Quabbin Park and areas around Hadley and Amherst

Eastern Meadowlark, Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley, MA, Mar 12, 2012

Canada Goose (tagged), Rt 9 marsh, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 12, 2012

I spent the first part of my day off checking around Quabbin Park and then headed off to Hadley to run some errands and check a few spots for new arrivals.  The weather at Quabbin was perfect for viewing the water as it was clear and very little wind.  I arrived there right before dawn and had an American Woodcock 'peenting' a few times.  As far as waterfowl goes there were 7 Ring-necked Ducks, 18 Common Mergansers, 3 Hooded Mergansers,a few Mallards and a few Canada Geese (including a tagged individual..I reported this bird last week but have not heard back regarding the background of it).  Besides the waterfowl here I ran across a Great Blue Heron coming into the Route 9 marsh as well as a group of three red Fox Sparrows. 

Eastern Meadowlark, Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley, MA, Mar 12, 2012

Eastern Meadowlark, Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley, MA, Mar 12, 2012

As I was heading out of Quabbin I got a call from Jacob Drucker about a large goose flock near Moody Bridge Rd.  I needed run a few errands over that way so I headed over toward Hadley.  I ran into Jacob along the road and talked to him briefly.  We both had distant looks at the continuing western, dark morph Red-Tailed Hawk.  The light was terrible for photos so I didn't get any.  I then checked Moody Bridge Road and tried to catch up with Jacob again but got sidetracked looking at another Fox Sparrow.  Following my stops here I made a brief stop at Hadley Cove and had 29 Green-winged Teal (no luck finding anything different among them).  I then came back to Moody Bridge Road and had the flock of Canada Geese Jacob discovered this AM but there was nothing unusual with them.  There were at least three Eastern Meadowlarks singing in the fields and from the tops of the trees.  There seemed to be a marked increase in the number of Killdeer, Northern Flickers, blackbirds and grackles as well as Fox Sparrow.  Certainly some good migration last evening.  Before heading home I stopped briefly at the US Fish and Wildlife building but no Bohemians (only 22 cedars).  Once I got home I picked up Wilson and headed to Covey WMA and enjoyed the balmy conditions as the temperature soared into the high 60's to near 70.  I ran across a single Tree Swallow here plus my first butterflies of the season (two Eastern Comma's).