Wednesday, August 31, 2022

End of August brings a Snowy Egret

Gray Catbird, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 31, 2022
Great Crested Flycatcher, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 31, 2022
Common Nighthawk, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 27, 2022
Sunrise, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Aug 26, 2022

August has now come to an end and it ended on a warm note with the last few days near 90 and humid.  The forecast calls for a bit of a cool down as northerly winds come in.  I suspect there will be an influx of fall migrants with the change in weather conditions by the end of the week.  I ended the month with 147 species with highlights including a Black Tern, Snowy Egret (more on that below), ongoing influxes of Red breasted Nuthatches and Red Crossbills, a number of lingering species and a few early Dickcissel plus a total of 23 species of warblers.  I spent the last day of the month hitting numerous spots along the river (and a few away from the river) mainly looking for shorebirds and perhaps an odd wader...more on waders for today and the month below.

Great Blue Heron, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 31, 2022
Snowy Egret (L) and Great Egret (R), Hatfield, MA, Aug 31, 2022
Snowy Egret, Hatfield, MA, Aug 31, 2022
Snowy Egret, Hatfield, MA, Aug 31, 2022
Green Herons, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 31, 2022
Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 31, 2022
Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 31, 2022
Solitary Sandpiper, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 31, 2022

The overall lack of post breeding waders has been very unusual and unexpected.  During the entire month I only managed to find a single Great Egret in Hampshire County, until today when I added two more individuals.  This total is way below the average I typically get in August when it is not unusual to double digit counts at a single location the last several years.  There have been some recent reports of double digit counts in Hampden County so maybe more will show into September.  The number of Green Herons have been around average (perhaps a little above) as have the number of Great Blue Herons.  I also had a single juvenile Black crowned Night Heron early in the month but none after.  There has been an influx of White Ibis to points north of their typical locations this year and I have kept my eyes out for one but have so far had no luck.  There had been no reports of Snowy Egrets or Little Blue Herons in the area for the fall season until this morning when I saw a report of a Little Blue Heron from a couple days ago along the Connecticut River in Hatfield.  I was not going to even bother trying for it but after making multiple stops along the river and finding myself in Northampton and no word from anyone else bothering to try to relocate it I decided to head up to see if I could find it.  I walked down to the waters edge at one of the canoe launches and quickly found two Great Egrets and a smaller white bird with them.  The distance was far and light was crap but I got some looks and distant photos before I relocated a bit further north to getting better looks.  The second vantage point was not much better and I thought initially it was a Little Blue Heron but after letting people know about it again, the bird came in much closer and they got much better views and photos and the bird was indeed a Snowy Egret.  Wish I had stayed longer to have the bird come in closer!  Either species is quite unusual and I was happy to find an odd wader to end the month.  Shorebirds were around at a few spots but nothing too unusual although the low water at Lake Wallace produced more diversity and numbers than typical with five species there today.  


Thursday, August 25, 2022

Red Crossbills and Red breasted Nuthatches this morning (plus others)


Red Crossbill Type 10, Quabbin Gate 8, Pelham, MA, Aug 25, 2022
Red Crossbill Type 10, Quabbin Gate 8, Pelham, MA, Aug 25, 2022
Red Crossbill Type 10, Quabbin Gate 8, Pelham, MA, Aug 25, 2022
Red breasted Nuthatch, Reed Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, Aug 25, 2022
Red eyed Vireo, Reed Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, Aug 25, 2022
Magnolia Warbler, Reed Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, Aug 25, 2022
Black throated Blue Warbler, Cadwell Memorial Forest, Pelham, MA, Aug 25, 2022
River Otter, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Aug 25, 2022

In have out every morning for the last few days with my main focus being warblers (more on the warblers at the following link).  I have also continued to follow up on the ongoing influx of Red Crossbills and Red breasted Nuthatches into the area.  I saw some very interesting behavior this morning with a Red Crossbill at Quabbin Gate 8.  I heard multiple individuals flying over and eventually one came down and ended up in an oak tree where it started feeding on acorns!  I have never seen this behavior with this species before and I managed to capture a crappy video of the behavior and the link to the video is attached here:  Red Crossbill video.  Red breasted Nuthatches continue to show very well throughout the area with double digit counts at multiple locations.  Besides the crossbills and nuthatches there were many other birds around to be seen this morning as well as some mammals.  



