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| Glossy Ibis, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017 |
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| Glossy Ibis, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017 |
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| Glossy Ibis, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017 |
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| Great Egret, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017 |
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| Yellow Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017 |
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| House Wren, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017 |
I ended July by heading out before dawn over to Arcadia to try to catch up with some early migrants. I worked my way through a few hedgerows and turned up decent numbers of Yellow Warblers, Song Sparrows and Indigo Buntings. The early morning fog burned off relatively quickly and the day started to warm from the mid 50's into the 70's. Tall grass (almost certainly filled with ticks) kept me from exploring as much as I wanted to in the meadows so I made my way to the shore of the oxbow to see if anything noteworthy was hanging around. A quick scan turned up four Great Egrets and an Osprey plus other typical stuff. Right after I got some digiscoped shots of the Osprey an eagle came in and flushed everything. Among the birds flushed were a pair of Glossy Ibis that flew around the oxbow a few times before heading off to the north...a rare species for the area and one I have not seen in any season here except spring. I tried my best to relocate them but I didn't have any luck. There has been a decent influx of post breeding southern waders into north and east over the last couple weeks including a variety of herons, egrets, ibis and spoonbills so perhaps these two came up from the south.
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| Great Egret, Lower Mill Lane, Easthampton, MA, July 31, 2017 |
After exhausting my efforts at Arcadia I decided to try a few other spots in the area to see if the ibis stopped in or if any other unusual waders were out there waiting to be found. My next stop was over to Lower Mill Pond were I found another Great Egret but not too much else. I then headed back to Northampton and stopped off at Fitzgerald Lake where a possible Little Blue Heron was seen yesterday but it was no where to be found today.
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| Great Egrets and Great Blue Heron, Hadley, MA, July 31, 2017 |
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| Great Egrets, Hadley, MA, July 31, 2017 |
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| Great Blue Heron, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, July 31, 2017 |
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| Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 31, 2017 |
Once I was back across the river I stopped at Hadley Cove and had four more Great Egrets (making at least nine for the day). Although it was a bit of trek I headed down to the Holyoke Dam where I have had a variety of unusual waders in the past but could only find Great Blue Herons this morning. Other notables below the dam included 16 Double crested Cormorants and at least 120 Chimney Swifts. I decided on one more stop on my way home to check for additional waders and that stop was Lake Wallace. The only wader around there was a single Green Heron.
Overall for the morning I found four species of wader among a total of 81 species. For the month I found a total of 128 species for the county which is the best July I have ever had despite being gone on vacation for just over a week. A few of the lists from the morning here:
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