I had to work on the 13th so only had a very limited time to bird on my way in and I decided to stop off at Fitzgerald Lake and see if I could find anything unusual on the water. The walk to the boardwalk was full of chips and songs of White throated Sparrows. Once I got to the water I started scanning and found the usual assortment of waterfowl but on my second scan around I had a distant American Coot working its way along the edge of the reeds. I didn't have the scope or good camera with me and the distance was too far for the iPhone binocular combo to work for photos. A short but worthwhile stop that turned up what can be a tough species to find in the county for some reason.
On my third consecutive early morning visit to Arcadia I had to contend with fog once again but thankfully it burned off a bit after eight and then warmed up nicely. I walked for a few miles over the course of a few hours and had some decent variety and numbers but nothing too unusual among the 59 species there. Highlights did include a couple American Woodcocks flying around at dawn, an unidentified peep that flew past early, hundreds of sparrows with seven species represented and five species of warbler.
I spent a second consecutive morning at Arcadia on Tuesday. I drove through intermittent fog to get there but when I arrived the area was relatively fog free as it started to get light and I had hopes for a sunny morning but it was not to be. The fog descended as the sun came up and persisted throughout my entire time there. I spent three hours waiting for the fog to lift before I finally decided to head elsewhere in the hopes the fog would be less elsewhere. During my time at Arcadia I had 61 species with highlights including eight species of sparrows with Song Sparrow and White throated Sparrow being the most numerous, four species of warbler with a high count of Common Yellowthroats and a single Blackpoll Warbler with a growth on its face. I tried a few spots along the river in Hadley but the fog was just as persistent there. The fog never lifted until I made it back to home very late in the morning at which point it warmed up nicely into the low 60's.
I spent the first of three consecutive mornings at Arcadia on Monday where I covered a variety of areas although I stayed away from the marsh where I could hear hunters firing away early on (although it is within the wildlife sanctuary if a hunter can access the area via boat it is totally legal, even if a bit ethically questionable...the hunters are certainly not doing themselves any favors with public perception with hunting in a wildlife sanctuary). Nonetheless I had a productive morning even without a visit to the marsh and turned up 62 species with highlights including nearly a dozen Purple Finches flying over, seven species of sparrows, a late Connecticut Warbler among five species of warblers (not my latest date for Connecticut Warbler which I set last year when I had one continuing through October 15th). I also made a brief visit to the East Meadows and had a flyby Black bellied Plover among the other more expected species.
I started the morning of the 9th at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River where I spent a relatively short amount of time but still turned up some good stuff including a couple late species including Wood Thrush and American Redstart. I then hit a few spots along the river in Hadley and had mostly expected species but did find an unexpected Yellow billed Cuckoo. Once it got a bit sunnier I returned to Silvio Conte NWR and spent about an hour and half exploring the area.
After I got out of work on Saturday morning I headed over to the East Meadows in the hopes that some of the White rumped Sandpipers seen there the previous day would still be around and I found a very cooperative individual right away. The bird was surprisingly tolerant of all the activity on the road and did not flush at all. After getting my fill of the sandpiper I drove down the road a bit and then had a flock of half a dozen White rumped Sandpipers briefly stop in a small puddle before taking off again...easily the largest number of White rumped Sandpipers I have ever had in the county. I also had an American Golden Plover that flushed up and was last seen heading south over the meadows. I then headed toward home with a stop at Winsor Dam where the highlight was a group of 17 Surf Scoters showing fairly close in (at least for Winsor Dam). This turned out to be the largest group of this species I have ever had in the county (and the largest flock for the county in the eBird database)...a very productive morning for sure.
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