Weekend birding

Vesper Sparrow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 21, 2014

Vesper Sparrow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 21, 2014

Bald Eagle and American Crows, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 21, 2014

Yellow Warbler, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 21, 2014

I woke up before dawn with the intention to try to get over to a few spots near Quabbin to try for some nocturnal birds but I immediately noticed it was pouring rain.  A quick look at the radar showed the edge of the rain nearby to the west so I headed west and spent a few hours in the gloom and occasional drizzle there...at least it was warmer than past days with morning lows in the low 60's.  It was a bit tough to get any decent photos of the birds today but I managed a few.  I managed to find 43 species including the  following:

Bald Eagle  2    
Killdeer  1
Mourning Dove  8
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  3
Pileated Woodpecker  1
American Kestrel  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's Flycatcher)  1     Near thats a plenty farm, silent bird
Eastern Phoebe  3
Red-eyed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  4
American Crow  29
Black-capped Chickadee  7
Tufted Titmouse  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
House Wren  4
Carolina Wren  5
Swainson's Thrush  1
American Robin  10
Gray Catbird  15
Brown Thrasher  1
European Starling  1
Cedar Waxwing  4
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  9
American Redstart  1
Yellow Warbler  1     A little late
Palm Warbler (Western)  8
Palm Warbler (Yellow)  2
Chipping Sparrow  10
Vesper Sparrow  3     Minimum, one still singing
Savannah Sparrow  41
Song Sparrow  35
Lincoln's Sparrow  7
Swamp Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  7
Northern Cardinal  2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  4
Indigo Bunting  9
Bobolink  2
American Goldfinch  5
Plus a couple Eastern Coyotes working through the fields.

Winsor Dam, Sep 21, 2014

I also made a brief stop at Winsor Dam in the distant hope that the weather forced some birds down but no luck there...not the best conditions for that to happen, but you never know and it is always worth a quick look.

Today also marks the anniversary of the great New England Hurricane of 1938.  It was one of the most destructive tropical systems to ever hit this area and resulted in lots of damage as the eye moved right up the Connecticut River valley.  There doesn't appear to be a repeat in the cards for this year as the tropical season continues to stay quiet in the Atlantic with no systems even likely to form in the next week.

Philadelphia Vireo, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 20, 2014

Philadelphia Vireo, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 20, 2014

Philadelphia Vireo, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 20, 2014

Red breasted Nuthatch, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 20, 2014

Northern Flickers, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 20, 2014

Yesterday I stayed close to home with a few hour visit over to Quabbin.  I only hit a small portion of the park but still found some decent stuff including the following:

Canada Goose  94
Wood Duck  17
American Black Duck  3
Mallard  2
Hooded Merganser  1
Wild Turkey  4
Common Loon  4
Turkey Vulture  2
Ring-billed Gull  2
Belted Kingfisher  1
Downy Woodpecker  6
Hairy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  4    
Pileated Woodpecker  3
Eastern Phoebe  8
Blue-headed Vireo  1
Philadelphia Vireo  1    
Red-eyed Vireo  3
Blue Jay  18
American Crow  7
Black-capped Chickadee  28
Tufted Titmouse  3
Red-breasted Nuthatch  7
White-breasted Nuthatch  4
Brown Creeper  2
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  1
American Robin  6
Gray Catbird  12
Cedar Waxwing  32
Black-and-white Warbler  5
Common Yellowthroat  2
American Redstart  1
Northern Parula  1
Magnolia Warbler  1
Blackpoll Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  11
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  1
Black-throated Green Warbler  8
Eastern Towhee  17     Minimum
Song Sparrow  3
Scarlet Tanager  3     Minimum
Northern Cardinal  3
Purple Finch  1
American Goldfinch  2

Winsor Dam (and other areas)....possible sighting of a very unusual species

Bald Eagle with leg band, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 4, 2013

