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| Marsh Wren (blurry shot taken at dawn), Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Marsh Wren (blurry shot taken at dawn), Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
I ended August with a bang adding two new species for the year to my Hampshire
County list and getting some decent shorebird diversity considering the weather
was nice. With the forecast for heavy rain this afternoon through this evening
and into tomorrow I figured I would head out early today to take advantage of
the still low levels of the Connecticut River. I decided to stop at the
Honeypot at dawn to try to catch up with the Clay colored Sparrow I had there a
few days ago but no luck. Instead one of the first birds I found was a Marsh
Wren that showed itself briefly and allowed a few blurry shots before it
disappeared again. I got a couple more very brief looks but no better
photos. The Marsh Wren became species
#221 for the county this year. As I
continued poking around the area near the 90 degree turn I had a fly over,
calling American Golden Plover that drifted off to the south without ever
showing itself...perhaps it went to the East Meadows somewhere? The American
Golden Plover added my second new county species for the year becoming
#222...quite an impressive day to get two new species in one day this time of year! Other species of note around a small area of the Honeypot included around
90 Bobolinks, a dull Yellow Warbler and a few Indigo Buntings.
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| Semipalmated Plover, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Semipalmated Plover, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Semipalmated Plovers with Spotted Sandpiper, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Killdeer and Semipalmated Plover, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Killdeer, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Lesser Yellowlegs, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Solitary Sandpiper, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Least Sandpiper, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Spotted Sandpipers, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Great Egret, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 31, 2014 |
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| Dawn in Hadley, Aug 31, 2014 |
A stop by the Connecticut River found the water levels perfect to attract
shorebirds and I had six species there including two Semipalmated Plovers, three
Killdeer, four Spotted Sandpipers, six Solitary Sandpipers, two Lesser Yellowlegs and 21 Least Sandpipers. With the AGPL seen at the Honeypot I
managed seven species of shorebird this morning which became my highest total
for diversity so far this season. Other notables around the river included a couple Great Egrets. A stop back at the Honeypot didn't produce anything new (nor did it provide any better looks at species seen earlier). Although the heavy rain showers and
thunderstorms forecast for the next few days will raise the river levels and
wipe out the mudflats perhaps the rain will knock down some shorebirds into some
flooded fields somewhere in the valley? It will certainly be worth
checking. I still have several species of shorebirds I would love to catch up with.
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| Semipalmated Plover, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
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| Semipalmated Plover, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
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| Semipalmated Plover, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
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| Lesser Yellowlegs, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
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| Great Egret, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
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| Lesser Yellowlegs with a Solitary Sandpiper, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
Yesterday I spent the early morning hours hitting several spots starting off at
Lake Wallace before dawn and then over to the Connecticut River in Hadley, the
Honeypot (briefly) and then to Winsor Dam. Despite being out for just a few
hours I found some good stuff including six species of shorebirds along the
Connecticut River. Shorebird species this morning included a Semipalmated
Plover, two Killdeer, three Spotted Sandpipers, seven Solitary Sandpipers, two
Lesser Yellowlegs and 21 Least Sandpipers. Besides the shorebirds the river
produced 11 Wood Ducks, 36 Mallards, a couple Great Egrets and a Great Blue
Heron. The fog moved in while I was there and knocked visibility down quite a
bit which made viewing a bit tough at times.
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| Pied billed Grebe, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
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| Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
My dawn visit to Lake Wallace produced 33 Wood Ducks, 58 Mallards, a Pied billed
Grebe and seven Green Herons among the other species there.
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| Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
A ride up to the Honeypot found the area almost totally fog free. I spent some
time scanning from the top of the dike and turned up at least 300 swallows of
four species with most being Tree Swallows (lesser numbers of Bank, Barn and
Northern Rough winged Swallows). No shorebirds at all in any of the fields I
scanned through but with many fields still full of crops I guess it isn't too
surprising. Other notables included 55+ Bobolinks wheeling around before
settling into a weedy field. I didn't spend any time looking for the Clay
colored Sparrow I found there on Friday but it appeared others were looking.
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| Common Loons, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
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| Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 30, 2014 |
A final stop at Winsor Dam produced three vocal Common Loons flying around the area before disappearing to the north...just a taste of the waterfowl migration season coming up.
