eBird October Big Day today and other sightings for the beginning of October

White crowned Sparrow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Oct 6, 2018

Yellow Warbler, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Oct 6, 2018

Yellow bellied Sapsucker, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Oct 6, 2018

Pectoral Sandpipers, Hadley, MA, Oct 6, 2018

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 6, 2018

The original plan for this week was for us to take a quick trip out to Utah to visit a few national parks (Zion, Bryce Canyon and Canyonlands) but the forecast for rain for most of the trip courtesy of the remnants of Hurricane Rosa (who would have thought a hurricane would impact travel in Utah in October!??!?) changed those plans.  Instead we stayed around the local area enjoying the fall weather and today I took advantage of a day off and decided to participate in the first eBird October Big Day  I started off predawn at UMASS and had a number of notable sightings including a couple American Woodcocks displaying and at least four Wood Thrushes (starting to get late but this area is one of the last spots I get them in the fall) and a Northern Waterthrush.  I had hoped the sun would be out early on and warm up the cool landscape and produce birds but the sun never made an appearance all day.  After about an hour I was joined by Devin and we decided to ditch UMASS and head over to some fields in North Hadley in search of shorebirds.  Among the shorebirds there were two late Least Sandpipers and 13 Pectoral Sandpipers plus some somewhat unusual waterfowl including a Northern Pintail and Green winged Teal among the more typical ducks.  There were also several flocks of geese moving around but scanning produced nothing but Canada Geese.  Once we had our fill of the fields we headed to the Honey Pot  where we spent the next two hours turning up several notables including three sapsuckers together, lots of Purple Finches (a common theme everywhere today), ten species of sparrows/juncos including a persistently singing White crowned Sparrow and my first Dark eyed Juncos of the fall and two Yellow Warblers (getting quite late for this species).  As both Devin and I had other commitments we parted ways and I headed for home but not before checking the reservoir at Winsor Dam where I had a Red necked Grebe (found by Scott earlier in the morning).  The remainder of the day during non birding activities I turned up a few more notables including a Great Egret continuing at the Route 9 marsh and a late Wilson's Warbler among a mixed flock at Goodnough Dike.  For the entire day I managed a respectable 85 species but certainly could have turned up others with a little more effort and visits to more locations.

Black and White Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Oct 3, 2018

Black throated Green Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Oct 3, 2018

Swamp Sparrow, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Oct 3, 2018

White crowned Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2018

 Blue Jay, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2018

 Red shouldered Hawk, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2018

 Palm Warbler 'yellow', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2018

 Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2018

Savannah Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Oct 5, 2018

I got out most mornings the first week of this month (at least for a bit) with visits to the Honey Pot  and Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River on Wednesday, a few fields in North Hadley, a quick visit with the continued Yellow crowned Night Heron at Lake Warner and the Honey Pot again on Thursday and the morning at Arcadia on Friday.  There were  a number of highlights including a late Northern Waterthrush on Wednesday, five species of shorebirds in North Hadley and two species of swallows (Tree and Barn) on Thursday and a Marsh Wren and a very interesting vireo at Arcadia that may have been a Bell's Vireo but was not seen well enough to be sure.  The numbers of sparrows continue to increase (with eleven species so far) as the variety of warblers continue to decrease (16 species so far).  Although it was tough to not go away I made the most of my time here and have so far tallied 120 species for the month so far.