Field Ornithology Journal 4: Good Birding Spot 1

On May 21, 2020, I went to two locations for birding from 6:00 AM – 12:00 PM. Throughout the day it was sunny with clear skies in the 70 Fºs range with moderate west winds. My first location was Westborough Wildlife Management Area (WMA), otherwise known as Lake Chauncey, is a mosaic habitat of open water/wetlands, cornfields, and oak-maple forests. I have been to Westborough Wildlife Management Area before were on 5/16/20 I saw 62 species, yet today was astonishingly quiet. Despite species moving north or deciding to be quiet I still enjoyed my time in the field. Starting at 6:00 AM with the check-in call I parked towards Lake Chauncey peering at meandering Double-crested Cormorant and a pair of Mute Swans. At 6:20 when the call ended I started by going down a straightaway with Lake Chauncy to the left of me and to the right of me a stretch of flowering black oaks being fed by Baltimore Orioles. Further down this straightaway there was a commotion of singing Warbling and Yellow-throated Vireo, which was a great opportunity to compare their songs. Meeting at the end of the straightaway I soon entered the flowering maples and oak stands to witness a warbler hotspot where last time I saw twelve warbler species, yet today I barely heard a peep. Despite this silence I was able to see some warblers. Most notably I did see a female American Redstart caring for her nest in a northern red oak. I wanted to see if there were eggs, yet instead kept my distance to not disturb the nest.

Moving past her nest another amazing duo! This duo is the banter of Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireo on opposite sides of the trail. At first, I was confused thinking two Red-eyed Vireo, two Blue-headed Vireo, both, and if so which side. Again, this was a great exercise to learn their calls, yet I was able to see both of them as well! Soon after I head towards a trail more interior where prior I have heard many of the migrant thrushes. However once again silence, yet only rather the sounds of the year-round residents (Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, and more). By the end of the trail I met a pair of Ovenbirds hopping around a babbling brook and disappeared into the brush as I approached. Now leaving the forest habitat I encountered the massive corns fields being fed on by tens of Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles, sadly no Rusty Blackbirds in the bunch. Walking beside the corn fields I encountered edge habitat species such as Song Sparrows and the constant singing of Gray Catbirds. Reaching the end of the corn fields I went down another straightaway of staghorn sumacs. Other than being one of my favorite trees they are also a great food source for Black-capped Chickadees and weird enough a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. By the end of the trail of sumacs I was able to get one last notable mention, Least Flycatcher singing insensately to anyone walking by. Overall this location was a great day for flycatchers (Least Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, and Great Crested Kingbird), yet sadly no Eastern Wood-Pewee. Overall despite it being a quiet day I spent 3.25 hours (6:00 AM - 9:15 AM) over 3.4 miles to find 45 species and 167 individuals. Still wanting Eastern Wood-Pewee I went to Desert Natural Area.

Desert Natural Area was my next location located twenty minutes northeast located in Marlborough, MA. Desert Natural Area may not be a desert, yet rather has sandy soils allowing only trees that do well in well-drained environments to thrive. Despite the sandy soils there are some heavy saturated soils made by Cranberry Brook allowing pignut hickory and black birch to grow. Starting off at this location once again there was silence and the only bird calling was that of a neighbor’s chicken for the first five minutes. Despite the chicken I was soon met by another red bird more specifically a male Scarlet Tanager. Held upright in a maple this Scarlet Tanager was in the middle of the trail on an overhanging branch. Soon enough though a pair of hikers spooked off the Scarlet Tanager. Trying to hide my frustration I continued to find a flooded region of the Cranberry Brook filled with snags and speckled alder. Expectantly I saw Common Yellowthroat, Belted Kingfisher, Tree Swallow, and a “Pewee”! Excitingly at the opposite end of the flooded region there a perched Eastern Wood-Pewee achieving my species goal of the day. Moving forward from the Eastern-Wood Pewee I continued south to the more desert region of pitch, red, and eastern white pine. Here I observed another duo of the trilling’s of Pine Warbler and Chipping Sparrow . Another song I observed in this stand was that of a peculiar Eastern Towhee rearranging the typical notes of “Drink your tea” to “Tea you drink”, despite all the other Eastern Towhees singing the tradition “Drink your tea”. Besides Eastern Towhee, Pine Warbler, and Chipping Sparrow I did not hear that much besides the occasional Black-capped Chickadee or Northern Cardinal. At the end of the pine stands I reached a maple-black birch stand to hear a somewhat familiar song of maybe Blue-winged Warbler. The song had familiar notes and different notes to the Blue-winged Warbler making me think it’s probably another yellow-colored warbler. Working between the other yellow warblers I concluded the song to be Nashville Warbler to have it later confirmed by Allan. The Nashville Warbler is how I ended my time at Deseret Natural Area spending 2.5 hours (9:40 AM - 12:10 PM) over 3.6 miles to find 26 species and 61 individuals. Today may have not been great for total species count, yet rather day to practice my song memorization and deduction. Overall today I saw 52 species and 228 individuals.

Species Observed