What Is It?

Sharp-shinned Hawk

I ran into the same conundrum that my friend Julie Zickefoose had which she reported in her recent blog.  Was the hawk we saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk or a Cooper's Hawk?

Sharp-shinned Hawk

When I first saw the small hawk flyby and land in a nearby tree, I first thought it may be a kestrel since it was so small probably dove size.  When we were able to approach it closer and started obtaining photographs, I thought of a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  Arriving at home, when I downloaded my pictures and my son downloaded his pictures and we continued to go back and forth on which hawk, it was.  My sons thought it was a Cooper's but I still was not sure.  So to help with the identification.  I sent copies of some of the pictures to  my birding buddy who felt that it was a Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Here is a link to describe the differences http://feederwatch.org/learn/tricky-bird-ids/coopers-hawk-and-sharp-shinned-hawk/

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

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Waterfowl at Jenney Pond Plymouth Massachusetts

American Black Duck

Yesterday after I dropped my grandson off at work , I Traveled down to Plymouth to Jenney Pond because there was a pair of common mergansers reported at that location. Since the weather has been below freezing most of the pond was frozen over which concentrates the waterfall into a smaller area. Because usually they are swimming along the father shore I utilized the to ask convertor on my 500 mm lens so I could get larger images into my pictures. However, at times I had too much lens because some of the action was taken place close to me and so I had to move backwards to try to get the entire duck in the picture.

There was a lot of mating action going on with the mallards. The Drake Mallard would climb on the back of the Hen Mallard, grab her head with his bill and complete the copulation. Afterwards the Drake would swim around with its head extended at the water line. Both of them would then preen and then flap their wings.

Mallards Mating

Drake Mallard Swimming after Mating

Hen Mallard Came on the Ice to Preen

Hen Mallard Flapping after Preening

A pair of Gadwalls were feeding and the Drake Gadwall really showed off its cinnamon-edged scapular's.

Gadwalls Feeding

Notice the Nice Cinnamon Brown on the Drake Gadwall

Both the Drake Ring-Necked Duck and the Drake Bufflehead was showing off their iridescent colors.

Drake Bufflehead

Hen Bufflehead

Drake Bufflehead Showing Its Iridescence

Drake Bufflehead Up-Right and Hooting

Ring-necked Duck

Ring-necked Duck

Well, the common mergansers were not there, but the action was great.

Plymouth Massachusetts

Bufflehead

I decided today to visit Plymouth Massachusetts since I haven't photograph the birded that area in a while. I started at Jenney Pond, where most of the pond was frozen. In the open area there were a number of Buffleheads, either female or first year males, Greater Scaup, a couple of Gadwall pairs and a pair of Mute Swans. In the small creek that leads into the pond were mostly mallards. Most of the birds were either feeding or preening. The only passerines that I saw were a few juncos and house sparrows.

Greater Scaup

Greater Scaup

House Sparrow

Mute Swan preening

I then went down to the harbor and stopped at the Pilgrim Monument State Park where there were Red-breasted Mergansers, a Ruddy Duck a single female Common Eider. As I was searching around to see if there was anything else I noticed a pair of small white birds on the rocks. When I got closer I recognized a pair of Snow Buntings, whole obligingly allowed me to photograph them.

Ruddy Duck

Female Common eider flapping her wings

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Pair of Snow Buntings

I then traveled to the harbor itself to see if there were any unusual gulls present but nothing but the usual. Since the tide was partly out I decided then to travel to Plymouth Beach to see if there were any unusual gulls there and to walk out toward the tip of the beach to look for snowy owls. However, when I got to the entrance to the beach, it was closed due to laying down of new sand on top of the rocks. It looks like that part of the roadway got washed out during the last storm.

However all in all it was a good morning.

