[MASSBIRD] Heronator II, Photos, Goose? in Lincoln. Northern Harrier at Great Meadows in Concord. 12/24/10
Michael Kolodny
I was at Great Meadows in Concord and at Rt 117 near the Sudbury River in
Lincoln on 12/24/10 and photographed the birds listed below. The photos are
at: http://o10cpcs.wordpress.com (The archive index is in the right margin.)
Lincoln:
Great Blue Heron - catching rodents (again).
Goose - not a canada goose, I need help identifying this one.
Red-tailed Hawk
Great Meadows:
Northern Harrier
Swamp Sparrow
Tree Sparrow
Goldfinches
Black-capped Chickadee
Other Photos:
American red squirrel
Landscapes
Moon
A few weeks ago I went to look at the wild geese near Nine Acre Corner and
saw a great blue heron catching rodents in the field at 17 South Great Road
(Rt. 117) in Lincoln (which I mistakenly said was in Concord in my massbird
message at that time). I went there again on the 24'th for the same purpose.
As I was walking towards the Sudbury river where I saw a lot of geese, I
noticed something grey that looked like a tree stump in the field near the
river and thought I should look at it through my telephoto lens in case it
was the heron hunting there again. It was.
It didn't take the bird long to catch something while I was watching. I'm
beginning to think of this bird as the Heronator. It is a very efficient
killer. I haven't been there since the last time I saw the heron hunting,
but I suppose if the heron is catching rodents every day, there must be
quite a lot of rodents in that field. Although the heron may have improved
its skills through practice, the speed at which it caught that rodent
suggests there are still a lot of rodents in the field.
I used a different camera this time so although the heron was farther away,
I have a better picture of the prey, but not as many shots of the whole
process. I used an ultra-zoom point and shoot for most of the photos of the
hunt. Due to the crop factor of the small sensor in a point and shoot, that
camera has much more magnification than the 300mm lens on my DSLR.
While I was waiting for the heron to strike, a red-tailed hawk landed in a
tree overlooking the field. I noticed it because the heron stopped stalking
rodents and looked at the hawk even before the hawk landed in the tree. It
was as if the heron was wondering how best to repell an invader, or telling
the hawk to move on in the language of birds. The hawk didn't stay long and
flew off without poaching in the heron's hunting grounds. I don't know what
would happen if they decided to dispute the matter but I wouldn't bet
against the Heronator. It reminded me of a couple of disagreements over
fishing terratories between a Great Blue Heron and an Great Egret I
photographed last summer:
http://o3cpcs.blogspot.com/2010/07/egrets-and-herons-part-i-72610-gm.html
And
http://o3cpcs.blogspot.com/2010/07/egrets-and-herons-part-2-72610-gm.html
As I said, my original purpose for going to Rt 117 was to look at the geese.
I've seen the reports here on massbird of geese other than canada geese in
the area, and I thought I would try to see if I could find any. There were a
lot of geese on the river and I tried to search through them but I didn't
have a lot of confidence that I would notice any different goose that might
be there so I photograhed as much of the flock as possible planning to
search through the photos after I got home. When I looked through the
photos, I did see one different sort of goose. The picture is not very clear
so it's hard to tell what type of goose it is. The goose seems to be grayish
brown with a white rump like a canada goose but it has a shorter neck and
gray neck, breast and head. If anyone can tell what kind of goose it is from
the photograph, please let me know. I also posted the photograph and started
a discussion in the birdforum.org bird identification forum.
At Great Meadows I photographed a northern harrier flying over the upper
impoundment.
I also photographed a black-capped chickadee there. Sometimes I find that if
a flock of birds moves into an area where I am walking, they are less wary
of a human presence then if I walk into an area where they already are. I
tend to notice when this happens because it can be a good opportunity for
someone who likes to photograph birds. It happened at great meadows when a
large number of tree sparrows flew out of the trees and across the path into
the reeds of the upper impoundment. After the tree sparrows, a few
goldfinches came through and at least one chickadee. The chickadee lingered
in a tree on the edge of the path and spent several minutes poking at the
twig tips with its bill. I'm not sure what it was doing, probably eating,
but I couldn't tell what. If you look at the photos you can see a couple
where the bird has something in it's bill - possibly part of the leaf buds
on the twigs. The chickadee didn't seem to mind me taking pictures nearby
and the light was good, so I took a lot of photos of it while I had the
chance.
I hope you enjoy the photos (http://o10cpcs.wordpress.com) ...
Michael Kolodny
Framingham, MA
m_ko...@phreego.com
My other nature photography blog is at: http://o3cpcs.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/sightings_blog
Michael Kolodny
I had one reply at birdforum about the goose. The opinion was that it is an
immature white fronted goose based on the pale bill.
Michael
.....