Westborough WMA, Worcester, Massachusetts, US
May 8, 2017 5:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
6.0 mile(s)
Comments:     BBC – Westboro Wildlife Management Area – Nickilas Paulson – Nice day of birding, good mix of early migrants and marsh birds. Trip was for two and a half hours, but I continued to hike after adding a few species.
82 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose  11
Mute Swan  10
Wood Duck  11
Mallard  10
Green-winged Teal (American)  1
Wild Turkey  2
Double-crested Cormorant  1
American Bittern  2     Male calling 5:00-5:45. Female responded once.
Least Bittern  1     Female grunt call. About halfway from little Chauncey entrance to dike. Calling near east shore. Not heard after 5:30.
Great Blue Heron  2
Turkey Vulture  2
Osprey  2
Red-tailed Hawk  3
Virginia Rail  4
Killdeer  6
Solitary Sandpiper  1
Mourning Dove  12
Black-billed Cuckoo  1
Chimney Swift  7
Belted Kingfisher  3
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Downy Woodpecker  6
Hairy Woodpecker  3
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  4
Pileated Woodpecker  2
American Kestrel  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
Eastern Phoebe  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  2
Eastern Kingbird  3
Yellow-throated Vireo  3
Warbling Vireo  13
Red-eyed Vireo  6
Blue Jay  21
American Crow  8
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  8
Tree Swallow  26
Barn Swallow  9
Black-capped Chickadee  18
Tufted Titmouse  15
White-breasted Nuthatch  5
Brown Creeper  2
House Wren  5
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  12     Large area covered. Singles and pairs throughout
Eastern Bluebird  1
Veery  6
Swainson’s Thrush  1
Hermit Thrush  1
Wood Thrush  3
American Robin  27
Gray Catbird  34     2 nests being built
Northern Mockingbird  4
European Starling  24
Ovenbird  18
Northern Waterthrush  4
Blue-winged Warbler  11     Rather quiet day for them or they have not all returned yet.
Black-and-white Warbler  9
Common Yellowthroat  22
American Redstart  6
Northern Parula  2
Yellow Warbler  38     Conservative count. Large area covered. 3 nests being built.
Pine Warbler  4
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  34
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle x Audubon’s)  1     Heard an odd warbler song, kept looking around until I realized it was the Yellow-rump. Audubon traits: split white spectacles no white eyebrow, song, chwit call, bold thick black breast band, gray not dark cheek. Myrtle trait- white wing bars rather than patch. Mix, the throat was partially yellow with white below the yellow.
Chipping Sparrow  6
White-throated Sparrow  4
Savannah Sparrow (Savannah)  2
Song Sparrow  24
Swamp Sparrow  13
Eastern Towhee  14
Scarlet Tanager  8
Northern Cardinal  12
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  25     Riverside trail on west side had over a dozen itself. Others spread throughout
Indigo Bunting  1
Bobolink  1
Red-winged Blackbird  34
Rusty Blackbird  2     Male and female near the new beaver pond north of the smokestack.
Common Grackle  40
Brown-headed Cowbird  24
Orchard Oriole  3     3 males
Baltimore Oriole  18
Purple Finch  1
American Goldfinch  13

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S37052019