Bird Observer

Purple Finch by John Sill

Bolton Flats Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a portion of the Nashua River Watershed Important Bird Area (IBA), protected land that spans over 1,000 acres and offers visitors a wide diversity of birds, plants, arthropods, amphibians, and reptiles. In addition to being a critical breeding location for state-listed marsh and grassland birds, waterfowl, and passerines, it is also an extremely important migrant stopover and is the breeding ground of many vulnerable species such as the Blanding’s turtle and the ringed boghaunter dragonfly.

On April 28, 2022, I was photographing a mixed flock of swallows at Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, when I noticed a bird that superficially resembled a Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) but appeared to have a cinnamon rump patch that would not be expected on a Barn Swallow.

Photo Essay: Sparrows of Bolton Flats

As Jeff told it, during the council discussion Roger abruptly put his hand up and asked for silence. He turned and stared at the fireplace and then went over to it. He knelt down, reached up into the fireplace chimney, and soon emerged holding a Chimney Swift. He had heard the bird making a faint twitter as well as a scratching sound on the wall of the chimney. After showing it around, he placed it back in the chimney.

When we think about the world-renowned bird artist John James Audubon, we likely conjure up an image of a pioneering ornithologist of America with rifle, paint, and paper, bushwhacking it through humid forests and swamps, procuring specimens for his watercolors that would later become the elephant folio sized prints in his The Birds of America. Most of us would not envision Audubon also on the deck of a ship, riding out a storm, seasick as all hell. But that image of Audubon is precisely what Irmscher and King present to the reader in Audubon at Sea.

Bygone Birds: Historical Highlights for July-August

Can you identify the birds in this photograph? Identification will be discussed in next issue’s AT A GLANCE.

Bird Watcher's General Store, Birds & Beans Coffee, and Ray Brown's Talkin' Birds