Great Cormorant to start off June

Great Cormorant, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Jun 1, 2026

Great Cormorant and Double Crested Cormorant, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Jun 1, 2026

Great Cormorant, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Jun 1, 2026

Eastern Towhee, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 1, 2026

American Redstart, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 1, 2026

Hooded Mergansers, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jun 1, 2026

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jun 1, 2026

June started out with some great birds around and I was able to catch up with one rarity plus lots of other stuff.  Normally to start out a new month I would be out the door before dawn to add new species for the month but Wilson had surgery on Saturday and is still having some issues so I stuck around home until I knew my boy was good (he is slowly improving).  Eventually I made it out and made a few stops including a spot in Ware, Quabbin Park and Lake Wallace before I returned home.  Early in the afternoon I saw some reports of rarities including a Red necked Phalarope in the river in Hadley and then a Great Cormorant at the Holyoke Dam (found by Ted).  With Wilson doing better I decided to try for the Great Cormorant as I figured that would be the more likely rarity to be relocated.  I drove down to the dam arriving a little after one and walked to just above the dam to scan the buoys.  The Great Cormorant was the last of the cormorants in line perched on the numerous buoys.  Even without looking at other field marks the size difference compared to the multiple Double crested Cormorants was readily apparent.  I got a series of photos and videos through the scope and then let other know the bird was still present.  Great Cormorant is a rare species inland in Massachusetts and even rarer in spring with most records being in the later part of fall with only one spring record before today (at least in eBird).  This is only my fourth Hampshire County record of the species with the others being October 2004 at Arcadia, October 2008 at Quabbin Gate 5 and November of last year at Winsor Dam.  There are other recent fall records for the species in the area but I missed those as I was out of the country when they showed up.  Despite not being able to cover as many areas as I typically would to start off the month I still managed 97 species for the day...not too bad as far I'm concerned.