First week of January

Eastern Bluebird, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Jan 1, 2021

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Hatfield, MA, Jan 1, 2021

 Eastern Phoebe, Hatfield, MA, Jan 1, 2021

 Sage Thrasher, Hatfield, MA, Jan 1, 2021

 Red headed Woodpecker, Northampton, MA, Jan 1, 2021

The first week of January in Hampshire County has been quite active and has started off 2021 with an amazing 87 species so far which is around the total number of species I typically get in the county for an entire January.  My best previous January was last year when I had a total of 93 species for the month with 76 in the first week of the month.  I thankfully had the first couple days off to begin the year and the weather was perfect to try to catch up with a number of continuing rarities including Sage Thrasher, Red headed Woodpecker, Yellow rumped Warbler and Eastern Phoebe (all of which I found).  A previous post sums up the first day of year at the following link.  

On the second of the year I started off my morning at Winsor Dam and found an Iceland Gull (presumed to be the same individual I found there a few days before).  The second was the day of the Quabbin CBC and I didn't have a lot of time to assist this year due to other commitments but I helped a bit in the morning and adding the gull was nice.  I wanted to head into Quabbin Park itself but the small amount of snow kept the gates closed for the day.   I did add a number of Red Crossbills for the day and the ones I was able to get recordings of turned out to be all Type 10's.  I had to work on the third and managed just a little birding on my way to work adding just a few owls to my year list.

White crowned Sparrow, Hadley, MA, Jan 4, 2021

Swamp Sparrow, Hadley, MA, Jan 4, 2021

Lapland Longspur, Hadley, MA, Jan 4, 2021

Northern Harrier, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jan 4, 2021

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 4, 2021

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 4, 2021

After work on the fourth I headed out after another dusting of snow to a number of spots with my first stop over to Hadley to catch up with some unusual sparrows that have been hanging around in some weedy farm fields.  I caught up with several unusual sparrows including Field Sparrow, White crowned Sparrow and Swamp Sparrow and had a fleeting glimpse of another sparrow that might have been the Lincoln's Sparrow I found here at the end of last year.  The area also featured a large flock of Horned Larks that also contained a Lapland Longspur and a few Snow Buntings.  I also hit the Honey Pot and turned up a couple Northern Harriers as well as a Merlin.  I then followed up on a couple reports of Northern Shrike and although I missed on finding one in Hadley I did get one off the rail trail in Amherst.  After getting home to take Wilson for a walk I had a little extra time in the afternoon and took the opportunity to head over to Quabbin Park to try my luck with finding waterfowl and had a single Red breasted Merganser in among a huge flock of Common Mergansers (320+) plus a couple Horned Grebes.  

Leucistic Canada Goose, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Jan 6, 2021

Tennessee Warbler, Athol, MA, Jan 6, 2021

Harlequin Duck, Cabot's Camp, Montague, MA, Jan 6, 2021

I had to work again on the fifth but after getting out of work on the sixth I headed down to Arcadia and had a decent selection of waterfowl in the mostly ice free marsh including a leucistic Canada Goose.  I also stopped at a number of spots in Hadley, South Hadley and the Quabbin area mainly looking for waterfowl but not finding anything too noteworthy.  After getting some errands done I decided to take advantage of a little extra time late in the morning to head north of Hampshire County to try to catch up with a few unusual species being seen up that way.  My first stop was just over the Worcester County line in Athol to see a Tennessee Warbler that is coming to feeders at a private residence.  To say a Tennessee Warbler is unusual in the area in January in an understatement for sure.  The bird should be down in Central America at this point (as should I!) but it is quite content feeding on crickets, sunflower hearts and bananas at a feeder in the north part of Massachusetts.  I got the bird almost as soon as I arrived and I then had a nice talk with one of the homeowners as the warbler continued to come into the feeders nearly constantly.  More details on this sighting at the following: Tennessee Warbler in Athol.  The second unusual species I was after was a Harlequin Duck in the Miller's River in Franklin County.  I arrived at the location a bit after noon and after a bit of looking found the bird on a rock in the river and got some distant photos of it.  Harlequin Duck is exceedingly unusual inland in Massachusetts with this bird being the first western Massachusetts record ever.  More on the duck can be found at the following post.

Song Sparrow, North Hadley, MA, Jan 7, 2021

Song Sparrow, North Hadley, MA, Jan 7, 2021

Canada Goose with white mark on head, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Jan 7, 2021

The end of the first week of the month found me visiting a number of spots in Hadley and Amherst.  I started my morning in Hadley looking for unusual sparrows and among a few others I finally got a decent look at the continued Lincoln's Sparrow.  Multiple checks along the river didn't turn up any unusual waterfowl.  I did run across a large group of sparrows and juncos in North Hadley but I was unable to find any unusual species in among them.  A check of the fields looking for geese also failed to find anything unusual but there was an oddly marked Canada Goose among the flock at the campus pond at UMASS.