Lark Sparrow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 24, 2020
Lark Sparrow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 24, 2020
Lark Sparrow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 24, 2020
Lark Sparrow and Dark eyed Junco, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 24, 2020
Not one but two rare birds showed up yesterday but due to work obligations I was unable to try to find them until today. The first rare bird was a Lark Sparrow that Mike found near the airport in Northampton and was seen by many off and on over the course of the day yesterday and the other rarity was a Great Cormorant found by Ted at the Holyoke Dam in South Hadley. After I got out of work I headed over to the area of the airport to try my luck with the sparrow. I arrived to find a few birders there already and after a bit of looking it turned up right next to a house along the road and showed fairly well. The lighting was less than ideal for photos but I got some documentation shots as it fed with Chipping Sparrows and Dark eyed Juncos. This is only the second Lark Sparrow I have had in the county with the last one showing up at the end of November back in 2014 at the nearby Honey Pot.
Great Egrets, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Oct 24, 2020
Gadwall, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Oct 24, 2020
Gadwall and Common Mergansers, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Oct 24, 2020
I then headed south to the dam to look for the cormorant but came up empty on that rarity. Even without the cormorant present there were other notable species around including two late Great Egrets, a female Gadwall and 132 Common Mergansers. I was happy to find at least one of the rarities from the previous day still around. The day was warm with our continued stretch of above normal temperatures with highs today in the 60's even with the overcast conditions and breeze. Unfortunately today was the last day of warm weather as a cold front comes through bringing more October like temperatures with highs in the 50's and some nights near freezing through the next week. October continues to be a record setting month for me so far (even after missing a few recent rarities). As of today I have seen 150 species for the month (my previous best October totaled 152 species). In addition the year overall has been very productive and I currently sit at 236 species for the county as of today and although I'm not trying for a big year I'm getting closer and closer to a record setting year (my best year was 2018 when I had 241 species).
Black capped Chickadee, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 23, 2020
I closed up the water feature for the season today and the list of species that have been captured is already at 16 with a Black capped Chickadee being the last one to show for this year. Looking forward to next spring.
Pineapple Sage, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 24, 2020
Wilson enjoying the sun, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 22, 2020
As mentioned above the last week of weather has been much warmer than normal and it has been a nice late season reprieve from the cold weather that is coming any day now.
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