The last week of February

Eastern Phoebe, Hadley, MA, Feb 22, 2023

Black Vulture, Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley, MA, Feb 22, 2023

Canada Goose with white spots on head and neck, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Feb 22, 2023

Brown headed Cowbirds and a few European Starlings, East Hadley Rd, Hadley, MA, Feb 22, 2023

The last week of February featured more winter like conditions and temps with multiple bouts of winter weather.  I started off the last week of the month taking advantage of a fairly nice weather day to try to catch up with a few lingering birds and rarities.  I started off at Winsor Dam and then over to Amherst and Hadley.  I tried to relocate Yellow headed Blackbird seen on the 21st but had no luck.  I did have better luck with some other species including multiple flyover Killdeer, a Black Vulture and the continued Eastern Phoebe in Hadley and loads of blackbirds, grackles and cowbirds plus a Horned Grebe at Quabbin Park at the end of the morning.

Wilson in the snow, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Feb 23, 2023

Thursday was an icy mess with snow and sleet overnight into the morning that then turned to freezing rain and drizzle.  I made a brief foray out to walk Wilson but we didn't find too much that was noteworthy.   

Bufflehead, Ware, MA, Feb 24, 2023

Bufflehead, Ware, MA, Feb 24, 2023

Ring necked Ducks, Ware, MA, Feb 24, 2023

Bald Eagles near nest, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Feb 24, 2023

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Feb 24, 2023

With more freezing rain overnight into Friday morning and cold and windy conditions I stayed fairly close to home with just a few stops mainly looking for waterfowl.  I stopped near dawn at a windy Winsor Dam where I had a couple hundred gulls, a few Common Mergansers and a pair of Bald Eagles near their nest site.  A check of a few other bodies of water nearby turned up a smattering of additional waterfowl with a total of half a dozen species for the morning without anything unusual among them.  Not long after the sun came up the wind picked up dramatically as a cold front swept in.  The winds eventually knocked out power for several hours during the day but thankfully it came back on by mid afternoon.  

Purple Finch, Piper Farm Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, Feb 25, 2023

Saturday dawned cold and calm with a low around 10.  I once again decided to stay close to home and limit my time out in the arctic wasteland that is Massachusetts in winter.  I started my morning at Winsor Dam and didn't have too much during my stop.  I checked a few spots along the Swift River and had some waterfowl but some usually productive areas had a fine coating of ice so no waterfowl.  I then went down to the waters edge in Quabbin Park and it was somewhat breezy and there was not too much to see.  Another stop back at Winsor Dam was equally as quiet as my earlier stop.  I made one final stop for the morning at Piper Farm before going home to get Wilson for his walk.  Nothing unexpected at Piper Farm but did have some nice looks at a few Purple Finches.

Black capped Chickadee, Hadley, MA, Feb 27, 2023

Black capped Chickadee, Hadley, MA, Feb 27, 2023

Bufflehead, Hadley Falls Canal Park, South Hadley, MA, Feb 27, 2023

Mute Swan, Hadley Falls Canal Park, South Hadley, MA, Feb 27, 2023

Hooded Mergansers, Hadley Falls Canal Park, South Hadley, MA, Feb 27, 2023

I had to work on Sunday so only managed a quick stop at Winsor Dam which turned out to be very quiet.  After work on Monday morning I took a walk along the river in Hadley to try to turn up some unusual passerines but stuck out on that quest.  I then headed further south with stops at the Hadley Falls Canal Park and the Holyoke Dam.  The most productive spot was the canal park with eight species of waterfowl including above normal counts of Mute Swan and Hooded Mergansers.  I then headed for home as I was starting to feel the beginnings of a cold coming on and wanted to try to nip it in the bud before it got worse.

