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| Somewhere in this field is the fifth state record of a Lazuli Bunting, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Oct 2, 2013 |
Yet another foggy morning in the valley found me checking
out the Honeypot area before work to see what I might be able to find. The fog was extremely thick when I arrived
and after a half hour of waiting for the fog to lift I decided to head to
work. Despite the fog and limited
visibility I still managed to find some decent birds including a few Indigo
Buntings, 15+ American Pipits, a Vesper Sparrow, 5 Lincoln’s Sparrows and half
a dozen White crowned Sparrows with some of them singing. I knew Ian, Keenan and Ben intended to hit
the area too but just a little later in the morning and I was hopefully the
visibility would be better for them.
Oddly when I drove across the bridge to the other side of the river the
fog had lifted and the skies were sunny just west of the honeypot.
Around 8:15 I got a call from Ian that they had found a
Lazuli Bunting in the same area I had been in earlier in the morning. This would be only the 5th state
record of this species and the second record of it in Hampshire County so I
decided to take an hour of personal time and see if I could find it. I figured if I waited the bird would be gone and
I would never get a chance to see it. I
arrived there about 8:30 and refound the bid with Ian, Keenan and Ben. The bird was in heavy molt and did not have
the typical wing bar associated with this species but the other field marks for
Lazuli Bunting were present. Thanks to
Ian for letting me know about this bird so I could get a chance to see it. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me
so photos of the bird can be found on Ian’s Flickr page:
The Lazuli Bunting was not only a new Hampshire County bird
for me (#276) but it became species number 228 for the year in the county and tied me with last year for species
seen in the county in a single year. The bunting was also a state bird for me. A very nice bird to tie my old record with!
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