Shorebirds in the valley...finally!

Killdeer, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sept 5, 2012

Killdeer, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sept 5, 2012

Least Sandpiper (if you can find it..slightly left of center), East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sept 5, 2012

Morning in the East Meadows, Sept 5, 2012

Morning in the East Meadows, Sept 5, 2012

Morning in the East Meadows, Sept 5, 2012

With the remnants of tropical storm Isaac bringing in some heavy rain overnight I decided to try my luck with shorebirds at a few spots in both Northampton and Hatfield at first light this morning.  The morning certainly had a tropical feel to it with frequent downpours and occasional lightning with temperatures before dawn at 73 degrees.  I stopped first at the old Pilgrim Airport on the Hatfield/Whately line and had a handful of Killdeer calling but I was unable to find any other shorebirds.  I next stopped down at the series of fields near Cow Path Road which have been productive in the past but despite some scanning around I found nothing here.  The rain picked up again and after waiting in vain for it to let up I decided to try my luck to the south in the east meadows of Northampton.  I arrived a bit before 7am and almost immediately found the first flooded field containing 31 Killdeer.  Oddly there were no other birds in this pool initially so I cautiously headed further into the meadows ever mindful of the potential of getting stuck in the mud here after a rain.  I went as far as the four corners past the red barns and stopped there.  I set up the scope and heard some peeps coming in.  I started scanning and came across Semipalmated and Least sandpipers as well as a couple Pectoral Sandpipers.  I scanned further and found a Buff-breasted Sandpiper.  The birds just started popping into view as I scanned around.  I then had two Black bellied Plovers as well as a single American Golden Plover.  I knew that Ian Davies and Evan Dalton were heading out this morning to check for shorebirds too so I gave them a call.  After I talked to them a Peregrine Falcon came in and put all the shorebirds up.  A few peeps settled back down but the others flew off to other parts of the meadows.  As I was scanning back and forth through the fields I had a Northern Waterthrush start chipping and then pop out of a row of corn not more than 10 feet away.  I was rapidly running out of time before work so I headed out with a stop at the original pool that contained Killdeer on the way in.  This time there were still a few Killdeer around plus a White-rumped Sandpiper as well as several more Least Sandpipers.  It was a great morning of searching for shorebirds and I added five more species to my county list for the year including Pectoral Sandpiper (#195), Buff breasted Sandpiper (#196), Black-bellied Plover (#197), American Golden Plover (#198) and White-rumped Sandpiper (#199).  It was nice to finally find some shorebirds after many trips of fruitless searching.

A brief stop yesterday on my way to work at Lake Wallace produced another nice selection and number of waterfowl with almost all arriving just before daybreak.  The vast majority were Mallards with a few dozen Wood Ducks as well as three Blue winged Teal and a couple Black Ducks.