Great Meadows NWR (Concord), Oxbow NWR, Nine-Acres Corner - 04/18/2010

The weather may not have been ideal (annoyingly light, intermittent rain showers for most of the day) for heading outside, but it wasn't too awful either, so here are the highlights of todays expedition with my good friend Kirk Marshall!

It started off, before meeting up with Kirk at Great Meadows by 8 am, by seeing a pair of COMMON LOONS on Nagog Pond near the Littleton/Acton border while driving east on 119/2A. This pair, at the time this morning, was drifting along with about a half-dozen RING-NECKED DUCKS. And yes, I had good looks because I had been stuck at the traffic light there to go into Nagog Park.

While at Great Meadows, Kirk and myself got upon 2 AMERICAN COOTS, both on the Lower Pool side of the dike, milling amongst the dead reeds nearest the dike. We also saw a handful of GREAT BLUE HERONS, a pair of MUTE SWANS, and about a half-dozen WOOD DUCKS, a few of which were perched on top of the wood ducks boxes. A few DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS also had the same idea. Strewn throughout the entire area was a myriad of COMMON GRACKLES, TREE SWALLOWS AND RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, many of the male Red-wings displaying! We also lucked upon a MERLIN flying overhead the Lower Pool as well! And yes, there was a large contingent of CANADA GEESE....oh well! But I find the most amusing thing there was this one Great Blue. We'd get within 5-10 feet of it on the dike trail, then it would fly off, but only to just a little ways down the dike trail in front of us. So, we'd come upon him again, and he would fly off again farther down the dike. After the 3rd time, he decided to stand his ground as we walked past him. I guess he liked that dike much too much!

Next stop was Oxbow, and it was fairly quiet today, compared to earlier last week. Saw a few WOOD DUCKS and MALLARDS and TREE SWALLOWS, as well as other commonly found birds this time of year, but the highlight from what we saw was the lone PALM WARBLER we observed along the Turnpike Trail. A BELTED KINGFISHER also graced us with its crazed chatterings while walking back along Tank Road.

Our last stop was to check out Nine-Acres Corner for the GLOSSY IBISES, and we were not disappointed. They are in the same southwest quadrant of the area, all 10 of them, along with a few KILLDEER and GREAT BLUE HERONS. Had some seriously great looks at the ibises due to the sun finally shining, making their glossy, purple-hued/iridescent feathers glitter! Also was able to see them in flight as they moved from one flooded area to the next!

All in all, a very nice day to be out and about for the both of us! Happy birding to all!!

eBird Report - Littleton Heron Rookery, 4/6/10 - Red-headed Woodpecker - NO; GHO, Ospreys, Great Blues - YES

Location:     Littleton Heron Rookery
Observation date:     4/6/10
Notes:     The Red-headed Woodpecker reported yesterday by Mark Rosenstein was not observed early this afternoon, though it is still possible it might be in the area nonetheless. Others who venture out this way might have better luck (hopefully).

Here is some copied, paraphrased text from Mark Rosenstein's post on Massbird from yesterday:

Take Route 2 west to exit 41 "Newtown Rd" toward Acton/Littleton, left on Central St, right on Littlefield Rd, continue as it becomes Depot Rd near junction of Littleton Rd (which is a Dead End street) until you reach the railroad crossing.

Park at the side of the road, but beware that these railroad tracks are active with several trains a day (Fitchburg MBTA Commuter Rail Line). Walk to the right along the tracks about 3 tenths of a mile.  Look for a trail off to the right with a bunch of trashed appliances at the start. Also note at this "trailhead" that there are AT&T signs posted. Take this a couple of hundred yards to the edge of the swamp. Do wear some waterproof boots that you don't mind getting a little mucked up when walking down this pathway to the edge of the swamp. 

There are nests forward and to the right.  The Great Horned Owl nest is in front of you (along with some of the other Great Blue Heron nests.)  The Ospreys are to the far right.  The Red-Headed Woodpecker was investigating trees along the left side of the swamp.

Number of species:     13

Canada Goose - Branta canadensis     5
Wood Duck - Aix sponsa     6 (in along marsh areas next to railroad tracks)
Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos     4 (same as "Ooo-eek" Ducks)
Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias     6 (some in nests, some loping around main marsh)
Osprey - Pandion haliaetus     2 (at end of path, look to far right)
Great Horned Owl - Bubo virginianus     1 (straight ahead, slightly to the right of 2 occupied heron nests)
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens     2
Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus     1
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata     2
Tree Swallow - Tachycineta bicolor     10 (flitting and swooping throughout; numbers are conservative)
American Robin - Turdus migratorius     9
Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus     X (everywhere)
Common Grackle - Quiscalus quiscula     X (everywhere)

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