Wednesday, September 14, 2016

The last couple days bring in a few more migrants


Red breasted Nuthatch, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 14, 2016
American Redstart, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Sep 14, 2016
Eastern Phoebe, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 14, 2016
Black capped Chickadee, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Sep 14, 2016
Gate 52 looking northeast, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 14, 2016
Gate 5 looking toward Quabbin Tower, Belchertown, MA, Sep 14, 2016
I stayed local today spending most of my time at Quabbin (Quabbin Park, Winsor Dam and Gate 5) plus a short stop at Lake Wallace. It was a warmer morning with a bit more humidity and a bit of a south breeze ahead of the next cold front which will bring in northwest winds, cool temperatures and hopefully some good birds starting tonight. Overall the morning was fairly quiet with nothing really unusual although there were decent numbers of Eastern Phoebes and Red breasted Nuthatches at most every location. I ran across a few mixed species flocks but none contained a lot of diversity. I got a message from Keenan early in the morning that he had some good stuff at Orchard Hill including a flyby Dickcissel and an Olive sided Flycatcher so there was certainly some migration taking place despite the less than ideal conditions (southerly winds). Full lists from my stops today can be found below:

Quabbin Park:  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31576452
Winsor Dam:  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31576455
Lake Wallace:  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31576456
Quabbin Gate 5:  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31577361
East Meadows in the fog, Northampton, Sep 13, 2016
Yesterday I tried my luck trying to catch up with shorebirds in both the East Meadows and the Honey Pot without much luck. The thick fog stayed in place until almost nine but it would occasionally life in spots before that so I got some views of the fields. As far as shorebirds go the Honey Pot featured Killdeer, a couple Least Sandpipers and another flyby peep species while the East Meadows had 43 Killdeer. Another notable sighting was a late Bank Swallow along with Barn Swallows at the Honey Pot. Yesterday was the first day since last Friday that I didn't locate at least one new species for the county for the year. I had quite a run during that time with Yellow breasted Chat and Connecticut Warbler on Friday, a Philadelphia Vireo on Saturday, a Marsh Wren on Sunday and an American Golden Plover on Monday. Full lists from yesterday located below:

Honey Pot: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31561733
East Meadows: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31561741
Ruby throated Hummingbird, Home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 14, 2016
A few hummingbirds continue to visit the feeders at the house but their numbers have gone down quite a bit in the last several days.  Hopefully the motion camera set up on the feeders will catch something unusual during the fall migration

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