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Female banded in Jun 2021, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 28, 2023

Black capped Chickadees with leg bands, unknown individual on right, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 28, 2023

Black capped Chickadees, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 28, 2023

Wilson in the snow, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 28, 2023

Wilson in the snow, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 28, 2023

The last day of February turned out to be snowy and I was fighting a bit of a cold.  We actually had our biggest snow storm of the entire winter with around 6" of snow.  Although it snowed most of the day the vast majority of the snow fell overnight into the early morning.  I stayed around the house all day with a couple short trips outside with Wilson.  The feeders were busy with lots of birds with Black capped Chickadees being the most numerous by far with multiple banded birds around (including ones not seen the other day I was really paying attention to them back on the 21st)....at least eight individual banded chickadees have been visiting the feeders in the last several days.  One is a bit of a mystery as the color combo doesn't match anything from banding in the yard so digging a but deeper to try to find out where it came from.

I ended the month with a respectable 86 species in the county, which was a bit above the normal (my fourth highest February total in the county).  However it was fairly far off my highest February ever, which occurred last year when I had an amazing 108 species!  Last year was the only time I crested into the triple digits in February here.

Yellow headed Blackbird today plus some banded Black capped Chickadees in the yard

Common Grackles (with a few other species mixed in), Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Feb 21, 2023

Common Grackles (with a few other species mixed in), Meadow St fields, Amherst, MA, Feb 21, 2023

Horned Larks, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Feb 21, 2023

When I was at work yesterday I got a message from Mike L. letting me know he had a male Yellow headed Blackbird among a large mixed flock of Common Grackles, Red winged Blackbirds and Brown headed Cowbirds in some farm fields in the north part of Hadley.  At least one other person was able to relocate the bird yesterday but I know a few others that checked struck out but the flock was moving around a lot and would settle into areas where the views were obscured.  I had plans to check once I got out of work but when we got a bit more snow than expected in the morning I was not sure I would be able to track down the bird as fresh snow cover can move the blackbird flocks to new areas.  Nonetheless I figured I would still try.  The snow was still coming down as I crossed the river and I decided to first make a stop at the Honey Pot and see if the snow concentrated at birds there.  The flocks of Horned Larks were impressive with over 400 birds present.  I had at least one, possibly more, Lapland Longspurs among the flocks.  I had the longspur briefly on the ground but then the flocks whirled up again and I lost track of it as various groups broke off to other areas of the Honey Pot.  I heard another bird a little bit later but it could have been the same individual.  No sign of the long staying Smith's Longspur, but it could be lurking somewhere in the area (the last substantiated report was from Feb 1).  I then headed north to look for the Yellow headed Blackbird.  I arrived in the area where Mike had it but there were no birds around that area so I tried a couple other spots before I finally saw a flock of a couple hundred birds (all which turned out to be Common Grackles).  I scanned through the distant flock as it flew around and occasionally landed in trees and found nothing unusual.  I then noticed several hundred birds coming in and flying around the area with some going north and others south.  More and more small flocks also moved in and I then relocated to yet another area.  As I drove one of the roads I could see thousands of  birds settling into a corn stubble field but there was no close place to pull over safely to view them.  I eventually found a spot where I could scan the flock distantly and after a bit of watching I saw the Yellow headed Blackbird fly down to the field and disappear from view among the corn stalks.  I caught sight of it one more time briefly as the flocks wheeled around the fields.  I took a bunch of distant photos but after going through them I didn't capture the Yellow headed Blackbird in any of them.  I spent about another half hour trying to relocate it without luck.  The various flocks were moving all over the various fields in the area but being at the right spot at the right time to see it is not easy.  Yellow headed Blackbird is a rare species in the valley but I have had some good luck with them the last few years including two last year with one in February and another in early November plus two more in 2021 with one in September and another in October.  Prior to those sightings I have only had the species a couple other times and that was back in November 2014 and multiple day in October 2012.

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 21, 2023

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 21, 2023

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 21, 2023

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 21, 2023

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 21, 2023

Black capped Chickadees with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 21, 2023

After taking Wilson for a walk I spent some time in the yard checking out the large numbers of Black capped Chickadees coming into the remaining feeder I have up.  Among the 20+ birds were at least five banded birds including a male that was originally banded in 2019 and then recaptured in June 2021.  The other four birds were all banded in July 2021

Continued warmth and lack of snow for the second week of February

Green winged Teal, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Feb 14, 2023

Turkey Vulture, Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley, MA, Feb 14, 2023

Northern Harrier, Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley, MA, Feb 14, 2023

