Follow up on shorebirds...just a few around today

Peregrine Falcon, east meadows, Northampton, MA, Sept 6, 2012

Peregrine Falcon, east meadows, Northampton, MA, Sept 6, 2012

Peregrine Falcon, east meadows, Northampton, MA, Sept 6, 2012

I decided to try my luck in locating any lingering shorebirds that may have decided to stick around despite the north winds of last night.  None of the unusual shorebirds were around and all I could find in the east meadows were 17 Killdeer and a few Least Sandpipers.  The patrolling Peregrine Falcon as well as a Red-tailed Hawk and Northern Harrier all in the same area probably didn’t help in keeping any shorebirds around.  There was some interesting interaction between the falcon and harrier over the fields as the falcon swooped at the harrier several times.  Before my brief stop in the east meadows I stopped at Lake Wallace.  I noticed a few trucks there at dawn and figured there were hunters around.  I quickly glanced around the lake from where I could see and noticed a few Blue-winged Teal, a Hooded Merganser and several Wood Ducks and Mallards.  The shooting began not long after my arrival which scattered everything.  The only waterfowl in season at this point is Canada Geese but the hunters were certainly using Wood Duck calls.  I could not tell exactly what they were shooting at but I assume it was the Canada Geese and not the other out of season waterfowl.  I tried to give the EPO’s a call later in the day to just give them the info to possible check the area on subsequent mornings but they were not really helpful at all.  Sad when a state agency mandated to enforce hunting rules and regulations is no help at all.