More waterfowl in the valley including three neck tagged geese from Greenland and six Northern Shovelers at UMASS

Northern Shovelers, UMASS horse farm, Hadley, MA, Apr 5, 2015

Snow Goose (with Canada Geese), Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Apr 5, 2015

Snow Goose (with Canada Geese), Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Apr 5, 2015

Snow Geese (blue morph) with Canada Geese (three small bird in center of photo), Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Apr 5, 2015

Turkey Vulture, Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Apr 5, 2015

Canada Geese, Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Apr 5, 2015

American Wigeon, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Apr 5, 2015

I spent the rather cool weekend in search of waterfowl and had some decent luck.  Today I started off before dawn in the East Meadows where I hoped to find some stuff on the river and perhaps in the flooded fields.  The river was running fast and high so there was little activity there and the roads were just too rutted up to properly explore the area.  I then headed north hitting Great Pond in Hatfield and then the fields up to the Sunderland Bridge and then south through Amherst and Hadley.  Most stops featured at least some waterfowl with the most productive stop overall being the fields along Meadow Street in Amherst.  The highlights (including all the waterfowl seen) below:

East Meadows- 12 Wood Ducks, 2 Black Ducks, 26 Mallards and 2 Common Mergansers plus 2 Savannah Sparrows.

Great Pond- 265 Canada Geese, 5 Wood Ducks, 3 American Wigeon, 8 Black Ducks, 11 Mallards, 21 Green winged Teal, 5 Ring necked Ducks and 2 Hooded Mergansers.

Meadow Street fields- 4 Snow Geese (one white, three blue..all travelling north with flocks of canada geese), 1725+ Canada Geese (flocks moving steadily north), 3 American Wigeon, 12 Black Ducks, 34 Mallards, a Northern Pintail, 16 Green winged Teal, a Ring necked Duck, a Northern Harrier, 34 Killdeer, an American Kestrel, a Peregrine Falcon and 650+ American Robins.

UMASS horse farm- 2 Black Ducks, 3 Northern Shovelers (continued from yesterday...see below), 28 Killdeer and 6 Wilson's Snipe.

Lake Warner- 9 Canada Geese, a Mute Swan, 2 Wood Ducks and 41 Ring necked Ducks.

Farm Lane, Hadley -196 Canada Geese and a Palm Warbler.

Mill Valley Rd, Hadley-61 Canada Geese.

East Hadley Rd, Hadley-183 Canada Geese and 13 Killdeer.

UMASS campus pond-184 Canada Geese and 22 Mallards.

Pine Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Apr 5, 2015

This afternoon as I did some work around the yard I noticed a Pine Warbler feeding on seeds under the feeders...first time I have one at the feeders.  A walk along the Jabish Canal with Wilson produced a Winter Wren, a singing Pine Warbler and a Swamp Sparrow.

Northern Shovelers, UMASS Horse Farm, Hadley, MA, Apr 4, 2015

Northern Shovelers, UMASS Horse Farm, Hadley, MA, Apr 4, 2015

 

Northern Shovelers, UMASS Horse Farm, Hadley, MA, Apr 4, 2015

Canada Goose with neck tag, Spruce Hill Rd, Hadley, MA, Apr 4, 2015

Canada Geese with neck tags, Farm Lane, Hadley, MA, Apr 4, 2015

Canada Geese with neck tags, Farm Lane, Hadley, MA, Apr 4, 2015

Wilson's Snipe (three birds), Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Apr 4, 2015

Ring necked Ducks (part of flock of 72), Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Apr 4, 2015

Yesterday started out fairly calm but the wind picked up by mid morning and made viewing a bit difficult with strong northwest winds bringing a quick end to our couple days of above normal temperatures.  Despite the challenging weather I still had another spectacular day for waterfowl with 14 species.  The biggest highlights included three neck tagged Canada Geese in Hadley that were tagged in Greenland and a group of half a dozen Northern Shovelers on a tiny pond at the UMASS Horse Farm (my highest count for this species in the county ever...my previous best was two a few different locations over the years). 
*****update on neck tagged geese via Anthony Fox (researcher in Greenland)**** 

Here is the background info on the three geese seen on April 4:

G6H caught Isunngua, West Greenland, July 2014
12/22/2014 Browns Road Park, Nesconset, New York
4/4/2015 Hadley, Hampshire, Mass
GC0 caught Isunngua, west Greenland, July 2009
7/23/2009 Lake I, Isunngua, West Greenland
7/27/2009 Lake F, Isunngua, West Greenland
11/19/2009 Collins Lake, Caribou, Aroostook, Maine,
3/25/2010 Baie-du-Febvre, Lac Saint Pierre near Montreal, Canada
5/21/2010 Lake E, Isunngua, West Greenland
6/2/2010 Lake D, Isunngua, West Greenland
6/7/2010 Lake D, Isunngua, West Greenland
6/9/2010 Lake I, Isunngua, West Greenland
7/24/2012 Lake C, Isunngua, West Greenland
10/11/2012 Broad Brook Pond, East Windsor, Connecticut
3/10/2014 Millers Pond, Smithtown, New York
12/22/2014 Browns Road Park, Nesconset, New York
4/4/2015 Hadley, Hampshire, Mass.
GU6 caught Isunngua, West Greenland, July 2014
10/16/2014 Mayall Road, Grey, Cumberland, Maine
12/22/2014 Browns Road Park, Nesconset, New York
4/4/2015 Hadley, Hampshire, Mass.

Below are the rest of the highlights from the morning.

Connecticut River, Hadley- 257 Canada Geese, 10 Wood Ducks, 2 Black Ducks and 57 Mallards.

Honey Pot- 9 Killdeer, 18 Horned Larks.

North Lane, Hadley- 29 Canada Geese, 6 Wood Ducks, 2 Black Ducks, 2 Mallards, 3 Ring necked Ducks and 5 Common Mergansers.

Farm Lane, Hadley- 482 Canada Geese (including the three tagged birds from Greenland), 42 Horned Larks.

Mill Valley Road, Hadley- 236 Canada Geese, 4 Killdeer.

UMASS horse farm- 6 Northern Shovelers.

Meadow St fields, Amherst- 1160 Canada Geese, 6 Wood Ducks, 3 American Wigeon, 7 Black Ducks, 44 Mallards, 3 Northern Pintails, 17 Green winged Teal (including one male with no vertical white line on chest nor a horizontal line), 7 Killdeer, 5 Wilson's Snipe, 32 Horned Larks.

Lake Warner- 2 Mute Swans, 6 Wood Ducks, 4 Green winged Teal, 72 Ring necked Ducks, 5 Hooded Mergansers, 27 Common Mergansers and a Great Blue Heron.

Connecticut River near Huntington Rd, Hadley- 2 Ring necked Ducks, 4 Bufflehead, 6 Common Goldeneye and a Common Merganser.

East Hadley Road, Hadley- 135 Canada Geese, 4 Killdeer.