November is off to a great start in Hampshire County with two rare birds in as many days as well as multiple lingering species. The rarity today was a Cattle Egret found by Theresa at the Holyoke Dam late in the afternoon. I got a text from her regarding the identification and we both agreed on Cattle Egret. It was a species I was thinking might show up in the area after seeing multiples of the species being reported in the northeast US as well as adjacent areas of Canada (Scott also reported another in Franklin County today as well and another showed up in Hampden County). I got word out to a few people as I made the drive down. The river was very high (as high as I have ever seen it in November) so the only spot for the gulls and the egret to roost were the buoys and the stuck logs above the dam. I arrived and Theresa and Joe were at the spot but the egret had walked behind one of the large buoys and was temporarily out of view. After a few minutes of waiting it walked out from its hiding spot and showed fairly well both on a log and eventually on one of the buoys. With the other sightings in the area I would not be surprised to hear of more showing up. The influx of Cattle Egrets may perhaps rival a similar event that occurred in the area back in November 2018 when several individuals showed up and lingered for at least a week. The Cattle Egret becomes species #249 for me in Hampshire County this year which sets a new record for me, beating my previous high I set last year. Cattle Egret can be a tough species to turn up around here most years so I was happy to have one show this year. The other big rarity for November so far was a Common Gallinule that showed up in Hatfield and continued at least through today. As I was leaving the dam a large group of at least 16 Turkey Vultures were coming in to roost in the area...a high count for this late in the year.
My main focus when I headed out this morning was to try to track down warblers and I managed to find two species of warbler with the expected Yellow rumped Warblers as well as a late Palm Warbler. I started off before dawn at Arcadia with highlights being a couple Northern Harriers and a decent sparrow show despite a lot of habitat being cut down in the various fields. My next stop at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River produced more Northern Harriers, half a dozen each of Purple Finches and Rusty Blackbirds as well as the Palm Warbler. I continued moving back east toward home and along the way found four Black Vultures roosting in Hadley and a decent selection of species at Wentworth Farm Conservation Area. After taking Wilson for a walk and running some errands I noticed a report from Ted of a large variety of waterfowl (with hundreds of Brant) at Winsor Dam this morning (as well as a Dunlin). I stopped by the dam briefly and had all three scoter species on the water including one group of White winged Scoters in fairly close. I was surprised as the conditions overnight into the morning did not hold much promise of producing a great day at Winsor Dam but sometimes the birds surprise you.
Hi Larry, I just saw your post about a potential YBLOxCOLO hybrid from ten years ago at the Quabbin. I photographed a potential hybrid of the same species this summer in Northern Alaska and would love to share the photos with you and the other folks weighed in with opinions on your bird. Please get in touch at sethbeaudreault AT gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI'll send you a message
Delete