More shorebirds and other 'stuff

Merlin, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2013

Merlin, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2013

With the forecast for rain overnight into the morning I decided to try once again for shorebirds.  Despite the forecast there was not any rain beyond a few sprinkles during the morning and the ground looked dry from overnight.  I started before dawn at the soccer fields near Lake Wallace where I had 19 Killdeer and a flyby Green Heron.  I then stopped briefly at Winsor Dam to try to find something unusual (like a tern or odd gull).  I managed to find a total of four Wood Ducks, at least 62 Mallards and a Common Loon out on the water as well as nearly a dozen gulls (nothing beyond Ring billed Gulls).  I then decided to head toward Hadley to check some of the areas I hit yesterday with a brief (unproductive) stop at Lake Metacomet on the way there.  I headed for the Honeypot section of Hadley but some the areas that were productive yesterday were quiet.  Perhaps the threatening skies kept some stuff hunkered down.  I could only turn up a single Killdeer and a couple Spotted Sandpipers as far as shorebirds.  I did have a Great Egret on one of the sandbars in the river as well as a Merlin perched in a dead snag plus lots of Bobolinks and hundreds (thousands?) of swallows over the river and fields.  Other notable birds included a constantly chipping Yellow Warbler and a Brown Thrasher flying back and forth near the model airplane field.  A swing through Aqua Vitae Road was unproductive beyond some Bobolinks as the fields are just starting to be harvested.

Various shorebirds (Pectoral Sandpiper-middle right, Lesser Yellowlegs-middle, Semipalmated Sandpiper-below yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers), Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2013

Various shorebirds (Pectoral Sandpiper-middle right, Lesser Yellowlegs-middle, Semipalmated Sandpiper-below yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers), Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2013

Solitary Sandpiper, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2013

Semipalmated Sandpipers, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2013

A stop along the Connecticut River in Hadley proved quite productive for shorebirds.  I had a Pectoral Sandpiper, a Solitary Sandpiper, a Spotted Sandpiper, four Semipalmated Sandpipers, 23 Least Sandpipers and three Lesser Yellowlegs.  The area looks prime to turn up something odd unless the river rises and floods the mudflats.  I also had 11 Wood Ducks at the same spot but no waders today.

Great Egrets, Rail trail at Hop Brook, Amherst, MA, Aug 26, 2013

On my way home I stopped off at the rail trail and walked out to the Hop Brook marsh where I had a couple Great Egrets, half a dozen Belted Kingfishers and other typical species. 

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In a non birding sighting I had my first Giant Swallowtail in the yard during the afternoon.  A spectacular looking southern butterfly that just a few years ago was almost unheard of in Massachusetts.