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 4, 2013

Red tailed Hawk, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 4, 2013

American Crow, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 4, 2013

American Crows, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 4, 2013

Snow Buntings, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 4, 2013

Snow Buntings, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 4, 2013

Although yesterday featured lots of waterfowl at Quabbin Park this morning the featured almost no waterfowl at all with only the following seen:  9 Black Ducks, two Wood Ducks, half a dozen Hooded Mergansers, 7 Common Mergansers, six Horned Grebe, two Common Loons, 78 Mallards, a dozen Canada Geese and a few unidentified ducks.  The vast majority of these were at the Route 9 marsh.  Once again the weather today featured lots of wind out of the north and the day felt more like winter as the temperature started out in the low 20's.  I spent a good portion of the morning at Quabbin Park with the vast majority of the time at Winsor Dam.  My hopes were on finding a Golden Eagle but no luck with that species again but I did have nine Bald Eagles (one with leg bands), three Northern Harriers (all together in one group), 8 Red tailed Hawks and a Peregrine Falcons.  Lots of migrating American Crows today with at least 1564 seen in three hours at Winsor Dam alone.  This total is a minimum count and I'm certain I missed many when I was looking elsewhere.  Another highlight at Winsor Dam included a group of 21 Snow Buntings that flew around Winsor Dam before flying across the water and disappearing into the western cove not to appear again.  I was joined for part of my time at the dam by Devin.

The best bird of the day turned out to be one that may have indeed have been a truly unusual bird-a Northern Wheatear.  I initially saw the bird just before 10AM. I found the bird in flight while scoping the far end of Winsor Dam viewed from in front of the admin building. I immediately started following the bird as it seemed interesting as far as flight pattern was concerned (and I had seen so few passerines so far during my time there this morning). The bird was quite a bit smaller and trimmer than a robin but had a thrush like appearance from a distance. The flight pattern was direct with several somewhat shallow wingbeats following by a short glide...very unique in appearance. I kept the bird in view for probably 25 seconds before it disappeared to the southwest, not to be found again. The bird was seen throughout through a spotting scope in very good light. No strongly obvious facial pattern. The overall coloration was a bright light sandy/rufous color with an obvious white on rump/base of tail and dark on tip. The tail was fairly short. The underwings appeared light. No chance to get a photo through the scope or with the camera as I knew looking away would lose the bird and I wanted to try to get as many details before it flew out of view. I took notes after viewing the bird and then consulted a few field guides to see if I could come up with an ID other than a wheatear. I'm stumped as to what else it could be. I have only seen one other wheatear so I'm far from an expert on the species so I'm looking for other possibilities I may have overlooked.  I wish I was able to get a photo!  Worth keeping an eye out in the area if anyone makes a stop there.

Northern Saw whet Owl becomes species #230 for Hampshire County this year

Wood Ducks, Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

Hanks Meadow looking toward Gate 52, Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

Spotted Sandpiper, record shot of late record, Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

Ring necked Ducks (L) and White winged Scoter (R), Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

Black Ducks, Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

Herring Gull (L) and Ring billed Gulls, Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

Northern Harrier (male), Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

View near Winsor Dam as fog lifted, Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

American Crow, Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

Wild Turkeys, Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

Wild Turkey, Quabbin Park, Oct 26, 2013

As we all know (or at least should know) finding particular birds involves a certain amount of luck and I proved that this morning when I found another new county bird for the year. I had every intention of sleeping in a little this morning before heading out as I knew it would be in the upper 20's and my cold continues to hang on to some degree ('sleeping in' is a relative thing....perhaps not getting up until 6:30 instead of before six. However that plan didn't work out as the coffee maker went off at the typical weekday time of 5:45 instead of the weekend time of seven. With the signal to begin the day with the starting of the coffee maker, the animals all decided to come in and wake us up. I decided to just stay up and perhaps do a little unplanned owling. I headed over to Covey WMA and after a few stops before dawn I had a Northern Saw whet Owl respond to some playback. The owl became species #230 for Hampshire County for me this year. This species is the last really likely species for me to get this year and I was very happy to get it. Glad the start of the morning worked out the way it did!

