August begins

Common Yellowthroat, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 1, 2020

Veery, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 1, 2020

Wood Ducks, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 1, 2020

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 1, 2020

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 1, 2020

Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar, Belchertown, MA, Aug 1, 2020

I started off August by sticking close to home with visits to Quabbin Park and Lake Wallace.  Dawn featured at least one Eastern Whip Poor Will still calling at Winsor Dam.  I then made it over to Lake Wallace which featured at least 41 Wood Ducks, a couple Virginia Rails, 7 Belted Kingfishers and other expected species.  The few areas I covered at Quabbin Park produced a couple flyby Red Crossbills (which turned out to be Type 10 according to Matt Young at Cornell and sounded different than the ones I heard yesterday at another location in Belchertown) plus lots of juvenile birds.  I tried the spot were I had the other Red Crossbills yesterday but failed to relocate them.  I then headed home to get Wilson to go for to a walk and then finish up some projects around the yard.  Late in the morning I saw another recent report of a Black crowned Nigh Heron at Lake Warner were one has been seen off and on for weeks.  I have tried on many previous occasions and failed to find it but I figured I would try once again as I had some errands to run in Hadley anyway.  I arrived near the dam and started looking around but found nothing initially.  After about a 15 minutes I noticed a kayak heading back toward me and then noticed the bird fly across the lake from south to north.  It was a fleeting glimpse but at least I finally saw it.  Lake Warner is a great spot for night herons but viewing locations from land is very limited and the lake can only be covered well by boat.  I'm sure I will make a few more trips there over the next few weeks and may even bring the kayak back to try to get a better look and hopefully some photos.  Overall for the day I found a total of 90 species...a nice start to August.