Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

Over the past few weeks, I've been keeping track of new birds arriving on the property where I work and was delighted when the Wood Thrushes ( Hylocichla mustelina ) had returned early this month. As I walked through the woods, along a boardwalk that straddled the wet woods near my accommodations, I heard the rapid "pit-pit" calls of an alarmed bird and looked up to find a male Wood Thrush in full song. As I write this, I wanted to create another basic guide to recognizing similar looking birds after seeing the popularity and success of " On the Wing #69: Swallow, Swift, or Martin? ". After birding in the Sourlands near Hopewell, NJ today and seeing several species of thrushes, I think I've come upon the ideal topic. At this time of year, you are most likely to come across three species of thrush: the ubiquitous American Robin ( Turdus migratorius ), the aforementioned Wood Thrush, and the migrant Swainson's Thrush ( Catharus ustulatus ). The shyer Vee...

I must say that I've birded many places this past year. I was able to go to Florida for the first time in two years and picked up several new species, while slowly picking up several more species since then. I've even seen some of my entries on eBird show up on the rare bird alerts for Massachusetts (the most recent one being a young male Common Goldeneye ( Bucephala clangula ) that I spotted at Assawompsett Pond in Lakeville). But this past Friday, I experienced some of the best birding I've ever had. Last Friday, I went to Parker River NWR in Newburyport and my mind was blown. It wasn't simply the number of species that I haven't seen before, but also the huge numbers of other species I saw there. I saw huge flocks of ducks like Northern Pintails ( Anas acuta ), Mallards ( A. platyrhynchos ), and American Black Ducks ( A. rubripes ), as well as smaller groups of yellowlegs and egrets. In the wooded sections abounded with warblers, Swainson's Thrushes (a life...