Little Blue Heron at Arcadia

Little Blue Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, April 16, 2012

Little Blue Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, April 16, 2012

Little Blue Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, April 16, 2012

Following up on a report of an adult Little Blue Heron at Arcadia in Easthamton/Northampton I made the trip over there this morning with Jacob Drucker.  The bird was last seen in the oxbow but given the boat traffic there we were not surprised it was not there when we arrived.  We thought it may have gone back into Arcadia itself and sure enough that is where we found it this morning around 6:30am.  The bird was actively feeding and still present when we left the area to continue birding the meadows area of Arcadia.  In addition to the heron there were 7 Greater Yellowlegs, 13 Wilson's Snipe, 21 Green-winged Teal, 16 Wood Ducks plus several each of Palm, Pine and Yellow-rumped Warblers as well as others. 

Vesper Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, April 16, 2012

Savannah Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, April 16, 2012

Great Blue Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, April 16, 2012

In the Arcadia meadows the good birding continued with at least three Vesper Sparrows present plus 50+ Savannah Sparrows, dozens of Song Sparrows, 30+ Great Blue Herons at the rookery, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and more Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  We headed out of the area around 10am and the temperatures was already in the mid 70's heading toward an unseasonable high of 90.  It was like being back in Arizona again with morning temperatures in the 50's and getting up to 90!  Certainly unusual for mid April in Massachusetts in a typical year but this year is far from typical.