 |
| Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013 |
 |
| Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013 |
 |
| Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013 |
 |
| Wood Duck, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013 |
 |
| Belted Kingfisher, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013 |
 |
| Great Blue Herons at nest, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013 |
Yet another hot day today as we sit in the middle of our third heat
wave of the season. The low last night bottomed out around 74 and the high
today made it back into the low 90's with high humidity giving us a heat index
over 100 once again. I went out for a few hours around dawn before it got too
hot and stopped at a few different spots. I started out at Lake Wallace where I
once again had a calling Sora but still could not get a look at it. Lots of
Wood Ducks with a total of 41 with just over half being various ages of
ducklings. A half dozen Hooded Mergansers and a Mallard rounded out the
waterfowl. The Great Blue Herons have gotten a bit bigger but are still not
ready to fledge yet. Not too much else of note here. My next stop was over at
Winsor Dam where I had a couple each of Common Loon and Double crested
Cormorant. The only other birds out on the water where half a dozen Ring billed
Gulls. A couple of juvenile Bald Eagles were still in the nest but are quite
large now so they will probably fledge sometime soon.
 |
| Grasshopper Sparrow, Palmer, MA, July 6, 2013 |
 |
| Grasshopper Sparrow, Palmer, MA, July 6, 2013 |
I next made a
brief stop at the route 9 marsh before heading a bit further south. The marsh
was fairly quiet overall. Further south in Palmer I had a Grasshopper Sparrow
in the same area I had one last year. I thought there might be two but I can
only confirm the one bird. He was certainly in a perfect spot for breeding so
hopefully he had a mate nearby. Also had a couple of Black billed Cuckoos calling back and forth. As the heat quickly built I headed for home to
pick up Wilson to head for a walk along the Jabish Canal. The highlight there
was a Red shouldered Hawk.
No comments:
Post a Comment