Greater White fronted Goose and Black headed Gull highlight the last couple days

 

Greater White fronted Goose, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Apr 7, 2015

Greater White fronted Goose, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Apr 7, 2015

Greater White fronted Goose, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Apr 7, 2015

Greater White fronted Goose, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Apr 7, 2015

Greater White fronted Goose, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Apr 7, 2015

Blue winged Teal, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Apr 7, 2015

The last few days have continued to produce some great birds around the area and I have managed to catch up with them either before or after work. This morning I made another early morning stop along Connecticut River in Hadley and found a Greater White fronted Goose in among the 620+ Canada Geese (many of which headed out to the south around 6:30 including an individual that may have been a Cackling Goose). The Greater White fronted Goose appeared to be a first year bird with no black marking on the belly and slightly less white around the base of the bill (the same individual was seen later in the day along East Hadley Rd). Lots of other species of waterfowl around including 54 Wood Ducks, 3 American Wigeon, 19 Black Ducks, 28 Mallards, a male Blue winged Teal, 34 Green winged Teal, 44 Ring necked Ducks, 5 Common Mergansers and a single Pied billed Grebe. There were even more birds deeper in the flooded areas but distance and trees made it impossible to see everything.

Black headed Gull, Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Apr 6, 2015

Black headed Gull, Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Apr 6, 2015

Black headed Gull, Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Apr 6, 2015

Black headed Gull, Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Apr 6, 2015

Yesterday I started out very early along river the in Hadley where I had 540 Canada Geese, 23 Wood Ducks, 8 Black Ducks, 33 Mallards, 8 Green winged Teal, 7 Ring necked Ducks and 4 Common Mergansers. During the late morning I got a call from Keenan about an odd gull he was looking at. He sent Jacob and myself a photo and as we were looking at the photo Jacob suggested it was a Black headed Gull, which is indeed what it was! A very rare visitor to the area but the bird was oddly within several hundred feet of the location in North Hadley/Amherst where Keenan and Ian found one a couple years ago. I managed to steal away for a short time to get a brief look at it and get some photos of an adult in full breeding colors (also noticed that three Northern Shovelers continue to show well at the UMASS horse farm). A truly amazing run of gulls continue in the valley with seven species so far this year. 

Canada Geese with neck tags, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Apr 6, 2015

Canada Goose with neck tags, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Apr 6, 2015

Canada Goose with neck tags, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Apr 6, 2015

Green winged Teal, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Apr 6, 2015

Canada Goose with odd facial pattern (black line through white on face), East Hadley Rd, Hadley, MA, Apr 6, 2015

I also heard of some additional neck tagged geese from Greenland being seen and I hoped to catch up with some after work.I stopped once again along the Connecticut River and found a couple of neck tagged birds in among 140+ Canada Geese.  These two birds had yellow collars with the codes “GX4” and “G73” and were tagged in Greenland.  Below is the information on the two birds I received via Anthony Fox (researcher in Greenland). 

G73 (formerly GTX reringed G73 summer 2014) caught Isunngua, west Greenland, July 2009 and July 2014

1/4/2013 Stony Brook Fire Department, Suffolk, New York
2/8/2015 Lake Champlain, Tahoe Drive, Villas, Cape May, New Jersey
3/18/2015 Green Lane Reservoir, Pennsberg, Pennsylvania
4/6/2015 Hadley, Hatfield, Hampshire, Mass
4/18/2015 Beaudet Reservoir, Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada

GX4 caught Isunngua, west Greenland, July 2014
2/8/2015 Lake Champlain, Tahoe Drive, Villas, Cape May, New Jersey
4/6/2015 Hadley, Hatfield, Hampshire, Mass.
4/18/2015 Beaudet Reservoir, Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada 

As I headed for home I noticed a large gathering of geese along East Hadley Road that eventually swelled to nearly a thousand birds including one individual with an unusual black line through the white on its face.More birds continued to arrive as I was leaving but I needed to get headed home.