Birder's Guide to Carlisle

Great Brook Farm State Park

 

Habitat Description: Great Brook is a fantastic birding spot, because it is large and has a wide variety of habitats, from swamps to grasslands to deep woodlands, and long, wide trails run throughout the park. 

 

Permanent Residents: Great Brook is home to some unusual permanent residents, such as Pileated Woodpecker, which can be seen anywhere in the park, and Great Horned Owl, which is most likely near Meadow Pond.

 

Winter: Birding in winter is tough, with snowfall and cold temperatures. However, the great birds that can be found make it worthwhile. These birds include Golden-Crowned Kinglet, Green-Winged Teal, Merlin, the occasional Palm Warbler, Red-Tailed Hawk, American Tree Sparrow, Barred Owl, Brown Creeper, Cooper's Hawk, and Eastern Bluebird. Less common are Common Redpoll and Northern Goshawk. 
 

Spring: For spring migration, woodland trails can be extremely productive, with visitors such as Black-Throated Blue Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, and Palm Warbler. Black-and-White Warblers are the most abundant warblers in the park during spring warbler migration, which lasts from early May to the very beginning of June. Other possible warblers during migration season are Blue-Winged, Black-Throated Green, Blackburnian, Canada, Chestnut-Sided, Magnolia, Nashville, Pine, Tennessee, Wilson's, Yellow, and Yellow-Rumped Warblers, as well as Ovenbird, Northern Parula, Northern and Louisiana Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, and American Redstart. Great Brook is one of the best spots in Carlisle to witness warbler migration. Some non-warblers that pass through are Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Alder Flycatcher, American Kestrel, American Wigeon, Black-Billed Cuckoo, Blue-Headed Vireo, Brown Thrasher, Common Raven, Eastern Towhee, Great-Crested Flycatcher, Hermit Thrush, Indigo Bunting, Killdeer, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Scarlet Tanager, Veery, Winter Wren, Wood Duck, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, and Yellow-Billed Cuckoo.

 

 

Summer: In 2013, at least 2 pairs of Northern Waterthrush nested in Tophet Swamp on the Tophet Loop. Also likely on the Tophet Loop are Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Ovenbird, Black-and-White Warbler, Black-Throated Green Warbler, and lots of MOSQUITOES!! Be sure to wear long sleeves and bring bug spray. Birds that breed at Great Brook include Indigo Bunting, Northern Waterthrush, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, and Baltimore Oriole. 

 

2014 Update: In addition to Northern Waterthrush, Great Brook hosted at least one breeding pair of Louisiana Waterthrushes, which is a nice bird for Massachusetts!

 

Fall: Fall migration brings all sorts of cool birds, besides the ones seen in the spring. More common than in the fall than in the spring are American Pipit, Gray Catbird, Greater Yellowlegs, Green-Winged Teal, Lincoln's Sparrow, Purple Finch, Swamp Sparrow, White-Crowned Sparrow, Wilson's Snipe, Solitary and Spotted Sandpiper, Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker and American Tree Sparrow. In fall 2014, an American Bittern was spotted by Tom and D'Ann Brownrigg.

 

 

 

Spotlight on Local Birders: Tom and D'Ann Brownrigg

How many years you have been birding?

D’Ann and I have been birding together since about 1985.  I started keeping notes of the birds seen at about this time, and still do this.  Actually, I have been interested in birds, plants, insects and nature generally since I was about 12 years old - a long time ago.

D’Ann got interested in birding by taking a Mass Audubon class taught by Betty Valentine (also of Carlisle) in the 1980s.  Later, D’Ann continued teaching Betty’s “Birding for Fun” class after Betty retired.  When D’Ann did the class, and after I retired, I would join the class, being known as “the bearer of the scope”.

 

What do you like about birding in Carlisle?

What I like about Carlisle is that it is close (no time lost traveling) and that it has an excellent variety of habitats, including wetlands, forests, and fields.  Also, we know places in Carlisle that have interesting birds and not a lot of people.  We are fortunate that Carlisle has about 30% of its land protected as open space.

 

What is your favorite birding experience at Great Brook? 

We enjoy birding the Woodchuck Trail at the state park in the early spring.  This trail, near the log cabin, often has Winter wren and waterthrushes.  Many years ago we would hear and sometimes see Louisiana waterthrush there, but now more often hear Northern waterthrush.  This is also a good location for owls and woodpeckers.  The state park and Towle Land are probably the best places for Winter wren, waterthrushes, and Pileated woodpecker.

 

How did you get started birding?

I have been interested in nature since I was a boy.  Being an only child, I would have to entertain myself.  This was in the very early days of television, so TV was not a distraction as it is for kids today (computers had not even been invented then).  My parents bought me field guides for many animals and plants, and this got me interested.  I had a friend in middle school and high school and we often visited conservation lands near where we lived in Illinois.

 

What is your favorite bird?

Tough question.   I especially like the Winter Wren because of its song.  Long ago, D’Ann and I would sometimes hear the song but never saw the bird.  We finally saw one at Towle Land, in the part that extends to Bingham Rd.  It perched on a stone wall and we saw it singing, a real treat.

I always enjoy seeing Eastern bluebirds.  When I was a kid, my mother said there were bluebirds in the town I grew up in (a Chicago suburb).  However, by then starlings and house sparrows had displaced the bluebirds.  I never saw one until we moved to Carlisle.  Don & Lillian Stokes, who have written many excellent books (and once lived in Carlisle), put nest boxes at Towle field and Foss Farm, and these boxes attracted bluebirds.  Thanks to the Stokes, there are bluebirds in Carlisle.

Another bird I always enjoy seeing is the Pileated woodpecker. I never saw one when I was a boy.  They always remind me of the dinosaurs.

 

Other favorite anecdote, fact, joke, or misadventure.

One of my favorite stories involves the state park and fellow birder Alan Ankers.  A few years ago we got a call from Alan early in the morning.  He saw a Northern goshawk not far from the log cabin.  I told Alan we would get there as soon as possible, but we were not even dressed yet.  I thought to myself: We have no chance seeing this bird, since it will be long gone by the time we get there.  We got there about 20 minutes later, and the goshawk was on the ground in exactly the same place!  I even got photos.  To this day, I wonder if Alan had put a stuffed bird there.