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| Killdeer, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 19, 2016 |
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| Savannah Sparrow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 19, 2016 |
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| Yellow Warbler, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 19, 2016 |
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| Yellow Warbler, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 19, 2016 |
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| Barn Swallow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 19, 2016 |
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| Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons, North Lane, Hadley, MA, Sep 19, 2016 |
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Common Mergansers, North Lane, Hadley, MA, Sep 19, 2016
Although the weather set up last night with rain arriving overnight after sunset and continuing into the morning held hope for various migrants being forced down (mainly shorebirds but anything would be possible) a check of a few great looking fields this morning turned up nothing but Killdeer. Surprising and disappointing but that is how it goes sometimes. I guess you never know if anything will be out there until you look and sometimes you don't find much. I didn't spend as much time out looking around as the rain made any lengthy walk unpleasant and just sitting in the car is too tough on the back. Although I had no luck with shorebirds I did have a few notable sightings including a flock of 114 Common Mergansers and four Great Egrets on the CT river, 4 Barn Swallows, 3 Yellow Warblers, a flyby Dickcissel, 180+ American Goldfinches and a Rusty Blackbird at the Honey Pot.
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| Blue winged Teal, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 18, 2016 |
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| Blue winged Teal, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 18, 2016 |
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| Blue winged Teal, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 18, 2016 |
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| Green winged Teal, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 18, 2016 |
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| Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 18, 2016 |
Yesterday I made it out for a little while around the local area with a stop by Lake Wallace dodging the numerous rain showers. I got there a little before six and one of the first birds I heard was a Least Bittern calling from the reeds! A truly tough bird to find around here and only the second one I have ever had in the county (the other was a Covey WMA almost ten years ago). The bittern called just three times and my attempts to coax it in did not work and I had no luck finding it scanning the edge of the reeds. I was not quick enough to get any recordings of it but it was giving its distinctive 'chucking' call. The Least Bittern became species #224 for Hampshire County this year. Besides the bittern the notable species around the lake included 66 Wood Ducks, a half dozen Blue winged Teal (a very high count for the county), 7 Green winged Teal and four Green Herons. I also got a text from Steve M. that he relocated the American White Pelican roosting on the Longmeadow sandbar. It flew off to locations unknown but hopefully it will work its way back north again. As the rain continued and my back started hurting without enough walking, I headed for home.
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