As the sun came up I started my way around Quabbin Park once again looking for waterfowl. I made a quick stop at Winsor Dam but it was just too foggy to see anything yet so I headed over to the park itself with a stop at Hanks Meadow and then a brief stop at Goodnough Dike and then the Route 9 marsh. The fog was a bit of a challenge in spots while other spots were already getting windy...very odd weather! Hanks Meadow featured a group of 100+ individuals of various species on the water (I'll give the totals later) plus a couple of hooting Great Horned Owls and a somewhat late Spotted Sandpiper. Goodnough was too foggy to see much early on. The route 9 marsh featured more waterfowl with the expected species there. I then headed to Winsor Dam just as the fog was lifting and stayed there for about an hour before heading back to one area near Goodnough Dike. The only waterfowl at Winsor Dam were all flying by and featured nothing unusual. Yet again I had an adult Northern Harrier flying by, moving southwest. The trip back to the area of Goodnough Dike produced some more waterfowl but again, nothing too unusual. My totals for waterfowl included a White winged Scoter, 15 Ring necked Ducks, 99 Black Ducks (some seen flying later in morning may have been repeats seen earlier), 21 Wood Ducks, a couple Hooded Mergansers, 4 Horned Grebes, 8 Common Loons, a Double crested Cormorant, 40 Mallards and 41 Canada Geese.

 

The morning got progressively more windy with a strong southwest breeze with gusts approaching 30 MPH.  With the strong south winds that originate in the deep south the chance is always there for some bird to get caught up and pushed north.

 

A year ago Hurricane Sandy was moving through the Caribbean on her way to the Atlantic seaboard.  Quite a change from last year with no tropical activity and a quiet season overall so far.

Quabbin Park and Lake Wallace

Green winged Teal (R) with Wood Duck, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2013

Black Ducks before dawn, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2013

'Murder' of American Crows, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2013

I once again tried the Quabbin Park area looking for waterfowl but the numbers and variety were down from the decent morning I had there yesterday.  I only managed to find 24 Black Ducks, 17 Wood Ducks, four Green winged Teal, a Common Merganser, two Common Loons, 11 Mallards and 42 Canada Geese all moving southwest.  Also had several Eastern Phoebes, a singing Hermit Thrush, a Spotted Sandpipers, a Peregrine Falcon moving past with what appeared to be a Northern Flicker in its talons, three Bald Eagles together and quite a few Yellow rumped Warblers plus a large group of crows that appeared to be migrating.

Double crested Cormorants, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Oct 13, 2013

Double crested Cormorants, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Oct 13, 2013

With Quabbin Park fairly quiet I decided to try my luck at Lake Wallace.  The lake was nearly devoid of any waterfowl with only a Mallard and a couple of cormorants plus a flyby pair of Canada Geese.  The hunting pressure the rest of the week almost certainly has kept the number of waterfowl low here.  Other notable birds here included a half a dozen Eastern Phoebes and scores of White throated and Song Sparrows plus a few Belted Kingfishers.

Common Loon, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2013

Common Loon, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2013

Late in the morning I got a call from Bob Z who believed he had a western type grebe at Quabbin Park near Goodnough Dike. The description sounded good for an exceedingly rare species inland in Massachusetts. He last saw it flying north and could not relocate it. I headed over early afternoon in an attempt to catch up with it but no luck. I did find three Common Loons in the area as well as a distant Double crested Cormorant. On my walk back out to my car I ran across a nice little mixed species flock that contained four species of warbler, a vireo and lots of Ruby crowned Kinglets

Last day of September

Savannah Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

Savannah Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

White crowned Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

Swamp Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

Swamp Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

Vesper Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

Northern Harrier being chased by crows, Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

Killdeer, Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

Northern Flicker, Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

 

