Post #13 - Boston winter birding, lots of good birds - Tufted duck!

I had some business to conduct in Boston this week, and I managed to squeeze in a bit of birding here and there. Massachusetts winter birding is about as good as it gets by east coast standards. Not only are there usually huge volumes of sea ducks, but birds like Snowy owl, King Eider, Black-guillemot, Dovekie, Thick-billed murre, Iceland gull, and Glaucous gull are imminently more findable in Massachusetts than at any point farther south. This was precisely the reason that I braved the New England winter at the outset of my Bicycle Big Year last year. Throw in birds like Snow bunting, Lapland longspur, Purple Sandpiper, Barrow's goldeneye, Common eider, Harlequin duck, Black-legged kittiwake, and Great cormorant, and it's possible to see many if not all of the Northeastern winter specialties in just a couple days of casual birding. Those that have been thinking about visiting coastal Massachusetts in the winter might want to investigate the Cape Ann Birding Festival which occurs in February of each year. I highly recommend Charlie's Place for a seafood lunch if you ever find yourself in Gloucester. Alnateratively, you could sample of the famous North Shore Roast Beef on any of numerous establishments.

I arrived in Boston on Monday afternoon. I did not have a ton of time, but I hit Revere Beach for a few hours of gull photography. The beach above the high tide line is still buried under several feet of snow. Scrambling over this snow, I immediately found a beautiful 1st year / immature Glaucous gull. This guy was fairly approachable, and I managed some nice shots of him as he chased the other gulls around. Loads of clams wash up on Revere beach after each winter storm; There is never a shortage of gulls at this seafood buffet. I also found a single Iceland gull. I expected to find more given how many of them have apparently been around Coastal Massachusetts this winter. In full disclosure, I was struck by a bit of tunnel vision as I tried to photograph these two birds. There were admittedly many gulls through which I did not have time to pick. I am happy with the photos though!

Snow drifts on Revere Beach

Glaucous Gull

Revere Beach, Boston, Massachusetts, 3/2/15

Canon 500mm f/4 IS v1 on EOS 1D Mark IV

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 400, Manual mode

Glaucous Gull

Revere Beach, Boston, Massachusetts, 3/2/15

Canon 500mm f/4 IS v1 on EOS 1D Mark IV

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 400, Manual mode

Glaucous Gull

Revere Beach, Boston, Massachusetts, 3/2/15

Canon 500mm f/4 IS v1 on EOS 1D Mark IV

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 400, Manual mode

***Import gave this photo with a pinkish cast not present in original***

Iceland Gull

Revere Beach, Boston, Massachusetts, 3/2/15

Canon 500 mm f/4 IS v1 on EOS 1D Mark IV

1/3200 at f/7.1, ISO 800, Manual mode

Iceland Gull

Revere Beach, Boston, Massachusetts, 3/2/15

Canon 500 mm f/4 IS v1 on EOS 1D Mark IV

1/3200 at f/6.3, ISO 800, Manual mode

***Import gave this photo with a warmer cast not present in original***

As I had a full day of commitments on Wednesday, Tuesday was my only truly open day. I headed up to Cape Ann on that morning and spent most of the day kicking around Gloucester and Rockport. Given all the accumulated snow, access was certainly an issue in some spots. I was also not able to position myself at appropriate angles for photography, so I didn't walk away with any keep shots.
I did have an very nice day of birding highlighted by 50(!) Iceland gulls at Jodrey Pier.  King eider, Black guillemot, Razorbill, and Red-necked grebe were observed at Bass Rocks. At Andrew's Point,  a big raft of all 3 scoters with associated Common eiders, Harlequin ducks, and Long-tailed ducks bounced just yards from the shore. I have not seen scoters so close at this location before, so that was a nice treat. Otherwise all the usual seaducks and gulls were observed as expected. With all the snow and ice, I couldn't get quite close enough to water's edge to take any photos today.

Gloucester Harbor - yes, that's ice in salt water!

More of the harbor

After a full day of errands on Thursday, I left Boston on Friday morning. I did take a swing through Waltham where a couple of Bohemian waxwings had been reported during the week. Pulling into the Biagio's parking lot adjacent to the Charles River, I immediately saw a flock of ~50 waxwings. A quick scan produced 3 Bohemians! They were very close overhead and quite approachable, but they never really gave me a clear shot with branches and shadows of branched cutting through the frame no matter what I did. This was only the third time that I have observed this species, upstate NY in 2009 and Ottawa in 2013. This was by far the best took I have had at this species!

Bohemian Waxwing record shot

No technical details provided

Bohemian Waxwing record shot

No technical details provided

Driving back to NYC on Friday, I stopped to visit a two birding friends in Easton, CT. Heading out on Saturday morning, we managed to relocate a continuing female Tufted Duck near Bridgeport. It was a distinct look, but it provided nice comparisons as it fed in the company of both Scaup, Redheads, and Canvasbacks. This was the fourth time I have seen this bird in the ABA area (Lifer at Bolinas Lagoon 2000(?) and twice in Massachusetts during 2012 and 2013. 

I am keeping a running list of birds that I see this year that I did NOT see last year. So far there are 4 species on this list: Common redpoll, Gyrfalcon, Bohemian Waxwing, and Tufted duck. I'm very curious to see how many bird will end up on this list by years end. California pelagics should give me quite a number, so maybe I'll get 25 total birds that are new this year versus last. Just kind of a fun game.....

Also, 50F in NYC today - there is actually hope! 

Me birding in Gloucester