April begins

Greater White fronted Goose, Tri Town Beach, Deerfield, MA, Apr 13, 2013

With all the south winds last night into today I decided to hit a variety of areas to see what new stuff arrived.  The notable species for arrivals in large numbers included Eastern Phoebe and Song Sparrow.  Most every location I stopped today had calling Eastern Phoebes and Song Sparrows (with large groups in a few locations).  I added three new species to the year list for the county-Fox Sparrow, Double crested Cormorant and Osprey.  A very nice day to be outside with some sun and temperatures that briefly made it up to around 60 before an afternoon cold front cooled it down again.

Wood Ducks and Canada Goose, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 1, 2013

I started before dawn at Lake Wallace and had 26 Wood Ducks, ten Hooded Mergansers and a Great Blue Heron.  I hoped to get some teal here at first light but no luck.

Common Goldeneye with extensive yellow bill, Quabbin Park, Apr 1, 2013

Common Goldeneye with extensive yellow bill, Quabbin Park, Apr 1, 2013

Common Goldeneye with extensive yellow bill, Quabbin Park, Apr 1, 2013

Common Goldeneye with extensive yellow bill (R), Quabbin Park, Apr 1, 2013

Common Goldeneye, Quabbin Park, Apr 1, 2013

Rusty Blackbird, Quabbin Park, Apr 1, 2013

Ring necked Ducks, Quabbin Park, Apr 1, 2013

I then headed over to Winsor Dam and then through Quabbin Park.  Waterfowl included two Common Goldeneye (one of which had a fairly extensive amount of yellow on bill but otherwise appeared like a normal female COGO), 7 Wood Duck, 42 Ring necked Duck (23 at Hanks Meadow), 4 Hooded Merganser, 12 Common Merganser, 7 Black Duck, 8 Mallard and 7 Canada Geese.  Non waterfowl highlights included a singing Fox Sparrow (#110) at Hanks Meadow, three Tree Swallows and a male Rusty Blackbird calling and seen briefly before it took off to points unknown.

I then headed west with stops at Hadley Cove, the Oxbow, Arcadia and then Great Pond in Hampshire County before crossing over to Franklin County and stopping at Tri Town Beach in Deerfield. 

Northern Pintail, Hadley Cove, Hadley, MA, Apr 1, 2013

Hadley Cove held a nice selection of waterfowl including three Northern Pintails, 8 Wood Ducks, half a dozen Green winged Teal, 14 Black Ducks (one of which had an aluminum leg band), 128 Mallards and a few Canada Geese

The Oxbow and Arcadia were fairly quiet with the following seen: 16 Ring necked Ducks, 17 Hooded Mergansers, 11 Common Mergansers (way down from the last several days were 100-/+ were present), eight Wood Ducks and four Tree Swallows

Great Pond was not as active as yesterday but still produced some decent birds including three American Wigeon, 14 Wood Duck, 8 Green winged Teal, half a dozen Black Ducks, three Tree Swallows, at least nine American Tree Sparrows and a few Swamp Sparrows.

Greater White fronted Goose, Tri Town Beach, Deerfield, MA, Apr 13, 2013

 

Greater White fronted Goose, Tri Town Beach, Deerfield, MA, Apr 13, 2013



Cackling Goose, Tri Town Beach, Deerfield, MA, Apr 13, 2013

After seeing a report yesterday evening that a few tagged geese from Greenland (including 'GJA" that I found at Hadley Cove earlier) were present at the pond at Tri Town Beach last evening I decided to try my luck.  When I arrived there I had 600+ geese and after scanning through the flock I picked out a juvenile Greater White fronted Goose and a Cackling Goose.  I did not find any neck tagged geese but was very happy with what I did find.  I stopped briefly at Winsor Dam on my way home and added three Bufflehead close into shore.

Painted Turtle, Belchertown, MA, Apr 1, 2013

I picked up Wilson and we headed to the Jabish Canal to take a walk and hopefully see some birds moving on the strong southerly winds.  I added Double crested Cormorant (#111) and Osprey (#112) as they flew northeast as well as other species including Tree Swallows, Northern Harrier, Red tailed Hawks and a few flocks of Common Mergansers.  Also had a calling Red shouldered Hawk come by low a few times and a pair of Cooper's Hawks in flight display.  Also had at least three Mourning Cloak butterflies and my first Painted Turtle of the season.