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| Lapland Longspur, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Lapland Longspur, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Lapland Longspur, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Lapland Longspur, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Lapland Longspur, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Lapland Longspur, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Snow Bunting, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Horned Lark, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Horned Larks, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Lapland Longspur, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Lapland Longspur, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Dawn, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
Yet another subzero morning found me heading over to the Hadley area (Tough not to have Quabbin to go to on my days off!). I started before dawn at the Honey Pot looking for any Short eared Owls that might still be around but the low fog made viewing tough for the second morning in a row. I drove down the river but the fog was even thicker there so I headed back out and started running across some decent birds. On the 90 degree turn I had just over a hundred American Tree Sparrows sitting in the road and on the snowbanks. The birds then started moving toward the river and further away. I then looked down the road where I had larks, buntings and longspurs yesterday and I noticed a few so I made my way a bit further down the road and then parked. The amazing show of longspurs continued with at least nine Lapland Longspurs present (some so close I couldn't focus the camera on them) plus 93 Horned Larks and 33 Snow Buntings with more birds continuing to arrive when I left. As I was scanning for additional birds I noticed a bird perched at the top of a tree on the far tree line at the rivers edge and the scope revealed a Northern Shrike. I attempted a few digiscoped shots but just too far away to get anything good enough. The bird dropped down and didn't reappear while I was there. Perhaps it was hunting all the tree sparrows in the same area?
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| Common Goldeneye, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Northern Pintail, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Northern Pintail, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Ring necked Duck, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Ring necked Duck, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Northern Pintail, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
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| Waterfowl, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
I then headed across the river to the East Meadows and walked down to the river but the ice kept the waterfowl elsewhere. I did noticed a congregation of birds up close to the bridge on the Hadley side so I headed over there. Not the optimal spot in the morning due to the rising sun but I still managed to pull out some great birds. I found the continued hybrid goose in among the nearly 500 Canada Geese present plus a dozen Black Ducks, 590 Mallards, four Northern Pintails (all males), a male Ring necked Duck, a female Common Goldeneye, a pair of Hooded Mergansers and four Common Mergansers. I'm sure other surprises remained hidden in among the numerous birds that stayed hunkered down against the cold morning temperatures.
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| Lapland Longspur, Aqua Vitae Rd, Hadley, MA, Feb 8, 2014 |
A brief drive down Aqua Vitae Road turned up two more Lapland Longspurs as highlights. A truly great showing of this species the last few days with dozens seen by some. Getting double digits of this species in western Massachusetts is a great day. With all the Lapland Longspurs around it is worth keeping an eye out for rarer longspurs that could be lurking among the flocks. I tried for the meadowlarks along Moody Bridge but the snow covered fields didn't produce any.
A notable bird at home was a rattling Belted Kingfisher fishing along Jabish Brook.
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