Mass Audubon Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary
A group of eight birders met early on a Saturday morning to walk the productive areas around Wachusett Meadows. The day started strong, observing two American Kestrels, perched on a bird box. As we looked on, the male Kestrel swooped down to another nearby box and managed to catch a House Sparrow. Before leaving this area, a bluebird pair put on a fun show while the male fed the female.
We then travelled down towards the beaver pond which was quiet, but we watched a Hooded Merganser cross paths with a swimming beaver. As we left this area, we looked back to where we had seen the Kestrels and it looked like four of them were perched in a tree. This was exciting but analyzing pictures later it was determined this was actually two Kestrels and two Northern Flickers.
The wetlands we visited next we observed a couple of Great Blue Herons, and we heard but could not get a visual on an American Bittern. That sound is always fun to hear though as it gulps through the water and reeds. We had heard Swamp Sparrow and as we were leaving the wetlands did get it in our binoculars. Overall, a very nice morning with 40 species. A link to the full ebird list is below.