A search along the Connecticut River looking for waders and shorebirds

Great Egret, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Great Egrets, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Great Egrets, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Great Egrets and Great Blue Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Great Blue Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Killdeer, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Solitary Sandpipers, Lower Mill Pond, Easthampton, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Double crested Cormorant, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Great Egret, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Green Herons, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Louisiana Waterthrush, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 14, 2016

Louisiana Waterthrush, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 14, 2016

After some some strong storms late last night with lots of vivid lighting and heavy rain (and therefore little sleep) I got up a little later than I intended this morning but still made it out before many others were stirring. My main focus this morning was to try to track down waders and hopefully some shorebirds. I started out along the Connecticut River in Hadley and had a total of at least four Great Egrets in the area of the Honey Pot despite the traffic on the river. The only other wader there was a Great Blue Heron. No luck turning up any shorebirds in any of the fields at the Honey Pot despite some decent looking fields. I then went over to the west side of the river in Northampton and checked the area below the Coolidge Bridge but didn't find anything noteworthy. I next stopped over to Arcadia where I had a dozen Killdeer in the same field they have been in for the last several days. I was just about to leave that area when I noticed some white egrets in the trees out near Ned's Ditch. I walked back down the road and eventually was able to scope out a total of eleven Great Egrets as well as three Green Herons and seven Great Blue Herons. The eleven egrets are the highest number yet I have had of this species in one spot this year. I tried to turn up more waders in the Oxbow but an eagle in the area and even more human activity kept them away. A brief stop at Lower Mill Pond turned up four Killdeer, a Least Sandpiper and seven Solitary Sandpipers. I then headed south to go check out the Holyoke Dam area where I had a eight Double crested Cormorants, eleven Great Blue Herons, two Great Egrets, a couple Spotted Sandpipers and at least 80 Chimney Swifts. I finished up at the dam around 9 AM and the temperatures were already rising quickly into the 80's but I decided to make one more quick stop at Lake Wallace before heading home to take Wilson for a walk. Lake Wallace turned up 47 Wood Ducks, four Green Herons and a Louisiana Waterthrush which once again cooperated for some digiscoped shots. Overall for the morning I had three species of waders with the highlight being the number of Great Egrets which totaled at least 17 in the few areas along the river I checked...makes me wonder how many are actually around the area. Shorebirds numbers were a bit low with just four species and nothing unusual.