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo )

I published a short article about the Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo ) on Focusing on Wildlifehttp://focusingonwildlife.com/news/great-cormorant-phalacrocorax-carbo/

Iceland Gull, Again

First Cycle Iceland Gull

I stopped at Plymouth harbor the other day, hoping to photograph the Iceland Gull again. I located the first cycle Iceland gull sitting on a post at the edge of the parking lot, eating. I got set up and ready to photograph the gull, when it dropped what it was eating onto the ice in the harbor below. It flew down into the harbor, and I was able to capture some photographs of it on the ice. Looking with my binocular's over the other gulls, I saw a gull with bright red feet and a ringed bill, it had a light gray mantle and no black on the edge of its wings. I obtained some photographs and then went back to the car to get out my bird book for identification purposes, but could not identify what gull this was. Because of where it was located on the railing which was out over the water it was very hard to get other photographs of it although I did move around and after the gull that was on its right flew away I did get some side view pictures. When the gull I was viewing flew away, viewing it showed that it definitely was a white winged gull. Finally when I arrived home and viewed the picture on the computer and using my Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America and the Peterson Reference Guide "Gulls of the Americas" I came to realize that it was a second to third cycle Iceland Gull. I then went back and looked at my previous photograph that it taken earlier this month of the gull and realized it was the same gull. I wonder if the bright red legs were caused by the cold weather that we have had recently?

Red Feet

Second to Third Cycle Iceland Gull

Same gull picture taken earlier in the month in bright sun, its legs are not as red

A Visit to Jenney Pond, Plymouth Massachusetts

Front portion of Jenney Pond with open water

Female Ring-necked Duck

Male Ringed Neck Duck

I visited Jenney Pond in Plymouth Massachusetts today because it has been freezing over the past few days and I know when that happens the pond starts to freeze and concentrates the ducks and gulls into a smaller area.

Back portion of Jenney pond with ice

The weather today was overcast with the temperature around 32°F but no wind and the birds were plentiful on the pond. The mallards and swans spent most of their time resting on the ice. Otherwise, the other species were swimming and feeding. I was able to photograph male and female ring-neck ducks, male and female hooded mergansers, male and female gadwalls, a female goldeneye, a male red-breasted merganser and the yearly ever present lesser black-backed gull.

Female Common Goldeneye

Male Gadwall

Male Hooded Merganser

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Female Hooded Merganser and Male Ring-necked Duck

Red-breasted Merganser

Female Gadwall

Muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus)

Muskrat feeding in Jenney Pond

When you visit wetlands along rivers, lakes and ponds one of the interesting creatures that you may see is the muskrat. Muskrats are a medium-sized semi-aquatic rodent that is native to North America. It also has been introduced into parts of Europe, Asia and South America. Muskrats play a very important role in the ecology of wetlands. The eat almost any aquatic vegetation as well as some field crops that are adjacent to suitable habitat. Preferred natural foods include cattails, pickle weed, bulrush, smart weed, duck potato, horsetail, waterlily and other aquatic plants. Normally, when they see a person they will swim away or dive under the water. I have found when the muskrat is actively eating that it will give you a better chance to watch and photograph. They will use their claws like hands to put the vegetation into the mouth which they eat with their strong rodent teeth.

Muskrat feeding Daniel Webster Audubon Sanctuary

Muskrat feeding Daniel Webster Audubon Sanctuary

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Leucistic Mallard at Jenney Pond, Plymouth Massachusetts

Original picture unprocessed

It is Thursday, birding day again, and we started out at Jenney pond in Plymouth Massachusetts. There were a number of different species of ducks present but surprisingly no Canada Geese. Also, the hooded mergansers were absent. The most interesting finding was a partially leucistic duck, which was initially swimming with a light brown duck. On observing the duck without binoculars, it appeared almost pure white with a black bill, which made us think that it may be a gadwall. When I imported the pictures into my computer and looked at the pictures closer, the bill was not black but very suggestive of a mallard. Since birds was swimming in closer contact with the mallards rather than with the gadwalls, I believe this is a mallard.

Picture processed, Mallards in appearance

What proved interesting was that the mute swans started chasing the leucistic duck, who flying short distances away from the swans. Finally the duck swam into the reeds and was able to get away from the swans.

Leucistic Mallard being chased by Mute Swan

Leucistic Mallard being chased by Mute Swan

The Leucistic Mallard Escaping

The Leucistic Mallard Hiding into reeds