White Ibis, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
White Ibis, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
White Ibis, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
White Ibis and Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
White Ibis, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
White Ibis, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
White Ibis, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
White Ibis, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
White Ibis, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
White Ibis, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
On my way to work yesterday I found a juvenile White Ibis at nearby Lake Wallace and added another new species to my Hampshire County list, which now stands at 309 species. My sighting became the second well documented record for the species in Hampshire County with the first being in late October of 2017....there are at least three other records ever for the county with little documentation but most are probably correct in the identification White Ibis was a species I was expecting to make another appearance in the area as the breeding population has greatly increased in New Jersey in the last several years with hundreds of breeding pairs now present there. I had discussed the possibility of finding the species here with several birders the past few weeks and I correctly predicted one would show up...nice to be right on that! I had the species, as well as other waders in mind, when I decided to make a quick stop at Lake Wallace although the chances of actually finding one was quite small. I made it to the lake a little before 6AM and started scanning the area despite the annoyance of a number of insects. On my first scan through with binoculars I was about halfway across the marsh when I spotted the ibis feeding among a number of other species. Nothing like finding a rare bird to add some excitement to a birding stop. I quickly got the bird in the scope and took some photos to get some documentation. I watched it for a few minutes and got additional photos and some video. I then started texting a number of people to let them know about the bird. After several minutes of watching the bird it flew up and around the pond once in the company of Green Herons before it settled back down once again. I continued to watch the bird until I had to pack up everything to head to work. A number of others arrived after I left and a few were lucky enough to catch a few glimpses of it before it flew up and away to parts unknown. I'm sure it is still in the area but with so much suitable habitat it will be a bit of a chore to find where it settled.
Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 25, 2025
Besides the ibis show the number of Green Herons continued to grow at the location and I had at least 21 individuals present. Lake Wallace is always a great spot for the species, especially mid to late summer.
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