Sunday, August 21, 2022

The third week of August

Gray Catbird, Ware, MA, Aug 14, 2022
House Wren, Ware, MA, Aug 14, 2022
Chestnut sided Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR- Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 15, 2022
Spangled Skimmer,  Reed Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, Aug 16, 2022
Black throated Blue Warbler, Reed Conservation Area, Belchertown, MA, Aug 16, 2022
Black and White Warbler, Quabbin Gate 8, Pelham, MA, Aug 16, 2022
Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 17, 2022
House Wren, Ware, MA, Aug 17, 2022
Bobolink, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2022
 Chestnut sided Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2022
Common Nighthawk, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 19, 2022
Sunrise, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Aug 20, 2022
Virginia Rail, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 21, 2022
Virginia Rail, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 21, 2022
Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 21, 2022
Solitary Sandpiper, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 21, 2022

The third week of August has now come to an end.  The last week or so has featured more arriving migrants (as well as a few lingering/late species).  The most unusual species I have had for the week showed up this morning when I had an early Dickcissel in Hadley (unfortunately I didn't have a good camera with me when I saw it and by the time I returned to the location with a camera the bird was gone).  Shorebirds have been few and far between but I have had a few in the limited areas available for them.  The continued dry weather and lack of harvested fields keeps decent habitat for shorebirds to a minimum in the valley at this time of year.  Later August does consist of the best time to see the fall migration of Common Nighthawks and I have had a few nights with them at the house.  Warbler migration has continued to pick up and I'm increasingly running across mixed species flocks and the continued early influx of Northern Parula and Tennessee Warbler has been impressive.  More on warbler for the third week of the month at the following link.  Noticeable for the month so far has been the lack of unusual waders showing up as post breeders but hopefully that will change in the next few weeks...I have actually not even had a single Great Egret for late summer yet.

The tropics have also been very quiet so far this hurricane season but the models continue to point toward an increase in activity as August comes to an end...time will tell but the forecast for the hurricane season continues to call for a slightly above average season for storms.


Saturday, August 13, 2022

Fantastic morning with Lawrence's Warbler, multiple early warbler species and others

 

Lawrence's Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 13, 2022
Northern Waterthrush, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 13, 2022
Blue winged Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 13, 2022
Tennessee Warbler, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 13, 2022
Northern Parula, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 13, 2022

Following another great night of migration conditions thanks to light northerly winds I headed out after getting out of work this morning.  I made a few stops in Northampton before deciding to try my luck over at Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River where I had a few early warblers a couple days ago.  I arrived to rather cool conditions with temps in the 50's and I had hopes some warblers be active in areas being warmed by the early morning sun.  Initially I did not have too much for activity but once I made it to one of the overlooks I quickly found some warbler activity with a Northern Parula and Tennessee Warbler (both early for this date).  There were lots of other birds around too but I eventually decided to move on to cover other areas and I then ran across yet another early migrant warbler with an early Mourning Warbler that briefly popped into view but was not seen again.  Something told me to head back to the original area where I had activity earlier and when I arrived I found a Lawrence's Warbler feeding down fairly low...a very rare hybrid, especially in fall migration (almost certainly the same individual Ted found in the general area a few days before).  I continued to turn up warblers in a few areas before I headed for home and eventually found a dozen species (plus the hybrid) for the morning at Silvio Conte.  More on warblers for the morning can be found at the following link.

Blue Grosbeak, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Aug 12, 2022
Orchard Oriole, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 11, 2022
Common Yellowthroat, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 11, 2022
Canada Warbler, Pelham, MA, Aug 9, 2022
Red Fox, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 9, 2022
Tennessee Warbler, Ware, MA, Aug 8, 2022

Besides my great morning today I have gotten out a bit the last several days before and after days at work and have found a number of continued rarities as well as early migrants and some lingering species.  Early migrants before today have included multiple Northern Parula and Tennessee Warblers (including my earliest record ever for the species for the fall).  Lingering species have included a few Orchard Orioles as well as Louisiana Waterthrush.  Rarities have included flyover Black bellied Plovers, multiple Red Crossbills and Blue Grosbeaks.

Chipping Sparrows, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 11, 2022
Carolina Wren, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 11, 2022
Black and White Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 11, 2022
Black capped Chickadees with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 11, 2022
Chestnut sided Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 10, 2022
American Redstart, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 10, 2022
American Robins, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 9, 2022

After a bit of a lull for the middle of summer I have set the camera back up on the water feature and I captured a number of species with four species of warbler in just a few days.  With all the dry weather I suspect the water feature will capture more good stuff as fall migration really starts picking up.