Dark eyed Junco, Slobody Farm Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Feb 14, 2023

Gadwall, Quabbin Park, MA, Feb 14, 2023

The second week of February was overall warmer than normal with no snow (just like most of the rest of this winter season so far) and with the warm weather some early arriving waterfowl have started showing up as well as increased numbers of both Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures in multiple locations.  I added three new species of waterfowl for the year in the county this morning with American Wigeon, Wood Duck and Gadwall.  I started my morning before dawn at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River where I had at least one (possibly two) American Woodcocks (also new for the year for me).  I then went across the river to Hatfield where I had a eight species of waterfowl including the above mentioned American Wigeon and Wood Ducks plus two female Northern Pintails and five Green winged Teal as well as other more expected species.  A flyover Rusty Blackbird added to the unusual species in Hatfield.  The wigeon flushed early and I was unable to relocate it.  I hoped to check a few nearby areas but some of the farm roads were a bit too muddy so I instead headed back across the river.  I stopped at UMASS and had 400+ Canada Geese but no unusual geese among the flock.  I then stopped along Moody Bridge Road and had some raptors around.  A final stop in the Amherst area didn't turn up anything too noteworthy.  I continued east and made a brief stop at a nearly ice free Lake Wallace (quite unusual in mid February!) and had the expected species there.  I then noticed a report of a Gadwall at Quabbin Park so I headed over and after making the short trek down to the water, had a male Gadwall among the geese and Mallards and American Black Ducks.  A productive morning for sure and my total for the county for the year got bumped up to 106 species (107 if you count Ring necked Pheasant)...not my highest total year to date but a close second  (last year when I was at 111 by this date).

Eastern Bluebird, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Feb 13, 2023

Eastern Bluebird, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Feb 13, 2023

American Tree Sparrows, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Feb 13, 2023

Yesterday after work I made a stop over to Arcadia and despite the windy conditions I still had some nice looks at a number of species.  Nothing too unusual but did have a high count of American Tree Sparrows.  I had other obligations for the rest of the morning so not much else to report for birds.

American Tree Sparrow, Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Feb 11, 2023

Pale Canada Goose, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Feb 11, 2023

Feeders after a bear visit, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 11, 2023

I had to work on the 10th and had to be in early so not much of a chance for any birding.  After work Saturday morning I headed to Arcadia but the winds were fairly strong so I had no luck tracking down an unusual passerines.  The waterfowl made up for it a bit with the highlight being the continued pale Canada Goose among the flock.  Once I got home I noticed a Black Bear made an overnight visit and took down all the feeders, including the ones that were part of a UMASS PhD student project.  I never thought I would have an issue with the feeders in early February but I think it speaks volumes on just how warm it has been for the majority of the winter.

American Robin with long bill, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Feb 9, 2023

American Robins, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Feb 9, 2023

Red winged Blackbird, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Feb 9, 2023

Sunrise, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Feb 9, 2023

Blue Jay, Lawrence Swamp, Amherst, MA, Feb 9, 2023

Lesser Scaups, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Feb 9, 2023

Lesser Scaup, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Feb 9, 2023

On Thursday I headed over to the East Meadows for sunrise and then spent about an hour and a half checking multiple spots and turned up some good stuff despite failing yet again to find a Yellow rumped Warbler at the location.  Highlights included a large group of American Robins feeding on bittersweet and sumac (including an individual with a very elongated bill) plus the first Red winged Blackbirds I have had singing in awhile.  I then went back across the river and searched in vain yet again for a Common Yellowthroat in Amherst (after multiple checks in both locations I think the bitter cold snap did them in).  I ended my morning outing at Winsor Dam where I had a pair of Lesser Scaup in quite close.

Common Goldeneye, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Feb 8, 2023

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Feb 8, 2023

To start off the second week I stayed around the south Quabbin area with a few stops but I didn't find anything unexpected.

Bobcat, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 4, 2023

Gray Fox, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 7, 2023

Black Bear, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 11, 2023

Raccoon, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 14, 2023

I checked the camera along Jabish Brook at the house and caught a number of mammals including Bobcat, Raccoon, Gray Fox and Black Bear (very unusual in February but it has been extremely warm for sure).