BirdingGirl

Steve and I went for a hike at Blue Hills on Saturday and although I didn't see any birds, I did see these bird tracks in the snow: My first thought was a hawk, but there were far too many of them. I wouldn't expect a hawk to walk on the ground for that long. My next best guess is a wild turkey . The size is right (3.5-4.5 inches long)- they were very large prints. What large birds are out and about in the winter? Oh and the terrain was rocky- near a pipeline and at the top of a hill.

My boyfriend and I made a trip to Blue Hills last weekend and I was thrilled when he wanted to go to Fowl Meadow. We hadn't been there since our first trip in January 2007 when I tried out my new camera. This time of year there's much more activity there, as many of you locals know. Steve got some really great pictures of a Female Yellow Warbler: We were tipped off about a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and about halfway through out hike we encountered a male that was very active and tended to stay high in the canopy, hence the crummy pictures: We also encountered a Mallard family as we went through a swampy area. I heard them first and then saw the mother and babies making their way away from the path to the other side of the swamp. The male was actually in the trees above us and did a lot of squawking and flying around in distress. This died down of course as we got further away from the family. Here are some non-bird pictures I got while in the Fowl Meadow. This is an iris that I...

Thanks to everyone for their helpful tips and information about National vs. Regional Audubon memberships. My plan is to wait and see what comes with my national membership and then probably get a dual membership for my boyfriend and me. That would be $58 for two vs. $44 for one. Thanks to Bennet for the tip about seasonal promotions. He and his wife paid just $25 for the two of them! I'll see how long I can hold out, but I may just bite the bullet and pay the $58 so we can gain access to some of the most desireable sanctuaries. Bennet also shared his goal of visiting all of the Massachusetts Audubon sanctuaries (45). What great motivation to get out there and bird! The Mass Audubon Website has an interactive map that links to the individual sanctuaries: Bennet also posed the question of which Mass sanctuaries I would recommend. After reviewing this map I realized I've only been to 3! Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, Blue Hills in Canton, and Ashumet Holly in East Falmouth. Of the...

I've made a few trips to Blue Hills lately but unfortunately I don't have any bird pictures to share! I have some great ones of a garter snake, a deer, and some pretty foliage but no birds :( I may post those in the next few days once work dies down a bit.

Our last two trips to Blue Hills revolved around birding. We chose our hikes based upon areas we thought would be good for birding- low-lying fields and wetlands. We took it slow, listening for birds and stopping for long periods of time to locate birds and line up shots. This trip was a different story-- the focus of our trip today was strictly hiking. We spent time on the Skyline Trail, as well as Green woodland loops and the orange Massachuseuk Trail. The Skyline is probably the most popular trail so we saw lots of other hikers today, including an organized group. It felt good to be doing a strenuous hike again. We went up Tucker Hill on a few different occasions, and our pace was certainly much faster than it had been when we were birding. Who would have guessed that we'd get our best bird picture to date! My boyfriend takes the credit for this one: We were making our way along the Green loop when I spotted him just as we turned a corner. He was sitting on top of a fallen tree ...

We were able to get out to Blue Hills this past Sunday since it was such nice weather (sunny and in the 30s- a relief from Friday's frigid temperatures). We went to the area east of Ponkapoag Pond. We had been out there once before to go to the Ponkapoag B og area- one of my boyfriend's favorite areas in the park. We'll have to go back there in the spring to see what kinds of birds there are since it's such a unique part of Blue Hills. A friend had given me a tip to expect some Northern birds to come down from Canada due to the cold temperatures. However, he was expecting them to be down on the Cape and I never made it down there this weekend. Nonetheless, we heard a lot of different calls while we were out in Blue Hills, but weren't able to spot very many. That's the difficult part about being in mature woods- we can hear them but can't spot them since they're up so high. I'll have to start looking into binoculars. I have the Columbia pair from Chri...

On Sunday my boyfriend and I went to Blue Hills to test out the new camera. This time we went to the Fowl Meadow area since we hadn't been there before and it seemed like a good place to look for birds. We didn't get there until midday so there wasn't too much activity, but we did manage to see some good birds. These included a Northern Flicker, White-Breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, a female Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, and what we believe to be a Mourning Dove. The best pictures of the day came from the nuthatch. I just love them- they have such great personalities. Northern Flicker: Mourning Dove (?): Yes I know, not too exotic. But at the time it seemed much bigger than any mourning dove I'd ever seen and I had never seen the tail hang down as long as it did. We were on one side of a creek and it was on the other side high up in a tree. When it finally flew away, again, it seemed much bigger than a mourning dove. I was fortunate to be abl...

I had planned on doing some research and birdwatching over Thanksgiving, but unfortunately I was sick with a migraine for the two days I was home. Luckily I was able to do some birdwatching over the weekend during a hike at Blue Hills (http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/metroboston/blue.htm ). My boyfriend and I go for hikes there as often as we can and this time I was particularly attentitive to the birds around us. It was a little too late in the day to see anything too interesting I'm afraid, but I was just happy to be out there. I didn't get any decent pictures since I'm still learning the art of capturing birds, plus we were moving and there wasn't time to stop and watch. I saw lots of chickadees, nuthatches and a downy woodpecker again.