Date: 11/1/24 7:15 pm From: Matt S. <accipiter22...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] November 1, 2024: Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston - Continuing Chat & Dickcissel
Hi All,
Greetings from the north! Today while down in Boston in my office I was browsing rare bird alerts, and saw both dickcissel & chat were being seen literally a 45-second walk from me. The chat was hiding by the mural down near South Station, and I could not find it for some time...Then someone turned, as we were all looking into the bushes, and it was practically right next to us, like it was wondering what we were all looking for! It dove right down into the brush as soon as we turned, and I got a 3 second look before it melted into the shrubs. My third chat ever; I think one of their field-marks should be "gives terrible looks"
Next I headed over to look for the Dickcissel; apparently it is extremely drab and barely distinguishable from the house sparrows. I actually did not even see any house sparrows near where it had been, and failed to turn it up, though several other people had seen it previously, so it was definitely there today.
Living in New Hampshire has been nice, as has been living literally on the Massachusetts border; best of both worlds. I've been back to Rock Meadow & Mount Auburn; this autumn was the slowest migration I have seen, so even though I get to go to Parker River nearly constantly now, I have not seen a really broad breadth of autumn migrants.
In our yard, one thing that struck me, almost immediately, is that there is no 'down time' during midday. Living back in Newton, from roughly 11AM through maybe 6PM in the summer, it would be REALLY quiet in our yard. Up here, not so much. The local foraging flock assaults my feeders from sun up to sun down. The two "coolest" moments so far:
I saw some branches moving above our feeders, which are placed at the edge of some newish growth woods. I figured it was a squirrel, but scanned anyway. My eyes almost popped out of my head: Yellow-billed cuckoo!! I got some documentation shots before I lost track of it, but I do wonder if they could breed nearby, I need to keep an ear/eye out in the spring.
The other cool moment was an inundation of grackles. We get random foraging/migrating flocks come through every week or so. I went back and counted this week's from two pictures spanning our front yard......942!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The video was an absolute cacophony.
That's all for now,
Matt s. Newton, NH <Accipiter22...> ----------------------------------
Rose Kennedy Greenway, Suffolk, Massachusetts, US Nov 1, 2024 12:13 PM - 12:48 PM Protocol: Stationary Checklist Comments: Searching for Chat & Dickcissel...brief looks at Chat, dipped on dick 8 species
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral Pigeon)) 37 Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) X American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus) X European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) X House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 8 White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) 6 Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 2 Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens) 1 By mural, continuing....was next to us as we looked into the bushes! looked to the side and it IMMEDIATELY jumped down when we saw it. Got another 3 second look after as it skulked on ground, before it receded into brush.
