Petersham MA May 31, 2010 All day Sunny 80`

List of birds:
- American Robins,
- Veerys (heard not seen)
- Black-Capped Chickadees,
- White-Breasted Nuthatch(es?),
- Ovenbird (singing),
- Chestnut-Sided Warbler (most common bird!),
- American Redstart (female),
- Common Yellowthroat (a pair, they were flitting about with the Chestnut-Sided Warblers),
- Blue Jay (1 with 2 Red-Eyed Vireos),
- American Crow,
- Mourning Dove (1-2),
- Red-Eyed Vireo (2-3),
- Warbling Vireo (?),
- Indigo Bunting (3 to 6. Saw one beautiful male singing from the top a pine - I got a few photos through my scope! It was a lifer for Claire),
- Chipping Sparrow (1),
- American Goldfinches,
- Bobolinks (nesting in the field),
- Red-Winged Blackbird,
- Common Grackles,
- Cedar Waxwings,
- European Starling(s?) (I can't remember exactly if I saw this),
- Downy Woodpecker (1-2-3?),
- Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers (2 but I'm not positive about the second one. Ben said it was, but who can trust him? I got the first one in the scope),
- Ruby-Throated Hummingbird (1-2 we saw a male sucking nectar from some Wild Blue Flags which were growing in the field (across the street from the house). It was on the banks of the pond),
- Eastern Kingbird (1-2 hunting by the top of the meadow),
- Tree Swallows,
- Grey Catbird (1),
- Rock Dove (1 eating at the next door bird feeder),
- Red-Tailed Hawk (1),
- Turkey Vulture (1)
(There were probably more birds that I forgot about.)
- American Toads (I got a nice photo of one),
- Grey Tree Frogs (There were hundreds calling. We thought they were woodpeckers but they called late into the night. Often we knew they were right in front of us but we couldn't see them. One time we kept hearing a Woodpecker-like call coming from a fresh looking hole every once and a while. We would check it out but we never saw any birds. We only later realized that the small grey thing that magically appeared in the hole was not a piece of wood but a Grey Tree Frog!),
- Green Frog (stuck in the pool - no matter how hard we tried we could never catch it),
- Bullfrog (?) (It's a funny story how I saw this guy. I was walking along when something went "huumph huumph" kind of like what you a imagine a Moose saying and the scary thing was that it was coming from right next to me (I was at the pond across the street from the house with Ben. At the moment I was rounding the corner and about to walk up the hill. I thought the Moose was like 16 feet away). I froze, my nose felt like it was being pinched, my heart started beating double time, I slowly looked over ... it was a ... frog! Phew!).


We saw a really cool Crab Spider devouring a Honey Bee. The spider was pure white with some light pink spots down the sides. A pity Ben and I didn't have any cameras. There were lots of Coppers species and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails about (in fact more Tiger Swallowtails than I have ever encountered in one day). We saw some mating Little Wood Satyrs, a Black or Spicebush Swallowtail and a Red Admiral in the Japanese Knot Weed.

I think I saw a bat but I am not sure as I only had a brief glimpse. On our way back home we saw a Grey Fox crossing the road.

There were lots of Eastern Chipmunks and Eastern Grey Squirrels. There were a few dead mice floating in the pool along with a young Grey Squirrel.

We found a baby Northern Water Snake on the side of the road. It was odd seeing that the snake was a good distance from the nearest pond. It moved sort of like a Sidewinder, writhing sideways instead of straight (it seemed to be trying to swim on the tarmac!). I wonder if a raptor dropped it there or if he is really good at swimming on a solid substance know locally as "the ground"?