A cold morning with some good birds along the river

Red eyed Vireo, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Magnolia Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

House Wren, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Lincoln's Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Savannah Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

'Traill's' Flycatcher, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Lincoln's Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

White tailed Deer, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Dawn, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Blue winged Teal, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 15, 2014

With the calm (and cold...low 40's) conditions last night and the radar quite lively early on I figured there would be a decent movement of migrants (with hopefully some shorebirds among them).  I decided I would once again maximize my chances of finding interesting species by heading over along the river.  I started out at Arcadia where the marsh finally featured some exposed mudflat but sadly, no shorebirds feeding on them.  I had to be content to pick up a Blue winged Teal in among the other typical waterfowl.  I then spent a few hours in the Arcadia meadows and although I didn't have anythng too unusual I had some good species with decent numbers.  The sparrow numbers are already impressive...I can't wait to see what October will bring! I have included the full list below:

Arcadia

Canada Goose  4
Wood Duck  8
American Black Duck  1
Mallard  11
American Black Duck x Mallard (hybrid)  1
Blue-winged Teal  1     with other waterfowl at marsh
Great Blue Heron  2
Green Heron  1
Cooper's Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  2
Mourning Dove  3
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  2
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Downy Woodpecker  3
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  1
Pileated Woodpecker  2
American Kestrel  1
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher)  1     Seen along trolley line, perhaps slight eye ring but not bold, silent bird, photographed
Eastern Phoebe  4
Blue-headed Vireo  2     singing
Red-eyed Vireo  6
Blue Jay  24
American Crow  9
Black-capped Chickadee  15
Tufted Titmouse  3
White-breasted Nuthatch  3
House Wren  9
Winter Wren  1
Carolina Wren  2
Eastern Bluebird  2
American Robin  2
Gray Catbird  31
Northern Mockingbird  1
Cedar Waxwing  14
Common Yellowthroat  15
American Redstart  4
Magnolia Warbler  2
Blackpoll Warbler  1
Black-throated Green Warbler  1
warbler sp.  4     flight calls
Eastern Towhee  1
Savannah Sparrow  17
Song Sparrow  74
Lincoln's Sparrow  7     nice showing of this species for mid september
White-throated Sparrow  1     singing partial song
Northern Cardinal  10
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  3
Indigo Bunting  9
Bobolink  22
Red-winged Blackbird  33
Common Grackle  1
Baltimore Oriole  2
American Goldfinch  6

Indigo Bunting, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 15, 2014

After Arcadia I made a brief visit to the Honey Pot scanning from the dike and then just a couple other fields.  No shorebirds around at all despite some decent looking fields.  A stop by the nearby Connecticut River turned up just a few shorebirds of three species (Spotted, Solitary and Least).  My final stop before heading home was to the Silvio Conte NWR but it too was fairly quiet with just a few pockets of birds.

Snapping Turtle, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Wilson pointing out another Snapping Turtle, Jabish Canal, Belchertown, MA, Sep 15, 2014

Wilson and I then went for a walk along the Jabish Canal where we found a group of recently hatched Snapping Turtles which Wilson seemed quite interested in and pointed out each new one to me.  We also had occasional small groups of Broad winged Hawks moving past, most quite high....probably another good day to be at a hawk watch site.

Tonight's forecast is for some rain to move in very late but before daybreak and continue through the early morning.  There is a chance of this rain grounding some migrant birds, especially shorebirds but this is far from certain....it will at least be worth a look in the morning.