Wilbraham Birds

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April 20th-Signs of spring for sure! I have had some spring visitors and most of them visited my feeders at some point except the hawk! I also have a Hairy Woodpecker with LOTS of yellow coloring. Some think it is due to sap, but I am not sure. I had a rare visit to my feeders by a Pine Warbler, Brown-headed Cowbird, a Purple Finch and a Chipping Sparrow, but I have no picture of the warbler. I also had a Red-shouldered Hawk stop by and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Louisiana Waterthrush have been in the yard for 2 weeks now.

I live here in town, so I have a special place in my heart for Wilbraham birds! I am amazed by how many different kinds of birds we have now that I have actually started watching for them! I live near Soule Road, and walk often. One of my favorite places to watch birds is near the school. The little stream and trees nearby it on Soule Road have tons of birds during migration seasons. I saw some beautiful warblers this past year there. The trails near the school and Fountain Park are great places to see birds too. I was watching a Raven in the field. He made so many amazing sounds! If you like ducks and geese, Sawmill and Sevey Park/Bruuer’s Ponds are home to many-even in the winter! I often see and hear a lot of birds just walking through neighborhoods nearby as well. You may have seen some of my pictures of hawks on people’s roofs this past summer and fall. There are some Mockingbirds that live near Scenic Drive that refuse to let me photograph them so far. I have also checked out the Rice’s trail where the Bluebirds were hanging out near field at the top of the mountain and the Cedar Swamp trail where I saw a Veery among the mosquitos this past fall. I post an eBird report almost every day that logs the birds I see around my neighborhood, such as this week’s Bald Eagle. You can see these in Robin’s Nest! Please subscribe and comment where you see the birds in town. And reach out if you see something neat I can picture and post! Thanks. Robin

February 16, 2023-I was just sitting at Bruer’s Pond in Wilbraham, watching the birds. On my way home, I saw a nice lady pull over and remove a Red-tailed Hawk from the road that had been killed. It made me sad. But, then this beauty caught my eye so I stopped to get a photo. I am pretty sure this Red-tailed was the lifelong mate to the bird that just died. Call me the crazy bird lady, but this hawk looks pretty sad to me. #robinsbirds #redtailedhawk #mateforlife

August 26th-29th-so many Wild Turkeys! Saw them crossing the Monson Road near Monson-Wilbraham line and got some great audio. Then, they were in my yard and other yards on Soule Rd in Wilbraham. I found it strange that they were laying down often in the yards and then moving on quickly. They seemed tired to me. You can see video of the gaggle on my Facebook page!

April 28th-I was lucky enough to know a friend who shared her beautiful Great Horned Owl family with me in the last week of April. There were 3 owlets. I never saw the dad. I am always amazed at how fast the fledglings disappear when they just don’t seem ready yet to me!

April 25th-had 2 rare birds in my yard today! I had 4 Black Vultures flying around with a group of Turkey Vultures before they separated. You can see the Turkey Vultures above. Then, I had a Caspian Tern fly over! He was seriously lost and I am seriously upset that I accidentally deleted that photo. Please comment below if you know how to retrieve a deleted photo from a memory card! TIA!

April 18th-Saw and heard some pretty Cedar Waxwings near Minnechaug yesterday and lots of birds in my yard today! Check out the different kinds. https://ebird.org/checklist/S107462695

April 3rd-was walking my grand puppy by Soule Rd. School when I heard 2 Barred Owls calling out to each other. Raced home to get my camera and went hunting in Fountain Park trails. I found somewhat recent Bear tracks but no owls. 😦 You can hear the audio I got of them on Meet Today’s Birds page. Since I had started a report, I continued to wander through the park trails near Soule Rd. School and then Sawmill Pond area and logged 39 different species and saw some turtles. The report is here to see which kinds I saw. https://ebird.org/checklist/S106213082

March 26-I was looking out my window at all the birds eating peacefully when this Coopers Hawk swept in and tried to devour my Mourning Doves. They lost a few feathers in the scuffle, but everyone survived! This youngster was here and gone quickly so only had a quick shot through my window! He has strange colors for a Coop!

March 20th-I heard this Flicker when I was releasing my frog and tadpoles into Sawmill Pond. Read about 3 of our other local woodpeckers in last week’s blog post! Was hard to get a good pick in the lighting, but you can hear him loud and clear in the audio!

March 16th-Meet Lucy and Ricky! I see this pair of Red-tailed Hawks often at the power lines on Soule Rd. right before you reach Stony Hill Rd. I think they must be nesting in the pines near there. I also heard a call as I was shooting these, so maybe a baby already!?

March 9th-the day of the flocks in Wilbraham!

March 8th-The wind was ruffling feathers in more ways than 1 today!

March 7th-These are all the birds I saw and heard at Sawmill Pond today.

https://ebird.org/checklist/S104379379

March 7th-Wilbraham, we have our first Warbler of the season-at least the first one I saw! Caught this beauty at Sawmill Pond along with 2 Hooded Mergansers and a Gadwell. Pretty good finds!

March 4th and 5th-Red-tailed Hawks seem to be Wilbraham’s bird of choice!

You can listen to the Red-winged Blackbirds too! Just like walking with me!

March 2nd I did an extra report today while I was walking Rosie! We did the “Soule Loop”. It means that I went up Soule past my favorite stream and walked on Rochford and some combo of Scenic, Lee, Longview etc. I heard SO many sounds of spring! These are the birds that I saw/heard. You can check them out as well as my route on my report. https://ebird.org/checklist/S104035804

Feb 28th-Good sunny Monday Wilbraham! Orange is the color of the day today!

February 27th-Mini blog-Lots of the different what people call “blackbirds” visiting yesterday and today. There are actually lots of black birds, but they are not all Blackbirds. There are different types of crows that are black, but not Blackbirds. European Starlings are often mistakenly referred to as Blackbirds also. Did you know Baltimore Orioles ARE Blackbirds! Anyway, this will be another blog LOL. The birds that are black that visited my yard were American Crows, Common Grackles, Brown-headed Cowbirds and European Starlings. The Red-winged Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds and Common Grackles ARE all Blackbirds that migrate for the most part so we are seeing more of them each day as spring approaches. I can usually tell the difference between them all by their sizes and shapes and by the sounds they make. I also had some American Crows. These 3 are all from my yard during the wintertime.

Feb 25th This White-throated Sparrow was digging to Australia, but he found a treat!

Feb 23rd-expecting a storm tomorrow so lots of activity at the feeders for National Bird Feeding Month! I continue to have a flock of 50-60 American Goldfinch that use all the feeders! There is a waiting area in the trees!

I did 2 bird reports last Feb. 20th so I did 2 today to compare the results. The first one is on Robin’s Nest page. Check it out! This is the second one. I went to Sawmill Pond. Interestingly, the Red-shouldered Hawk was there again-same time and place, though WAY up in the tree. He was calling out loudly, which was why I saw him! However, last year, there were 12 Mallards, who were missing today. That being said, it was freezing and the lake froze over again. I DID see 13 Mallards here 2 days ago. There were also 9 Turkey Vultures and 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets that were of note. They are rarer now and IMPOSSIBLE to photograph as they move about quickly! I am pretty excited I got even this shot! You can compare last year and this year below.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S82165878 (2021)
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103229855 (2022)

Check out all the birds that were on Soule and the end of Rochford Drive on January 25th! https://ebird.org/checklist/S101423990

January 25th 2022-Here are some of our local winter birds! The Barred Owl and Cardinals are from my yard. The Canadian Geese and Mallards are from my Soule Road stream and Seyler Park. The Red-shouldered Hawk was near Sawmill Pond and the stream. 🙂