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| Solitary Sandpiper, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
Today marks World Shorebird Day
http://worldshorebirdsday.wordpress.com/ and with that in mind I went looking for shorebirds and managed to find a few (but none were very photogenic). I came across seven species of shorebirds today including a Semipalmated Plover, two Spotted Sandpipers, two Solitary Sandpipers, a Lesser Yellowlegs, ten Least Sandpipers and a Semipalmated Sandpiper along the Connecticut River in Hadley and a total of half a dozen Killdeer at the Honeypot and Moody Bridge Road. With the rain this afternoon and into the evening with the passage of a cold front and winds from the north late perhaps tomorrow I will find even more...time will tell.
Besides the shorebirds today I had several other notable species throughout the very humid tropical like morning (temp at 5:30am was 75!). I started the day predawn trying to find some Eastern Whip Poor Wills and actually found at least four with one calling at Covey WMA and three more calling at Winsor Dam...it certainly felt and sounded like an early morning in mid summer and not early September! Video with (distant) audio of whip poor wills.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/15158074415/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/15135081276/in/photostream/
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| Great Egret, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
Besides the shorebirds mentioned above the river in Hadley featured a few other birds including a Great Egret.
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| Merlin, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
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| Vesper Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
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| Bobolink, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
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| Bobolinks, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
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| Bobolink, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
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| Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
I then headed over to the Honeypot in Hadley and had the following highlights: a Merlin, a Peregrine Falcon, at least 32 Barn Swallows, three Vesper Sparrows, 16 Savannah Sparrows, three Indigo Buntings and 32 Bobolinks.
A brief stop near the Yiddish Book Center at Hampshire College didn't turn up too much of interest.
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| Red tailed Hawk, Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
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| Red tailed Hawk, Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
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| Turkey Vultures, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
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| Turkey Vulture, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
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| Turkey Vulture, Hadley, MA, Sep 6, 2014 |
A stop by Moody Bridge Road to check out the vulture roost was quite productive with a brief view of a Black Vulture as it cruised through my scope view as I was counting the Turkey Vultures. The Black Vulture continued on through and disappeared behind a row of trees and was not seen again. The 41 Turkey Vultures present were much more cooperative and gave great views. A juvenile Red tailed Hawk was not very happy with all the vultures around and was quite vocal about it.
After the front moved through and the winds changed to the north I made a stop over to Winsor Dam to try to catch up with some nighthawks and I managed to find 24 (groups of 19 and 5) heading rapidly sotuh fairly high up....another day of two nighjar species realized!
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