Yesterday after hearing that the female Redhead (duck) that had been frequenting Jamaica Pond had moved to nearby Leverett, I decided to check it out before we went food-shopping. We walked around Jamaica Pond first to get a walk in and then drove over to Leverett. Jamaica Pond was mostly frozen (though I doubt it is anymore with temps in the upper 50's). There were two small open patches of water. One held two Mute Swans and thirty or so Mallards, the other held forty American Coots and the usual gulls (Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed). Nothing much else interesting there other than a perched Red-tailed Hawk.

Arriving at Leverett, the Ring-necked Ducks were quite obvious as they usually are, swimming and diving in the open, intricately designed black and white. A quick scan revealed the female Redhead swimming with them, a much rounder and redder head, and pale not contrasting sides distinguished her from the female Ring-necks. Four Common Mergansers were also a nice surprise swimming on the far side of the pond next to the ice. The Ring-necked Ducks were relatively confiding when I crouched by the edge and stayed put. The Redhead was simply chilling, floating back and forth, preening, and occasionally simply drifting with closed eyes.

Ring-necked Duck ♀ (leucistic) (Aythya collaris)
Leverett Pond, Brookline, MA 

Yet another interesting bird was a leucistic female Ring-necked Duck. Leucism is kind of like a less extreme version of albinism. A leucistic bird usually has an excess of white or abnormally pale feathers but never pink extremities and red eyes as a true albino would have. The bird pictured above simply has an unusual smattering of white feathers on its head.

To continue the theme of ducks we took a walk today at Pope John Paul II Park in Boston. Two Canvasbacks were present, likely half of the four that have been floating about in the Neponset in that general area. Other birds seen were two Red-tailed Hawks, Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, American Black Ducks, many Canada Geese, two Great Blue Herons, and a smattering of American Tree Sparrows.

Below is a slideshow of recent photos taken in the Blue Hills Reservation. Many of them are of the surprising diversity of textures and colors in bark, moss, mushrooms, and water.

It's fun starting the new year with new bird sightings, and acting as if every bird species is a species you've never seen before. The first bird I saw was a Blue Jay in the backyard on the morning of the 1st. The most recent bird being a Merlin perched on a large pine across the street yesterday evening. Between that first Blue Jay and the Merlin are fifty five other species that I saw yesterday and the day before to start off 2013 with a respectable bulk. 
The most exciting bird of those fifty seven species was the Northern Lapwing in Bridgewater. The strong easterly winds across the Atlantic that were responsible for pushing hurricane Sandy into New Jersey most likely transported the twelve Lapwings that were reported across the east coast from Europe. They showed up in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. Massachusetts however, seemed to be the center-point with at least five birds showing up along the coast in typical Killdeer habitat (though after most of the Killdeer had departed).

The Bridgewater bird was discovered on November 11 in a field of corn stubble off of Summer street behind the Old Colony Correctional Center. When I watched it, on January 1, it had a small section of grass and mud at the edge of the snow-covered field that it was patrolling. It even pulled an earthworm out of the mud at one point. After I watched it for a minute there was no one around and I decided to see if I could get closer. I walked along the edge of the open field in an area where there were some taller weeds. Every few seconds I stopped to see how the bird was reacting to my approach. It wasn't reacting. Every few seconds as it walked back and forth pecking at the mud it would give a glance in my direction, but more than that, nothing. When I finally got relatively close, almost close enough for pictures, I moved out into the open more to get a better view. I was crouch-walking now. Once I was in the open I laid down on the ground. The lapwing was still doing its thing, walking calmly back and forth barely acknowledging my presence. It looked at me, and then as if it had spotted something in the mud, ran a few paces and pecked at the ground. Suddenly, it looked away from me into the distance, took off into the air and shrieked an alarm call. There were a few Northern Harriers in the distance, but they were too far away, something must have spooked it. It wasn't me though, its body language told me that much. It flew a large circle around its small muddy patch and landed for a second where it had taken off from. Still facing away from me it had barely touched the ground when it took off again calling for a second time. I got a couple of butt-shots with its wings open and its orange under-tail coverts very visible. It did another loop and this time landed right in front of me, swooping a few feet over my head as it came in to land. It stayed on the ground this time and finally seemed to acknowledge me before beginning once again to feed. The pictures I show here make it seem alert towards my presence, but I had a bit of works going through my shots to find ones with decent eye-contact.