Greater White fronted Goose (or geese) continues

Greater White fronted Goose, Hadley Cove, Hadley, MA, Mar 23, 2013

Greater White fronted Goose, Hadley Cove, Hadley, MA, Mar 23, 2013

 

Greater White fronted Goose, Hadley Cove, Hadley, MA, Mar 23, 2013

Greater White fronted Goose, Hadley Cove, Hadley, MA, Mar 23, 2013

Greater White fronted Goose, Hadley Cove, Hadley, MA, Mar 23, 2013

Black Ducks (and others), Hadley Cove, Hadley, MA, Mar 23, 2013

Canada Goose with neck tag (Yellow GJA), Hadley Cove, Hadley, MA, Mar 23, 2013

In what is probably sounding like a broken record I spent the morning visiting various locations trying to catch up with waterfowl and whatever else might be out there.  I started out once again predawn at Hadley Cove and yet again found the cove packed with birds.  I found a (the) Greater White fronted Goose fairly quickly and got a few photos.  In among the 1900+ Canada Geese I found a neck tagged individual.  The tag was yellow with the letters "GJA".  I have reported the tag and I will update on the background of this individual when I hear back.  Besides the geese I found 38 Wood Ducks, at least 42 Black Ducks, 49 Mallards, 16 Ring necked Ducks, three Green winged Teal, nine Common Mergansers and ten hybrid Mallards/Black Ducks.  I also had a Killdeer and a kingfisher.

Old Mill River, Northampton, MA, Mar 23, 2013

A brief stop at the old mill river in Northampton produced a pair of American Wigeon, half a dozen Wood Ducks, 22 Black Ducks, 41 Mallards, 32 Canada Geese and five hybrid Mallards/Black Ducks. 

Ring necked Ducks, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 23, 2013

Wood Duck,  Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 23, 2013

A swing over to the oxbow and Arcadia produced more waterfowl including 12 Wood Ducks, 77 Common Mergansers, a pair of Hooded Mergansers, three Ring necked Ducks, eight Black Ducks, 18 Mallards and 58 Canada Geese.  At least two Killdeer were working the muddy shore and were joined by a Great Blue Heron.

Canada Geese, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Mar 23, 2013

A short ride through the East Meadows produced around 150 Canada Geese and a few Mallards plus 36 Horned Larks and at least 16 Savannah Sparrows near the airport.  The roads in the meadow were rutted up quite a bit and once the temperature went up a bit were sure to turn into a muddy mess so I headed out before checking all the potentially productive areas.  As I headed back across the bridge I had a Peregrine Falcon make a few passes at the pigeons there without success.

Greater White fronted Goose (head visible above the corn), Mill Valley Rd/S. Maple St, Hadley, MA, Mar 23, 2013

Greater White fronted Goose (head visible above the corn), Mill Valley Rd/S. Maple St, Hadley, MA, Mar 23, 2013

I next stopped at the fields along Mill Valley Road where I had a large group of geese yesterday and yet again the fields contained geese.  I turned up a Greater White fronted Goose just poking its head up above the corn.  Likely the same individual I had earlier at Hadley Cove but who knows for sure.  I went through the flocks a few times but could not find anything else unusual.  I did get a careful count of Canada Geese which totalled 1282.  I also had a flock of 82 Horned Larks flying around the fields.