One of the nice things about writing this column is the comments, questions, and birding tips I get from readers. It seems that every time I go to the post office Phyllis has a report of a bird she has seen or a question about a bird.
A great blue heron. (Courtesy photo)
Our friend Susan emailed me to say she noticed two great blue herons standing on a nest in a large dead pine tree in a swamp on the west side of 495 just past Route 111. Knowing that the heron rookery (heronry) on Route 2 is no longer active, I thought this might be the start of another.
I drove down Codman Hill Road to see if I could see the nest without going on Route 495. The first office complex from Stow Road has a swamp at the edge of the parking lot. I drove into the empty lot and there in front of me was the nest. The herons were not present, but the lot provides an easy place to check on the nest. I checked the nest several days later, and there was a red-tailed hawk in the tree beside the nest and three herons on a bare pine about 100 feet away. One hour later, the hawk was gone and there was a great blue standing on the nest.
Our friends Betty and Al, from Groton, heard that we had wood ducks on our pond and called to see if they could come and see them. Betty had never seen a wood duck, and I was happy to introduce someone else to this wonderfully colored duck. As it happened I had been to Delaney the day before and seen five pairs, so I thought we would have a better chance of seeing them there as the ducks are not present on our pond all the time.
We met at the farm and drove over to Delaney. On the way we swung by Codman Hill Road to see if by chance there was a heron on the nest I had found earlier. We were in luck; there was one sitting in the nest – probably on an egg. Continuing on, we stopped at the pond on Eldridge. Getting out of the car we spooked a pair of wood ducks not 30 feet from the road. We did not get a good look at them as they flew around a patch of trees out of sight. I suspect they were examining a nest box that is in the water close to the road. Parking at the Delaney trail where I had seen the wood ducks earlier, we quietly made our way down the trail. We found several pairs but they were quite a ways off. I decided we should go look at the other end of the pond at Finn Road.
Walking out the trail we noticed a wood duck fly in to the pond not 50 feet out. We got wonderful views through our binoculars with the brilliant plumage illuminated by the late afternoon sun. This made Betty’s day!
As we were driving along Garner Road, Betty saw a great blue heron flying over through the sunroof. We stopped and followed it across the water where we discovered a heronry of at least 10 nests. I had never noticed these before, but it was very active with birds flying in to roost for the night. I think birders should make sunroofs a prerequisite when buying a car!
Moving on to Finn Road, we drove down what looks like a boat ramp to get closer to the water and saw more wood ducks, hooded mergansers, and ring-necked ducks. Looking up in the trees close to where we had seen the herons, we saw a large red-tailed hawk perched, also illuminated by the low afternoon sun. While watching the red-tail an osprey flew overhead with a fish in its talons.
In the course of one hour we had got Betty her “life” bird, found a heron rookery, and saw lots of wonderful birds all within four miles of home.
After the rain
We finally got the rain our gardens needed and on the following sunny day we thought we would take a quick walk down the tank road to see if any migrants had been blown in. We heard the usual cacophony of red-winged blackbirds and the distant call of a northern flicker. The flicker obliged and landed on a dead tree within easy viewing distance. We watched it calling for a while, which gave us plenty of time to observe the bright red patch on the nape, black mustache and breast band. While we watched the flicker, two wood ducks flew up from the flooded area between the tank road and the railroad tracks. A catbird was singing its melody of songs in a bush not six feet off the trail, and we were able to admire its silky black and gray feathers.
This is the season when the birds’ feathers are at their most vibrant to aid them in attracting their mates.
We reached the pond and, finding no waterfowl other than a pair of Canada geese, we retraced our steps back to the parking lot. I noticed a small bird high up in a maple, which turned out to be a blue-gray gnatcatcher.
At the parking lot we met a fellow birder who said she had seen a yellow warbler and an oriole off the road on the way down to Oxbow. Last year the orioles did not return to the farm until the first week in May and here we were in the fourth week of April. We drove up the hill and stopped when I heard a yellow warbler. Getting out of the truck, we saw the warbler singing his heart out on the top of a small tree, and soon thereafter we saw the female who had obviously been attracted to the warbler’s song.
Scanning the higher trees we saw no sign of the oriole but were treated to the sight of a large red-tailed hawk floating over the fields.
Seeing that everything seems to be happening earlier than usual, I decided that when I got home I would put out an orange to give my orioles a sugar fix when they return.
Sure enough, within a day of their return last year, I heard the melodious song of the orioles and soon they were eating their orange treat.
David Durrant lives with his wife, Pamela, on East Bare Hill Road at Micheldever Farm, where they watch birds—their own peacocks, chickens, and wild birds.