Indigo Buntings, Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

Palm Warbler (yellow), Honeypot, Hadley, Sep 30, 2013

I started out the final day of September at the Honeypot in Hadley.  I almost turned around and headed back home as I ran into really dense fog on the way over but I decided to push on anyway and was rewarded with less fog right along the river.  Another productive morning there and I have included the entire list below:

 

Honey Pot

Canada Goose  5
Great Blue Heron  1
Northern Harrier  1     Hunting the fields and occasionally being harassed by crows
Cooper's Hawk  2     together
Killdeer  11     near that a plenty farm
Mourning Dove  4
Belted Kingfisher  1
Downy Woodpecker  2
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  16  
American Kestrel  1
Eastern Phoebe  3
Blue Jay  12
American Crow  33
Fish Crow  2
Horned Lark  2
Black-capped Chickadee  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
House Wren  2
Carolina Wren  3
American Robin  6
Gray Catbird  4
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Pipit  64     largest group of 55+
Cedar Waxwing  5
Common Yellowthroat  16
Palm Warbler (Western)  1
Palm Warbler (Yellow)  21     Minimum
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  8
Chipping Sparrow  1
Vesper Sparrow  3     Minimum
Savannah Sparrow  98     likely undercounted
Song Sparrow  48
Lincoln's Sparrow  11     Minimum
Swamp Sparrow  23
White-throated Sparrow  16
White-crowned Sparrow (Eastern)  9     Some singing
Northern Cardinal  1
Indigo Bunting  6    
Red-winged Blackbird  15
American Goldfinch  28

Jabish Canal marsh, Sep 30, 2013

Wilson, Jabish Canal, Sep 30, 2013

A walk with Wilson along Jabish Canal late morning produced more sparrows and a few warblers plus an Osprey, American Kestrel and a Winter Wren among other species.  A nice day out enjoying some nice fall weather.

 

 

As the month of September comes to an end I'll take a minute to review the year up until this point (at least as far as Hampshire County is concerned anyway). I currently stand at 227 species as of today. During my previous best county year (2012) I was at 206 species to begin October. This is a bit misleading as far as how many birds I could potentially add as I have already found many species that I got later in the year in 2012. Nevertheless it looks good that I will beat my previous best year total but you never know until it happens. To get to 227 last year it took me until mid December. The number of rarities and vagrant birds over the next couple months will be the big deciding factor on the overall total for the year. Just a couple more likely species to add (Surf Scoter and Northern Saw whet Owl being the most likely).  I also want to add in what a great month of birding September turned out to be with a total of 153 species in Hampshire County alone with some really impressive numbers of normally tough to find species (such as Cape May, Bay breasted and Tennessee Warblers).  I look forward to seeing what other birds turn up over the final quarter of the year. 

Various spots around the valley before the arrival of Hurricane Sandy

Gray Catbird, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 28, 2012

Geese and ducks on pond, Arcadia, Oct 28, 2012

American Wigeon, Arcadia, Oct 28, 2012

American Wigeon, Arcadia, Oct 28, 2012

Green winged Teal, Arcadia, Oct 28, 2012

Mallards, Arcadia, Oct 28, 2012

Canada Geese, Arcadia, Oct 28, 2012

I managed to get in a bit of birding this morning before the weather turned too bad. There was a noticle breeze out of the northeast but nothing compared to what is coming. I met up with Ian Davies and we visited a variety of areas around the local area. We started at UMASS but found nothing of note and then drove past a variety of fields in Hadley and Amherst but found no geese at all. On our way through Hadley we stopped at Lake Warner and had 157 Canada Geese and 7 Mute Swans plus a Great Horned Owl that flushed and then perched for a few minutes before flying off. We then decided to head to the oxbow to see if anything out of the ordinary was present there. Not much action on the oxbow but we noticed some geese in Hurburt's Pond at Arcadia so we headed over to the observation tower there. The pond contained 480+ Canada Geese, one American Wigeon, 22 Wood Ducks, 8 Black Ducks and  85+ Mallards. Other birds of note there included Great Blue Heron, Winter Wren and four Rusty Blackbirds.

