Lots of stops in the valley

Merlin, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 15, 2014

Merlin being divebombed by Eastern Kingbird, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 15, 2014

Merlin, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 15, 2014

Merlin, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 15, 2014

Merlin, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 15, 2014

Merlin, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 15, 2014

Belted Kingfisher, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 15, 2014

Black and White Warbler, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 15, 2014

Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Aug 15, 2014

Red tailed Hawk, UMASS farm, Hadley, MA, Aug 15, 2014

Although the calender says mid August today felt much more like mid September with morning temperatures in the lower 50's and a high in the upper 60's.  I decided to try my luck in catching up with birds taking advantage of puddles created by the rain from a couple of days ago. I started and ended my morning at Winsor Dam where I found 67 Mallards before dawn roosting out on the reservoir but not much of note on my return stop later in the morning.  I then headed west to areas in Hadley where I first stopped at a still very flooded Huntington Road...the water is receding quite slowly here so perhaps some mudflats by next week?  My next stop was over to the UMASS horse farm but the puddles there have dried up so no shorebirds.   I next spent some time at the Honeypot in Hadley where I found some of my only shorebirds of the day in a muddy field near the dike when I had a couple Killdeer and half a dozen Least Sandpipers.  Other birds of note there included at least seven Indigo Buntings (a few still singing), several flyby Bobolinks and three species of swallows moving along the river.  A few other stops along the river where fairly unproductive as the water levels are still a bit too high to attract any wading birds.  Without having much luck finding shorebirds in fields along the river I decided to head back toward home and stop by Lake Wallace to see what birds of interest I could find there.  Waterfowl numbers at the lake were a little lower today but I attribute that to my later than usual arrival than to an actual drop in numbers.  I found at least seven Green Herons of various ages plus a single Great Blue Heron.  As I was scanning through looking for more herons I noticed a Merlin walking along a log in the water.  I watched the Merlin for quite awhile as it repeatedly flew around the lake harassing the Green Herons and the kingfishers.  The Merlin never seemed to truly attempt to take down either species but instead just seemed to be sparring with them (probably looking for an inattentive individual).  The Eastern Kingbirds didn't seem to appreciate the Merlin being around and would harass the bird whenever they got a chance.  Always fun to watch a Merlin (as long as you are not another bird!).

After my morning foray out and about the valley I made it home and picked up Wilson and we went for a couple of walks including along the land trust trail and then Covey WMA.  Covey WMA produced a calling Northern Bobwhite which became species #218 for the year in Hampshire County.  Two new county year birds in as many days...good times!  Still just slightly ahead of last year for the same date (218 vs 216).