Tropical Storm Isaias post

Black bellied Plover, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Semipalmated Sandpipers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Semipalmated Sandpipers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Semipalmated Plovers with Semipalmated Sandpipers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Semipalmated Plovers with Semipalmated Sandpipers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Jaeger species, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Finally getting around to a post regarding the recent passage of Tropical Storm Isaias that hit the area Tuesday afternoon into the evening (been without power for three days following the storm). The storm initially made a US landfall in the Carolinas and then tracked north, northeast with the center passing through eastern New York and then up into Canada (the actual track drifted a bit more west than predicted). The winds here were at tropical storm strength when the storm roared into western Massachusetts and there was widespread tree damage and power outages. Despite the storm tracking overland for an extended period it still brought in some impressive showings of pelagic birds (plus other rarities). The jackpot area in western Massachusetts was the Berkshires (being closer to the east side of the eye is always best).

The best spot in Hampshire County was once again Winsor Dam which produced a number of unusual species including a juvenile Laughing Gull with two Ring billed Gulls, a distant jaeger species that was either a Parasitic or Long tailed Jaeger, two Ruddy Turnstones, three Semipalmated Plovers flying past with a small group of Semipalmated Sandpipers, 113 Semipalmated Sandpipers and 13 Least Sandpipers.  Oddly the only report of unusual species along the Connecticut River were four Sterna terns seen around 8PM at the Oxbow in Northampton (the birds were photographed but the distance and low light made an ID impossible and they were not present the next morning).  I had a rather unusual for the area Upland Sandpiper flying over at the Honey Pot early on the morning of Tuesday...tough to say if it was connected to the storm or not but nice to have nonetheless. Also present at a few different locations were Red Crossbills that have made an incursion into the area starting at the very end of July and continuing through early August. So far the vast majority have been Type 10.

In Hampden County the only storm related sighting so far was of a grounded (and obviously distressed) Sooty Tern seen along the banks of the Connecticut River in Longmeadow on Wednesday morning.

Franklin County apparently totally missed out on any storm related birds but not sure if this is due to rarities not being present or just lack of coverage.

As mentioned above the jackpot area in western Massachusetts was the Berkshires which had a very nice selection of species including the following listed below:

Onota Lake: 4 Sooty Terns

Pontoosuc Lake: 18 Sooty Terns (with at least one continued into the next day), phalarope species (possibly Red necked Phalarope)

The initial reports out of the Berkshires included some fantastic sightings including Brown Noddy, South Polar Skua, Long tailed and Parasitic Jaegers and Black Swift but subsequent research apparently proved all these initial reports wrong.

There were a few more unusual species just to our east in Worcester County with at least two Sooty Terns (with one continuing into today), Whimbrel, and Red necked Phalarope.

More information on storm related bird sightings can be found at the Birdcast link.