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| Mallard x Northern Pintail hybrird, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Apr 5, 2019 |
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| Mallard x Northern Pintail hybrird, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Apr 5, 2019 |
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| Mallard x Northern Pintail hybrird, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Apr 5, 2019 |
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| Mallard x Northern Pintail hybrird, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Apr 5, 2019 |
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| Northern Shoveler, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Apr 5, 2019 |
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| Gadwall (pair), Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Apr 5, 2019 |
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| Red breasted Merganser, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 5, 2019 |
I headed out this morning specifically looking for waterfowl and I was not disappointed! I started off the frosty morning up at
Great Pond in Hatfield which has been producing some good stuff lately (but can be tough to access when the roads are muddy). I started to get good stuff right away with at least three Gadwall, a continued male Northern Shoveler and loads of Green winged Teal, Wood Ducks, Mallards, Black Ducks and Canada Geese as well as a few Northern Pintails and Common Mergansers. I then caught sight of a female Blue winged Teal (which disappeared before I could get a shot through the scope)...a fairly unusual species around here. As I searched again for the teal I came across an unusual duck in with a group of Mallards that appeared to be a Mallard x Northern Pintail hybrid (a hybrid I have never seen before). I was a really neat looking duck with a mix of traits of the two parent species. I got quite a few digiscoped shots but none too close as I didn't want to spook the birds. I tried again to relocate the teal but never was able to do so. I continued exploring the pond and found several American Wigeon and some Ring necked Ducks further up in the pond..a total of a dozen species of waterfowl plus hybrids at just one stop. Other notables around the pond included two Virginia Rails and a couple Wilson's Snipe. I made a few stops after Great Pond including Pilgram Airport, the Oxbow, Lower Mill Pond,
Winsor Dam and Lake Wallace. The most productive spot was the dam where I had a Red breasted Merganser in among the Common Mergansers plus a Bufflehead and a Common Loon. Overall for the morning I found a total of 16 species of waterfowl.
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| American Tree Sparrow, rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 2, 2019 |
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| Palm Warbler, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 2, 2019 |
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| Pine Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 2, 2019 |
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| Canada Goose with extensive white on neck, Hadley, MA, Apr 1, 2019 |
Elsewhere for the first few days of the month I found a wide variety of birds as migration begins to pick up with more and more new species showing up. Waterfowl have figured prominently as there migration starts to peak with a total of 18 species so far including an unusual Canada Goose (with an extensive white neck) I had one the first of April. One of the more unusual sightings occurred yesterday when I had two flyby Sandhill Cranes at Winsor Dam. I also came across several Palm Warblers, Pine Warblers, numerous sparrow species including a few singing Fox Sparrows and Rusty Blackbirds in several locations. The first days also produced higher and higher numbers of a number of species including Tree Swallows, Eastern Phoebes and American Robins.
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| Pine Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Mar 31, 2019, 2019 |
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| Pine Warbler and Hairy Woodpecker, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 1, 2019 |
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| Downy Woodpecker, Pine Warbler and Tufted Titmouse, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 2, 2019 |
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| Pine Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 3, 2019 |
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| Black capped Chickadee with white spots on head, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 3, 2019 |
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| Chipping Sparrow and Pine Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 3, 2019 |
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| Pine Siskin and Pine Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 4, 2019 |
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| Pine Warblers, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 4, 2019 |
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| Egg in duck box (second active nest), Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 5, 2019 |
The cameras at the house continue to capture some great stuff as I have left some suet out and it has attracted some Pine Warblers as well as others including Pine Siskin and Chipping Sparrow (plus the other usual suspects). I specifically have kept the same set up I used during the winter to try to capture a Pine Warbler showing up in spring at the feeders and I was quite successful. In addition the water feature started attracting birds even before I had it set up (uncovered it and tried to set it up a few days ago but it was still frozen). As of today I have it up and running and look forward to seeing what it attracts.
A check of of two previously unused duck boxes found a solitary egg in one so I know have two active boxes again this year.
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