Areas along the Connecticut River...no Snowy Owl

Ring necked Duck, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Dec 12, 2013

Ring necked Duck, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Dec 12, 2013

Three recent sightings of Snowy Owls in various parts of western Mass yesterday (as well as an old report from Dec 1) renewed my hope of finding one.  One was seen at the Pittsfield Airport, another was in the very urban area of Springfield sitting on a fence and a roof and another was in the median of Rt 202 in South Hadley near the bridge to Holyoke.  The old report comes from Belchertown...the bird was within a few miles of me but I didn't know it.

A quick trip through a few fields in Hadley early this morning didn’t turn up any owls but did produce some decent birds in the Honeypot including at least three Northern Harriers (two of which were adult males), 210+ Horned Larks, 87 Snow Buntings, a female Ring necked Duck floating down the river among the ice and a good number of the expected sparrow species (there almost certainly were more interesting species in among the groups of sparrows but I didn’t have time to look in much detail).

Common Merganser, Connecticut River, Northampton, MA, Dec 12, 2013

Common Merganser, Connecticut River, Northampton, MA, Dec 12, 2013

Green winged Teal, Connecticut River, Northampton, MA, Dec 12, 2013

Cackling Goose with Canada Geese, Connecticut River, Northampton, MA, Dec 12, 2013

Cackling Goose with Canada Geese, Connecticut River, Northampton, MA, Dec 12, 2013

I had a few extra hours of vacation to use before the end of the year so I took off around noon to cover several areas in search of an owl of the snowy variety.  I headed south from Northampton through the fields of Hadley and South Hadley.  I started in the East Meadows and covered a large portion of the area but the only raptors I found were a Northern Harrier and a Peregrine Falcon that buzzed up the river past all the waterfowl.  I also had a bit under a hundred Horned Larks and some Snow Buntings.  The waterfowl were actually the highlight as I found a nice selection of them in the Connecticut River with the following seen:  A single Cackling Goose in among the Canada Geese (very small bill, rounded head, darker breast but seemed a little bigger than other Cackling Geese I have seen but still smaller than other Canada Geese around it...looking for any input on the bird if anyone has any), 1612 Canada Geese (careful count), 27 Black Ducks, 287 Mallards, a few hybrids, a Northern Pintail (female), three Green winged Teal and five Common Mergansers.  I then headed across the river and went south checking numerous fields but coming up empty for owls.

Hooded Mergansers, South Hadley Canal Park, MA, Dec 12, 2013

Hooded Mergansers, South Hadley Canal Park, MA, Dec 12, 2013

Ring necked Duck, South Hadley Canal Park, MA, Dec 12, 2013

A stop at the South Hadley Canal Park was once again productive for waterfowl with 21 Canada Geese, four Mute Swans, three Black Ducks, 7 Mallards, a female Ring necked Duck, 23 Hooded Mergansers and a lucky 13 Common Mergansers.  A check below the Holyoke Dam produced even more waterfowl with 377 Canada Geese, 28 Mallards, half a dozen Common Goldeneyes and three Common Mergansers.  The gulls numbered just over 50 but included only Ring billed Gulls.  Yet again no luck with any owls anywhere.