Somewhere out there is a Loggerhead Shrike, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, May 29, 2026
There are few times I'm able to add a new species to my Hampshire County list after many years of intense birding here but today was one of those days. The day started out less than stellar when I headed out before dawn and immediately got an alert that one of my tires was low (probably picked up something in the tire during my trip east to successfully look for two target warblers yesterday out east...more on that here). I got some air in the tire and the leak appeared to be slow so I headed over toward Amherst to get some birding in before the various tire places opened. I tried multiple spots to get the tire fixed without any luck with most not having any openings until the following week. Eventually I found a spot in Northampton that could get me in at noon. I birded a bit more in the morning before heading home to get Wilson and we took a tick filled walk in Belchertown. I headed over to Northampton for midday and dropped off the car to get the tire repaired and then walked down to my former workplace at the fire department and caught up with some old friends. While I was there I got a text that my car was done and not long after got a text from Joe saying he had a shrike at the Honey Pot in Hadley. Given the date the chances of it being a very rare Loggerhead Shrike was almost more likely than a Northern Shrike (which occurs here in winter). I visited a bit more before walking back to pick up my car and then heading out. I almost immediately got stuck in traffic in Northampton (almost like I was back in eastern mass again!). Eventually I got out of it and made my way across the river and headed to the area Joe described in his text. I arrived in the area of the transfer station and scanned a bit with seeing nothing. I was quickly joined by Joe and Theresa who said the bird had just flown into the area I was in just before I arrived (damn the traffic getting here!). We scanned for a bit and eventually both Theresa and I had brief looks at the shrike as it flew. Despite much effort from various vantage points we were never able to relocate the bird. The ever increasing winds made it tough to see movement and the nearly innumerable potential perching points made relocating the bird tough to say the least. After about an hour of scanning I finally gave up and headed for home. With my brief look I could not have identified the bird without Joe's photos. With the continued north winds and ever increasing chances of rain I don't think the bird will be too inclined to leave. The tough part is that there are so many great spots for the species in the area and viewing different areas requires a decent amount of walking as the farm fields are all private and posted and the publicly accessible areas consist of the dike and the roads going through the area. Loggerhead Shrike is a super rare species in the county with the last report being in the late 1980's. There were some seen at more recently in Franklin County including one in June 2019 at the Turners Falls Airport and one in July 2022 at the Orange Airport. Here is a link to Joe's checklist with some photos of this rarity: Loggerhead Shrike. Much thanks to Joe in finding the bird and letting me know. In the end the nail in my tire put me closer to the area at the right time proving that even bad things can lead to good things.
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