Palm Warbler and More at Charles River

I got up extra early this morning to do some birding along the Charles River before work. Since I don't live in Watertown anymore I need to take advantage of being near the river during the work week.

For all of you Massachusetts birders caught up in the warbler frenzy right now (I see Christopher at Picus Blog made a recent trip to Mt. Auburn Cemetery and to Brighton to see the Townsend's Warbler at Chestnut Hill Reservoir- so jealous!), I'll give a tip of my own about the best spot for warblers on the Charles River Rd. stretch of the river in Watertown. Today confirmed for me that the best area is in the stand of trees immediately after Watertown Square. This is where I've seen nearly all of the warblers/kinglets I've spotted in along the Charles in Watertown. I walk the whole stretch between Watertown Square and N. Beacon St. when I go birding, but for some reason they only like that area. Especially where the trees border the lawn when it is nice and sunny.

I first heard then saw two Ruby-crowned Kinglets that I tried desperately to get pictures of, but this was the best I could do:

I've seen Golden-crowned Kinglets at the Charles River before, but this was my first Ruby-crowned! I consider it a lifer since I have no memory of seeing this one a year ago and the pictures in my previous post are blurry as you can see. Kinglets are just too damn quick- they're fun to watch but impossible to photograph. That's when I know I've really made it as a bird photographer...I'll have crisp beautiful ruby-crowned and golden-crowned kinglets pictures to post on my blog :)

Then when I got to the stand of trees I heard the kinglets again, stopped to watch them and then saw a yellow Palm Warbler (lifer):

Finally, I saw a yellow-rumped warbler, which I've seen in this stretch of the Charles River before:

Difference Between Grackles and Starlings

I saw a sad sight today during my lunchtime jog—a dead grackle. Or was it a starling? I'll get to that in a minute. I was making my way down to the trail along the Charles River when I saw what I thought was an injured bird in the middle of the road. It was just sitting there and I figured it was just stunned or maybe had an injured wing. The bird probably didn't have much of a chance, but the least I could move it out of the road. As I got closer to the bird I saw it had its mouth open and then I realized the gruesome truth—it was dead and was frozen in that position. I just got shivers thinking about it. The poor thing. Anyway, so it got me to thinking 'What is the difference between grackles and starlings?' I use the two interchangeably and haven't really made an effort to sort it out. Until now. I like to use All About Birds from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as an online resource. The site is comprehensive and easy to use. (I also really like the 'Cool ...

Killdeer Chick in Yellowstone National Park

These were taken at West Thumb Geyser Basis, along the beach. It was really cool to get to watch these little chicks up close and personal. I had never seen Killdeer chicks before- only adults. These pictures are from our trip to Montana/Wyoming in July 2012.

Red-tailed Hawk Attacks a Girl at Fenway Park

Apparently there are three resident red-tailed hawks at Fenway Park. One of them attacked a middle school student from Connecticut while she was there on a tour of the park. She received a scratch on her forehead and was treated and released from Children's Hospital. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff What a terrible thing to happen, but at the same time I'm fascinated by these Fenway Park hawks. Boston.com has full coverage with both a news story and a pictorial giving a high-level account of the story. I recommend taking a look at the pictorial by clicking on the image above because there are some amazing pictures in there. WCVB, TheBostonChannel.com, also covered the story and has a video of the hawk watching visitors in one of the luxury boxes. The video captures both angles- the visitors chattering behind the glass and of the hawk perched in front of the window watching them critically. Click on the image to view the video (taken by reporters touring the park) on their site. It...

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