Rain overnight into this morning produces either an Arctic or Common Tern plus other sightings from the last few days

Arctic/Common Tern, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown,  MA, May 30, 2016

Arctic/Common Tern, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown,  MA, May 30, 2016

Arctic/Common Tern, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown,  MA, May 30, 2016

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, May 30, 2016

Lesser Scaup, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, May 30, 2016

With southerly winds continuing overnight and some heavy rain (associated with once Tropical Storm Bonnie) that moved in well before dawn I had hopes that some migrants would be grounded by the weather. I could not get out until after work but I still managed to turn up a good bird. I worked my way over to Winsor Dam after a brief, fruitless stop at some farm fields in Hadley. It was still raining fairly hard as I scoped around and found the Lesser Scaup once again and then noticed a small bird sitting on the small platform way out. I had terns at the same location earlier in May and the bird looked really good for a tern so I headed over to Gate 5 to get a better look. I made it down to the water just as it started to rain even harder but I was still able to view the bird. It appeared good for an identification as a Common Tern although it appeared a bit smaller than the terns I had on the platform at the beginning of the month so it is best left as either an Arctic or Common Tern...always frustrating to not get a definitive ID.  Much thanks to the several experts I sent the photos to for their feedback.  The bird flushed up once when an eagle came through but them quickly returned to the platform. I managed to get some distant in flight shots as well as a video. I also checked the area of Goodnough Dike for anything good but no luck. Full album of the tern can be found at the following link:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/albums/72157666532757794
It has been a very good year for terns in the area (mainly due to some rainy weather that hit at the right time to bring the birds down).

Lesser Scaup, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, May 29, 2016

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, May 29, 2016

Blue Jay, rail trail, Amherst, MA, May 29, 2016

Snapping Turtle laying eggs, rail trail, Amherst, MA, May 29, 2016

Before work yesterday I made a few stops with my first over to Winsor Dam were I once again had the male Lesser Scaup continuing to hanging around.  I then headed over to the Hop Brook along the rail trail looking for shorebirds but only found some Spotted Sandpipers.  I did have a few Snapping Turtles laying eggs just off the rail trail as well as a Blue Jay taking apart the nest it was sitting in last week and moving it to a new nesting location.  I assume the initial nest failed but tough to say if it is the same bird raiding its old nest of material or a new jay.

Mourning Warbler, UMASS, Amherst, MA, May 28, 2016

Mourning Warbler, UMASS, Amherst, MA, May 28, 2016

On Saturday I headed out early to avoid the heat later in the day (record setting high in the mid 90's) making multiple stops over the course of the morning starting at Winsor Dam (continued Lesser Scaup and three Eastern Whip Poor Wills being highlights) and continuing over to Amherst and Hadley.  One of the best birds of the morning was a male Mourning Warbler at Orchard Hill at UMASS which I first detected as it sang. I eventually tracked it down and got some decent looks before it disappeared back into the brush, not to be seen again.