I began another morning with an early stop at Lake Wallace to see what I could find and had another morning with good looks at Virginia Rails with at least two adults plus a young bird. Still no Black bellied Whistling Duck around but I will continue to look. Lots of breeding activity ongoing with adults carrying food and fledglings of multiple species. The single Great Blue Heron still has at least two young birds in it but I have seen no evidence of any adults in a week. I hope they are just out feeding elsewhere.
I made a brief foray out of Hampshire County Westover ARB to catch up with some grassland birds that are tough to find elsewhere plus the slim chance of turning up a reported Scissor tailed Flycatcher that showed up at a nearby golf course yesterday. I spent nearly an hour scanning across the broad swaths of grasslands at the base. Notable species including an Upland Sandpiper, a Northern Harrier, at least five Grasshopper Sparrows, a couple Vesper Sparrows, loads of Savannah Sparrows and at least eight Eastern Meadowlarks. Sadly no unusual flycatchers were around to be seen.
On my way back home I stopped off at the Holyoke Dam and had some close looks at a vocal juvenile Peregrine Falcon. The gull count was low once again but with at least four Peregrine Falcons the life of a gull can not be easy in the area. I watched one of the juveniles come close to getting one of the two Ring billed Gulls present. The count of Turkey Vultures was fairly high with 41 present but still not as high as last year when I had over a hundred plus a few Black Vultures.
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