Cool, wet weather produces some early migrant shorebirds

Least Sandpiper, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 3, 2021

Spotted Sandpiper, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 3, 2021

Double crested Cormorant, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jul 3, 2021

Killdeer, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 4, 2021

Chimney Swifts, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Jul 4, 2021

Spotted Sandpipers, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Jul 4, 2021

The weather for the last couple days has been very cool with high yesterday that barely made it to 60 degrees with frequent bouts of rain (thanks to an upper level low that brought in lots of moisture and northerly winds).  Today was a slight improvement with slightly warmer weather and even some breaks of sun later in the day.  I was out in the rain yesterday morning trying in vain to find something of note brought down by the weather at Winsor Dam (the only notable sighting was a Double crested Cormorant that somehow managed to find a perch point on the water sampling raft).  It was not until later in the morning I saw a report from Ted that he located a Short billed Dowitcher and a Greater Yellowlegs in the East Meadows (in the same small muddy area where multiple phalaropes showed up this spring).  I initially was not going to go over for it as the mud conditions in the East Meadows can make driving impossible but after seeing that a few reports from others that the mud was manageable I decided to head over.  I had to walk a fair distant but the mud was not as bad as I feared.  I arrived and saw the bird from a distance when I scanned with binoculars.  I decided to walk a little further down the road but at that point the bird flushed up and headed south and I lost track of it.  It had flushed out a few times earlier (according to other observers) but would return again.  The bird seemed to flush just as the rain let up and visibility improved so it may have been looking for an opportunity to continue its migration south.  I searched and waited in vain for another 45 minutes along with a few other people but the bird was not relocated.  The puddle also held at least five Least Sandpipers and a couple Spotted Sandpipers.  There were also a family of Killdeer that were nearby but never came into the puddle.  I would have stayed longer but I needed to get home to get ready to go into work for the night.  The cool, damp weather continued overnight and I had slight hope the bird would return but somewhat more hope the puddle would attract some other shorebirds.  After work I walked in again and could only turn up a couple each of Least Sandpiper and Spotted Sandpiper.  No one else had seen anything unusual in the area either.  I then decided to try my luck down at the Holyoke Dam before heading home.  The big show there once again was the large number of Chimney Swifts feeding around the dam.  I counted at nearly six hundred swifts and there were probably more.  The water levels were up a bit and there was water coming over the entire length of the dam.  There were also at least three Spotted Sandpipers and even more Ring billed Gulls then the my previous recent visits including some younger birds.  There were a few other notable birds around associated with the bad weather including a Bonaparte's Gull in Turners Falls and another Greater Yellowlegs (this one in the Arcadia Meadows).  I would not be surprised if more shorebirds show up in the puddle in the East Meadows over the next week or two as the puddle typically stays for awhile and there is little in the way of other shorebird habitat available for any southbound migrants.