First week of September birds including a Sanderling, loads of Red breasted Nuthatches and others

Scarlet Tanager, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 7, 2020

Yellow bellied Sapsucker, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 7, 2020

American Redstart, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 7, 2020

Now that the first week of September has come to an end I'm taking a look at what has shown up so far and it has been a good start to the month despite low numbers and variety as far as warblers go.  To make up for the lack of warblers there have been a number of rarities (both new and lingering) which has pushed my total species for Hampshire County so far this month to a record setting pace of 129 species.  This total is well ahead of a typical September by this date and certainly puts me on track to break my best September total ever in the county of 164 species set in 2018.

To end out the first week of the month I spent the morning exploring Quabbin Park starting off at dawn and ending a little before 10AM.  Yet again the number of Red breasted Nuthatches was extremely impressive with yet another triple digit count and yet another new county high for me for the species.  Other highlights included three Eastern Whip Poor Wills, a Virginia Rail, a Great crested Flycatcher, a half a dozen Purple Finches, 16 Red Crossbills (waiting for confirmation on the type), a single Pine Siskin and eleven species of warbler among a total of 67 species.

Sanderling, Oxbow, Northampton, MA, Sep 6, 2020

Sanderling, Oxbow, Northampton, MA, Sep 6, 2020

Bobolink, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 6, 2020

Dawn at Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 5, 2020

After getting out of work on Sunday morning I headed over to Arcadia in search of migrants and after covering a few hedgerows I didn't find much in the way of obvious migrants.  I then noticed a text from Chuck who had an unknown sandpiper species (possibly a Sanderling) at the Oxbow.  I immediately headed right over to check out the bird and once I got the scope out and saw the bird the identification was quickly confirmed as a Sanderling (a rather unusual species in the county).  I watched the bird for quite awhile as it worked its way around the far shore coming in and out of view.  It is tough to say if it is the same individual that Ted found there on Thursday and last seen early on Friday but that seems like a good possibility.

A tough miss occurred on Saturday morning on my way to work when I stopped off at Arcadia to get a little birding in before work.  It was rather cool (in the upper 40's) which led to some foggy conditions making viewing difficult.  I checked the small sandbars in the Oxbow and had a couple Killdeer plus a peep that I could not see well enough to identify and the fog was just growing thicker and I had to get to work so I was never able to determine the species.  Later in the day I noticed that a few other birders that showed up not long after I left had a Baird's Sandpiper that showed briefly before being flushed and last seen flying off calling from the very same sandbar.  I'm fairly certain the bird I saw was the Baird's Sandpiper but I'll never know for sure.

Red breasted Nuthatch, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 4, 2020

Red breasted Nuthatch, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 4, 2020

Blue winged Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 4, 2020

Blue gray Gnatcatcher, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 4, 2020

On Friday I decided to spend my morning around Quabbin Park and it was a very productive morning with continued high number of Red breasted Nuthatches (totaling at least 132 which is certainly an under count as they were everywhere as the ongoing irruption continues).  Other highlights included at least two Eastern Whip Poor Wills calling, a Virginia Rail, a dozen Eastern Wood Pewees, five Yellow throated Vireos, half a dozen each of Red Crossbills and Purple Finch and eight species of warbler.  I was going to explore another section of the park but got a text about a probable Yellow crowned Night Heron along the river in the East Meadows so I decided to make the trek over.  I arrived to found a few other birders scoping the trees on Mitch's Island but the bird was not showing.  I tried a few different vantage points but no confirmed sightings.  Later review of the photos showed that the bird was unfortunately not the species in question and it fooled the original observer due to distance and poor lighting...oh well. 

Blue Grosbeak, Aqua Vitae Rd, Hadley, MA, Sep 2, 2020

Green Heron, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Sep 3, 2020

On the second of the month I hit a few spots in Hadley including Silvio Conte NWR, the Honey Pot and Aqua Vitae Road where I found several notable species including four Eastern Screech Owls, a late Willow Flycatcher and half a dozen Wood Thrush at Silvio Conte NWR and multiple Blue Grosbeaks at both the Honey Pot and Aqua Vitae Road.

After some overnight thunderstorms on the second into the third I headed to the Honey Pot before dawn to try to turn up some downed shorebirds and the best I had was a flyover Black bellied Plover and a few Killdeer.  Without too much luck finding shorebirds I headed over to UMASS looking for passerines but overall it was fairly quiet in that department

Black Bear, Home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 3, 2020

Raccoon, Home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 1, 2020

The camera at the water feature captured a couple mammals over the last several days including a Black Bear and Raccoon.