At least three Blue Grosbeaks at the Honey Pot

Blue Grosbeak (second individual), Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jul 19, 2019

Blue Grosbeak (second individual), Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jul 19, 2019

Blue Grosbeak (first individual), Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jul 19, 2019

Blue Grosbeak (first individual), Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jul 19, 2019

Blue Grosbeak (first individual), Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jul 19, 2019

I decided to take advantage of some early clouds and relatively cool temperatures to get out and check a few spots before the latest heat wave begins.  I decided to head back over to the Honey Pot area in Hadley to try to get some photos of the Blue Grosbeak that has been present there for the last several days (which I had only heard singing on a couple prior stops).  I arrived a bit after six and heard the bird singing from the same general area it has been in and eventually the bird moved close enough to get some marginal photos as it sang from the tops of the trees.  I saw a report from the previous day from Mike that he had a grosbeak at a different location at the Honey Pot so I headed over to that area to see if by chance there was a second individual.  When I arrived at the new spot Mike was there once again and after talking to him a bit it looked like there might indeed be a second individual.  After just a few minutes of looking and listening along the road we had a beautiful male tee up in a tree off the road and sing several times!  Not long after we had a brief look of a female/juvenile type being chased occasionally by the adult male...now we had at least three Blue Grosbeaks in the same general area.  As I stated in a previous post about the grosbeak there were only a few previous records of the species around here in the summer so to have at least three individuals at the same time is unprecedented.  There is at least a decent chance the birds actually bred in the area.  I got photos of both the singing birds as well as a couple recordings and a video.  There were also a few Vesper Sparrows in the area too that also look to have successfully bred.  I checked a few other spots (along the Connecticut River in Hadley and Lake Warner) for dispersing waders but didn't find anything unusual.  The next few days look to feature very hot temperatures with highs near 100 with high humidity so being outside will be a tad uncomfortable.

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 18, 2019

Muskrat, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 18, 2019

My multiple checks of Lake Wallace the last several days didn't turn up anything too unusual but I did get my first double digit counts of Green Herons there yesterday.