I started off March with a very rare Trumpeter Swan that showed up at the UMASS campus pond yesterday and continued through today. It was the latest in a long line of odd waterfowl that has shown up at the small pond in the middle of the campus. It may indeed be the same individual that has been seen in various part of the Connecticut River on and off since mid January. Very cool to get point blank looks at it today. I tried (and failed) to turn up an arriving American Woodcock on the southern winds overnight into the morning. However I did find some good stuff as I visited multiple spots on the east side of the river with the highlights being an Eastern Meadowlark in Hadley and a single Snow Goose among a flock of Canada Geese headed northeast at Winsor Dam. The open water way out at the dam also produced five other species of waterfowl. It was a good day for unusual waterfowl in the area beyond what I found with Ted finding Cackling Goose, Pink footed Goose, Greater White fronted Goose and a Tufted Duck in Longmeadow.
