Massachusetts Birding

South Hamilton, MA
White-throated Sparrow
I spent a good portion of last week outside Boston, Massachusetts this past week.  Normally on these trips I have an afternoon or early morning to go some place to do some birding.  On this trip, I was busy enough that I pretty much had to stay right on campus.  There were probably many species that would have been relatively easy to find here that are difficult if not impossible to find in Florida, but I just didn't have the time to chase them.  I did however, walk around the campus in the mornings to see what I could find, and I was more successful than I thought I would be. I ended up with my best photos of several species that are hard to find in Central Florida, including Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatch, and eastern Black-capped Chickadee.

South Hamilton, MA
White-throated Sparrow
White-throated Sparrows are very common in MD, but when I lived up there I didn't do much bird photography. Before this past week, I had one photo of this species shot through a window pane with a crappy lens.

South Hamilton, MA
Song Sparrow
South Hamilton, MA
Song Sparrow
I find a couple Song Sparrows every year in FL, but I only have a few photos of them, and none of them are all that great. And I've never seen them sing in Florida. Until this past week, my best photos were taken in Washington State, though Song Sparrows look very different there than here in the east.  This past week though, they could be heard all over the campus, and one perched up on a branch with a nice, clear background and sang for me.

South Hamilton, MA
White-breasted Nuthatch
I used to see White-breasted Nuthatches frequently in MD too, but at the time I didn't do much bird photography.  These wonderful birds were extirpated from peninsular Florida about 50 years ago. You can still find them in the panhandle of FL, but I don't do much birding up there. So it's nice to get some presentable photos of the species.

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug
Black-capped Chickadee
And I have no photos of Black-capped Chickadees in the east, only in Washington State. They look a little different out there, so it was great to get a few photos on this coast.

Comments

  1. Our "common" little critters are your 'rarities'.. Welcome to my yard ;-) Great shots as usual!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Cindy! Yes, it's kind of fun to go "up north" and see these It kind of feels like I'm seeing something rare even though I'm not.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Feel free to comment to leave feedback.