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| Black crowned Night Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 21, 2020 |
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| Black crowned Night Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 21, 2020 |
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| Little Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 21, 2020 |
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| Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 21, 2020 |
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| Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 21, 2020 |
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| Great Egret, Alexandra Dawson Conservation Area, Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2020 |
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| Blue Grosbeak, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2020 |
After a long night at work I had a little under two hours to explore before I had to made it to an appointment in Hadley. I decided to try my luck at
Arcadia trying to relocate a Black crowned Night Heron seen near the Oxbow a couple days before. I looked around a few promising areas but had no luck but I was not too surprised as this species can stay very well hidden and there were lots of places for the bird to hide. Without any luck with the night heron I headed across the river to Hadley where I stopped at the
Honey Pot to check on the Blue Grosbeaks and any shorebirds that might be around. I had at least four Blue Grosbeaks including a stunning adult male but no shorebirds. Other birds of note there included hundreds of swallows feeding over the fields and river. I then made a short ride over to the
Alexandra Dawson Conservation Area and quickly scanned the river and found a distant Great Egret and a flock of 39 Common Mergansers hauled out on a small sandbar. I was then going to head over further into Hadley but noticed a text from Mary saying she had relocated the night heron so I changed plans and headed back over to
Arcadia where I was able to view the night heron as it roosted in a tree just off the road in an area with lots of activity but it seemed relatively oblivious to it all. After getting some great views of the bird I headed back across the river again to Hadley. Once my appointment was done I headed over to
Lake Wallace where the Little Blue Heron continued to show as did a number of Green Herons bringing my waders for the morning to five species, which is quite unusual around here.
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| Little Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 20, 2020 |
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| Little Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 20, 2020 |
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| Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 20, 2020 |
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| Blue Grosbeak, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Aug 20, 2020 |
On my way to work yesterday I made it to
Lake Wallace before dawn to catch the fly in of herons coming in from their overnight roost. Before the herons arrived I had a single Common Nighthawk coursing over the marsh, at least two calling Virginia Rails and some begging juvenile Great Horned Owls. The Green Herons started arriving around 5:45 and my count reached a season high total of 30 individuals. Near the tail end of the arrival of the Green Herons the Little Blue Heron came in once again. All the herons seemed to be enjoying the bountiful number of frogs around and all seemed to be feeding quite successfully. A brief stop at the Honey Pot produced at least four Blue Grosbeaks.
The tropics continue to remain hot with two systems of short term interest. The first is a newly named tropical storm (Laura) nearing the Greater Antilles and forecast to move northwest and possibly have an impact on Florida and then the Gulf of Mexico. The second is Tropical Depression 14 that will likely become a named system soon. The depression is located off the Yucatan and is forecast to make it into the Gulf of Mexico and possibly impact the US as a tropical storm. Having two named systems within the Gulf of Mexico at the same time likely to landfall in the US is without precedent. In addition there is another wave coming off Africa that has a low chance in the next five days of developing into a tropical system.
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