More waterfowl (and others) arriving overnight for the end of March

Northern Shoveler, Oxbow, Easthampton, MA, Mar 30, 2018

Green winged Teal, Oxbow, Easthampton, MA, Mar 30, 2018

Great Blue Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 30, 2018

 Eastern Phoebe, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 30, 2018

I got out of work this morning and figured I would hit a few spots on my way home in the hopes of finding a few migrants that came in over night and were put down by the rainy weather.  I was going to go to Arcadia initially but decided instead to check out the river in Hadley, which was rather quiet.  When I was there I got a text from Keenan letting me know he had a pair of Northern Shovelers at the Oxbow so I headed over to take a look.  I got the pair fairly quickly as well as at 26 Black Ducks and at least 22 Green winged Teal in the oxbow.  I figured the marsh at Arcadia might be productive as well so I stopped there and through the low fog observed ten species of waterfowl including 34 Wood Ducks, a female Blue winged Teal, 44 Black Ducks and 82 Green winged Teal.  There may have been ever more stuff hidden from view in the fog.  I also had a few Great Blue Herons, a couple Eastern Phoebes, half a dozen Tree Swallows and a Yellow rumped Warbler.

Snow Geese, Route 47, Hadley, MA, Mar 30, 2018

Snow Geese, Route 47, Hadley, MA, Mar 30, 2018

Snow Geese, North Hadley, MA, Mar 30, 2018

As the morning was looking to be quite productive for waterfowl I decided to head across the river and check out a few fields in Hadley and Amherst on my way home.  I ran across some good stuff fairly quickly with ten Snow Geese in among a group of Canada Geese along Route 47 and another group of 32 Snow Geese further north.  The fields there also produced several Killdeer as well as a flock of 50+ Horned Larks.  A few other birders were able to stop and take a look at the Snow Goose flocks while I was there.

Lesser Scaup, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 30, 2018

Lesser Scaup, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 30, 2018

Lesser Scaup and possible Greater Scaup (left), Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 30, 2018

Green winged Teal, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 30, 2018

Lesser Scaup and Ring necked Ducks, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 30, 2018

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 30, 2018

After I ran a few errands I made my way over to Winsor Dam where I had half a dozen Green winged Teal, half a dozen Lesser Scaup (or possibly five Lesser and a Greater...in the field one bird looked a little bigger) and a flyby Red breasted Merganser in with a flock of Common Mergansers heading north as well as an Osprey.  I also stopped at Lake Wallace where I found 20+ Tree Swallows but didn't have any luck finding the Palm Warbler I have had there a few times in the last week.  Overall the morning was quite productive with a total of 15 species of waterfowl in among a total of 56 species.

The month has been my most productive March ever in Hampshire County breaking a hundred species with a total of 102 species seen so far...surpassing my previous best of 94 back in 2014.  I was able to do this even while being gone for a week to Florida and sick for another week.  Notables this month have included  Cackling Goose, seven species of woodpecker, Black Vulture, Ruby crowned Kinglet, an early Pine Warbler and Palm Warbler.