The last few days produce more waders, more waterfowl and increased numbers of nighthawks

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 24, 2016

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 24, 2016

Blue winged Teal, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 24, 2016

Green winged Teal, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 24, 2016

Peregrine Falcon, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 24, 2016

Peregrine Falcon, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 24, 2016

Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 24, 2016

Common Nighthawk, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 24, 2016

Common Nighthawk, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 24, 2016

Chimney Swift, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 24, 2016

On Wednesday morning I headed out before dawn and started my day at Lake Wallace. The activity started right away with at least seven Common Nighthawks feeding over the water and nearby fields. They quickly went to roost as the morning got brighter and I'm sure some were roosting right near the lake but I could not find any of them despite scanning loads of trees. I scanned the lake and came up with some notable waterfowl right away with 112 Wood Ducks, a Blue winged Teal and two Green winged Teal plus Mallards and Canada Geese. August has been unusually good for waterfowl with the Lesser Scaup that stayed until August 1st, the Red necked Grebe I had a few days ago plus both species of teal. So far I have had 13 species of waterfowl in the county for the month which is my best August ever. I also managed to get my highest count ever for Green Heron at the lake this morning with at least 15 present! After leaving Lake Wallace I headed south to the Holyoke Dam and once again had some decent sightings there. I had 31 Common Mergansers, ten Great Blue Herons, 15 Great Egrets, 120+ Chimney Swifts and 300+ swallows with most being Bank and Tree Swallows but at least 2 Cliff Swallows and a couple dozen Barn Swallows. After getting so many Great Egrets at the dam I decided to work back up river to Hadley to see how many more I could find. I managed to find three more bringing the total to at least 18 along the river (and that was without stopping around the Arcadia area or further up river in Hatfield...certainly a great year for Great Egrets up and down the valley).  In the evening at home I had around twenty Common Nighthawks moving rapidly north plus a number of swifts and swallows.

Least Sandpiper and Mourning Dove, Lower Mill Pond, Easthampton, MA, Aug 25, 2016

Thursday morning on my way in to work I checked the river in Hadley and had a single Great Egret coming in and out of view in the fog. My next stop at Arcadia didn't turn up anything unusual but there were more Ring billed Gulls (around 35) then on any other morning so far this late summer/early fall. Notables at Lower Mill Pond included three Green Herons, 7 Killdeer and 8 Least Sandpipers.

Great Egrets, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2016

Double crested Cormorant, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2016

Cooper's Hawk, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 26, 2016

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 26, 2016

I only had a short amount of time this morning before I had to be home to get some work done but I made a couple stops including the Holyoke Dam and Lake Wallace. The Holyoke Dam had the following for highlights: 7 Great Egrets, a Common Nighthawk and a several dozen swifts and swallows. Lake Wallace highlights included 63 Wood Ducks, 7 Green Herons and a Cooper's Hawk which had lots of interactions with a small group of crows.