Large flock of American Crows, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 28, 2012

Gray Catbird (two in same tree), East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 28, 2012

Fox Sparrow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 28, 2012

Gray Catbird, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 28, 2012

American Goldfinch, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 28, 2012

We then headed to the East Meadows to try our luck at finding geese, a longspur and any odd lingering birds among the hedgerows. Although we had several flocks of geese in flight there were none down in the meadows. We did however have great luck with Lapland Longspurs when we noticed some calling within a large group of Horned Larks (70+). We initially had at least two but when we caught up with the flock a bit later we had at least seven Lapland Longspurs which is a fabulous count for inland. The longspurs make species #218 for the county this year.  We also ran across a few other notable birds here including two Gray Catbirds, a few Fox Sparrows, Ruby crowned Kinglets, several Yellow rumped Warblers, American Pipits, a few Rusty Blackbirds, about 120 Mourning Doves, large groups of crows (at least 378 of them), a couple Northern Harriers together and a few groups of Yellow rumped Warblers.

After covering a large amount of the East Meadows we headed back across the river to see if we could catch back up with the Yellow headed Blackbird along East Hadley Rd. Oddly the area there was almost devoid of birds and there were no blackbird flocks at all. Other areas in the immediate vicinity also had no blackbirds at all. This is quite a change as there have been flocks of over 10,000 birds.  There was an Eastern Phoebe at Hampshire College but little else

Canada Goose with odd plumage, UMASS Campus Pond, Amherst, MA, Oct 28, 2012

Canada Goose with odd plumage, UMASS Campus Pond, Amherst, MA, Oct 28, 2012

Canada Goose with odd plumage, UMASS Campus Pond, Amherst, MA, Oct 28, 2012

A couple of final stops around UMASS produced a few hundred Ring billed Gulls on the fields and a gathering of 282 Canada Geese on the campus pond plus a few Mallards.  Among the few hundred Canada Geese was this individual with white on its head and neck.  Keeping track of these unique type individuals is a great way to see what groups of geese come and go at the pond.  Also a few yellow rumped Warblers and a Ruby crowned Kinglet in the trees around the pond.

Dawn at UMASS, Oct 28, 2012

My camera phone was just not up to the task of capturing an amazing sunrise this morning but it gives you a tiny glimpse of how vivid it was.

Hurricane Sandy windfield map, Oct 28, 2012

Hurricane Sandy as of 2:33pm Oct 28, 2012

 

Projected path of Hurricane Sandy as of 5pm, Oct 28, 2012

Now the daily update on Hurricane Sandy.  It is still forecast to hit south of us, coming ashore in central New Jersey as a category 1 hurricane.  We are forecast to get strong winds (25-35 MPH sustained with gusts to 60+ at times) and several inches of rain.  The track could still vary a bit but the current track puts it a bit too far south to give us a great chance at great birds but I will still be out looking in the hopes something makes it here.  Oddly this storm is forecast to hit almost a year to the day that we got hammered by an early season snow storm that left us without power for almost a week.  There has certainly been some strange weather around Halloween here.

View from Winsor Dam in the evening, Oct 28, 2012

Distant view of White winged Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 28, 2012

As part of my attempt to find some storm related birds I spent an hour this evening at Winsor Dam.  The winds were up to about 10-15 MPH and there was occasional drizzle at times.  The only birds of note were eight White winged Scoters.  We shall see what tomorrow brings.  I will be at Winsor Dam off and on trying my best to find something good...hopefully I will be reporting something good tomorrow (provided we still have power!) 

Yesterday was yet another milestone on this blog when I reached the 30,000 view mark...who knew so many people had an interest in the birds I have seen and the places I have gone??!?!