Little Blue Heron at Holyoke Dam

Little Blue Heron, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2016

Little Blue Heron, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2016

Little Blue Heron, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2016

Little Blue Heron, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2016

Little Blue Heron and Great Egret, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2016

Great Egret, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2016

Great Blue Heron, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2016

Merlin, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2016

Peregrine Falcon, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2016

Double crested Cormorants, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2016

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 21, 2016

All of my looking for unusual herons or egrets paid off this morning when I found an immature Little Blue Heron below the Holyoke Dam in South Hadley. I didn't have any particular plans on where to go this morning but I decided once I was in the car to head over to Hadley to check the river and then see where the I felt like going after that. I started at Alexandra Dawson Conservation Area where I had two distant Great Egrets. A stop further up the river didn't turn up much so I then decided to head south through the Honey Pot which also was quiet. I thought about just heading back over to the Quabbin area but thought I might have some better luck at the Holyoke Dam so that is where I headed. I got to the area of the library and found the gates to the area down closer to the dam still closed. I scoped through the fence and found a young Peregrine Falcon taking a bath in a small puddle at the base of the dam (video link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/28511621214/in/dateposted-public/ ). I hoped  the gates would be open a little later so in the meantime I went down south of the Route 116 Bridge to look back upriver toward the dam. This spot had most of the Great Egrets yesterday and I thought it might be productive again. As soon as I scanned the shore I noticed a Great Egret as well as a smaller white wader nearby. I quickly set up the scope and found it to be a Little Blue Heron which is quite rare around here and not a bird that is found in the area every year. In fact this is only my third county record with the others being an adult in April 2012 at Arcadia (http://quabbinbirdingandbeyond.blogspot.com/2012/04/little-blue-heron-at-arcadia.html) and the other an immature found along the river in Hadley in August 2014 (http://quabbinbirdingandbeyond.blogspot.com/2014/08/little-blue-heron-in-hadley.html). The Little Blue Heron becomes species #213 for Hampshire County this year. Besides the Little Blue Heron I had three other wader species including eleven Great Blue Herons, a half dozen Great Egrets and a single Green Heron. Other notable sightings at the dam included 22 Double crested Cormorants, 85+ Chimney Swifts and a Merlin. The Little Blue Heron was still there when I left and it was viewed by several others over the course of the morning. On my way home I stopped at Lake Wallace where I had 41 Wood Ducks and seven Green Herons.

The forecast for tonight into tomorrow is for some potentially heavy rain in front of a strong cold front which should bring in some cool air on northwest winds and less humid conditions and possibly ground some migrants such as shorebirds and push down some migrants from the north possibly including a Black Tern (among other possibilities)....time will tell.