Date: 4/27/24 6:12 pm From: Matt S. <accipiter22...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] April 27, 2024 - Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge - Usual early migration suspects, good numbers all around.
Hi All,
I led a BBC walk today at Mount Auburn. We saw mostly the typical early migration fare, nothing too out of the ordinary. Good numbers though, across the board, which seems to be the case broadly this spring so far. We had a nice showing along Halcyon as RC Kinglets, Palms, Yellow-Rumps and B&W Warblers all popped up, simultaneously almost, some of them almost at eye-level. Just before this I (and many of our group) had our FOY oriole, staking out that corner by Halcyon and that small hill that seems to attract them every year. Someone in the group made the good point that even if there are fewer migrants now than there will be in a few weeks, nothing is leafed out yet so the views are better. Quite true.
The highlight, for me anyway, was at Auburn Lake. I saw what I thought was an odd looking crow land at the far end, nearer the dry dell. I realized it was a green heron though, which was pretty cool. Then it flew towards our group which was at the bridge, and suddenly a juvenile Coop flew came out of nowhere and almost took it down. They were looping around furiously for several seconds before the green heron escaped into some underbrush. The coop landed briefly and then launched again and grabbed a grackle, which frankly seemed to be doing almost as much damage to the hawk as the hawk was to it. It lost the grackle as well, and by that point every bird within a quarter mile knew the hawk was there. No breakfast for that boy (or girl). It hung out on the ground for a while; I think it was trying to pretend it didn’t just miss on two attempts in front of a large audience.
The dry dell & dell were quieter, although there were two hermit thrushes giving great views at ground level.
All in all it was a nice trip and about all you could hope for during early migration. I enjoy leading these because there are lots of little spots here and there; individual trees or micro-habitats at Mount Auburn that are worth visiting. I enjoy pointing them out to folks, hoping maybe someone learned a new spot there, and will have some interesting sighting at a later date.
That's all for now,
Matt s. Newton, MA <Accipiter22...>
---- Mount Auburn Cemetery, Middlesex, Massachusetts, US Apr 27, 2024 7:09 AM - 9:26 AM Protocol: Traveling 1.52 mile(s) 34 species
