Harlequin - what?! 11/10/13

Sarah and I decided to make the trip down to Newport, RI to check out an estate sale that she found online.  It was a no-brained for me since she dangled the 'we'll go birding carrot' in front if me...   The estate sale was nice and Sarah for some odds and ends.  Afterwards, we took a quick trip down to Palmer Point State Park, RI.  

After a brief bathroom break a couple told us that there were harlequin ducks just off shore.  Needless to say....

Later on we ventured to gooseberry neck where we ran across some nice birds and then to Allen's Pond where we flushed some Meadowlarks at dusk.

    Savannah Sparrows taking a bath

   Semi-palmated Plover

   Ruddy Turnstone

    Dunlin weathering the storm!

Mandarin Duck - Leverett Pond -11/24/2013

Sarah and I took an early morning trip to JP to track down the Mandarin Duck being seen at Leverett Pond.  Boy it was frigid cold. After a few minutes of looking, I spotted it swimming across an opening between two vegetated islands.  It took awhile to get Sarah on the bird which required us to walk around to the other side.  We met several other  birders there looking for the same.  Sarah graciously shared our scope.

    Mandarin duck - Presumably escaped from captivity.

Great Meadows Flood

Sarah and I stopped by on our way home from NH to see what was happening. We saw our first ever Sora and a few Virginia Rails.

We had fun sloshing through the thigh high water until on our way out Sarah encountered a snake! Then we were almost carried away by mosquitos!

Another fun adventure!

Tufted Duck at Boxford, MA

On our excursion to Boxford we were able to see the male Tufted duck and heard a Barred Owl across the street. Missed out on the female due to an emergency, but it was a blessing in disguise, cause we found this great little coffee shop!

Good times!

Post Boston Marathon Birding

I feel like I grew up in Boston --- in a way I have. I attended BU as an undergrad then as a grad student from 2002-2008. The Boston Marathon has been my favorite day in Boston ever since my first in 2003. I couldn't get enough of the excitement and community. The sense of joy, particularly at the finish line particularly around 3 PM is simply indescribable.

At that time you see more of the runners who ran for charity or for some other cause. I always cried at that part of the race... Seeing people succeed at something so hard and doing so for someone else is just amazing. Today, the day after the tragedy, has been so hard on so many of us. I couldn't concentrate at work so I turned to birding. I walked over to the fens and feeling the sun on my face and the tree buds coming out brought me at least partly out of my daze. The real comfort though came from the birds. They reminded that life goes on and beauty and light can always be found around us. Lightness will always take away darkness.

Great Meadows - Part 2 (3/24/13)

A few pics from my camera. The light during sunset was gorgeous....

GBH Swallow Monster Perch Under Moonlight (3/24/13)

On the way out of Great Meadows Sunday night we saw this guy trying to swallow down a massive perch. We also had great looks at 3 wood ducks, ringed-necked ducks and golden-eyes and saw our first tree swallows of the year!

My personal highlight was the number of young muskrats. They were everywhere.

We capped everything off during a beautiful sunset with the sounds of geese landing by the hundred for the night and a solo woodcock peenting.