. After coming across numerous Palm Warblers and a few Yellow Warblers (they were also singing) near the juncture of the Maple Ridge Trail, we chanced upon 2 Pileated Woodpeckers on the same dead tree....one of which we had already come across early along the Maple Ridge Trail......but it was what these two Pileateds did that took our breath away! Kirk, having had spotted these woodpeckers first, had a feeling, with the way these two Pileateds were interacting with one another, that a love-making session might be in order! And sure enough (lasting only 5 seconds......hmmm, sounds like most guys huh ladies??), these 2 love-birds (no pun intended) got it on, the male spreading out his wings as he planted the seeds of life! Just something you surely don't see every day, 2 woodpeckers copulating, and Pileateds to boot! The female stayed on a large snag on the dead tree, preening herself while the male flew off after doing the dirty deed. Certainly an unexpected and unique treat! And no, we aren't voyeurs, even if I am indeed a pervert!
Other highlights were several Wood Ducks and Ring-necked Ducks on Meadow Pond, 2 singing Brown Creepers following one another along the Keyes Loop Trail, a myriad of singing Chipping Sparrows throughout (3 of which we were actually able to observe), a singing Ruby-crowned Kinglet (one observed, others heard) and 2 Black-and-white Warblers (one along the Maple Ridge Trail on our way back to the parking lot and one near the junction of the Corn Cob and Erickson Trails). A truly remarkable time at Great Brook Farm we had, all 3 hours of our time there, with a good variety of birds and fantastic weather conditions (lows 70s, light and variable winds, sunny).
Location: Great Brook Farm SP
Observation date: 4/24/11
Number of species: 27
Canada Goose - Branta canadensis 4
Wood Duck - Aix sponsa 6
Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos 5
Ring-necked Duck - Aythya collaris 6
Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias 2
Rock Pigeon - Columba livia 7
Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura 5
Pileated Woodpecker - Dryocopus pileatus 2
Eastern Phoebe - Sayornis phoebe 3
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata 5
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 3
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus 9
Tufted Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolor 4
Brown Creeper - Certhia americana 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Regulus calendula 1
American Robin - Turdus migratorius 13
Yellow Warbler - Dendroica petechia 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) - Dendroica coronata coronata 11
Palm Warbler (Yellow) - Dendroica palmarum hypochrysea 16
Black-and-white Warbler - Mniotilta varia 2
Chipping Sparrow - Spizella passerina 3
Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia 3
Swamp Sparrow - Melospiza georgiana 1
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 2
Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus 13
Common Grackle - Quiscalus quiscula 7
American Goldfinch - Spinus tristis 7
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
We left Great Brook by 11 am and made a fairly brief (about 45 mins) visit at Oxbow NWR in Harvard, MA. We didn't expect to see much, and we really did not, seeing more Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers and most notably, a singing Blue-gray Gnatcatcher! But the HUGE moment was coming upon a BLANDING'S TURTLE along Tank Road near the top of the hill underneath the tall white pines, that of which are fairly close to the junction of Turnpike Trail and Tank Road. This Blanding's was on the right-hand side of Tank Road if you are heading northwards on it. Kirk captured several pictures of the amazing turtle, and after going further up Tank Road for a brief spell, on our way back I observed the Blanding's splooshing into the pools of water lining the edge of the railroad tracks.
Truly what a remarkable way to end our morning on Easter, seeing that Blanding's Turtle, something of which both Kirk and I have been desperately hoping to see at Oxbow due to the fact the USFWS is managing breeding populations there. Happy birding everyone, and just think, the big Spring migration is just around the corner (starts salivating......**DROOOOOOL**)!!
