Dunlin and other stuff

Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012



Common Loon, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2012

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2012

Wood Duck, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2012

White-tailed Deer, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2012

A truly cold morning today with temperatures starting in the mid 20's with a breeze at times.  The morning felt more like early winter and forced me to break out a lot of warm clothes.  I had my sights set on waterfowl coming in last night and putting down on Quabbin.  The weather made it hard to see many areas until later in the morning due to fog.  I did manage to make my way to the usual spots within Quabbin Park first thing this morning and managed a total of half a dozen species of waterfowl with Canada Geese (flocks moving all morning), Black Ducks (a few flocks moving), Mallard, Wood Duck, Common Merganser and Common Loon.  Other good birds around such as calling Great Horned and Eastern Screech Owl (calling spontaneously from island across from gate 52), lots of Northern Flickers migrating, both Swainson's and Hermit Thrush and many others.  Full list here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11787821  (quabbin park)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11787939   (stationary count Winsor Dam)

After Quabbin Park I stopped at Winsor Dam for a little stationary count as I waited for the fog to lift.  More migrant waterfowl in the air as well as raptors moving by. 

Bald Eagle, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012

Bald Eagle, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012



Bald Eagle, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012

Distant view of Black Scoters, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012

Red breasted Nuthatch, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012

Hermit Thrush, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012

Quabbin Tower viewed from Gate 5, Quabbin, Oct 13, 2012

While viewed from Winsor Dam I noticed some waterfowl way out that I could not ID due to distance and heat distortion caused by the great variation in temperature between the air and water.  I decided the birds appeared to be in the vicinity of gate 5 so I headed in there.  I was able to find the birds fairly quickly and they turned out to be six Black Scoters (county bird #210 for the year).  Other waterfowl here included Common Loon, flocks of Canada Geese moving west and a handful of Common Mergansers, Black Ducks and Mallards.  Other birds of note included a drumming Ruffed Grouse, Winter Wren (many around today at different spots), flyover Pine Siskins and a number of raptors migrating.  Here is the list from gate 5:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11788214

Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012

Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012

Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012

Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012



Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012

As I was working in the yard I got a message from Jacob Drucker that he and Jaime Bishop had a Dunlin in the East Meadows of Northampton.  I decided to ditch the yard work for a bit and head over to see if I could find the bird.  I didn't see it on my initial scans through and then I ran into Tom Gagnon and he was able to find it again.  The bird seemed unconcerned with all the activity going by near it as it fed in one of the few pools remaining.  Oddly there were no other shorebirds with it.  An unusual sandpiper inland at any time but especially good given the late date.  My last Dunlin in the county was back in may of 2005 when two stayed in the area of the Ibis Pool in the Arcadia Meadows for at least three days.    This species put me up to #211 for the county so far.

Radar image from last evening at 8:30

As can be seen from the image above the birds were really moving last night with the light northerly winds.  Certainly an influx of some species such as Winter Wren, Northern Flicker, Dark eyed Junco and others. 

Trip to the Connecticut coast and heavy migration before the rain

Osprey, Rocky Neck SP, CT, Sep 27, 2012

Snowy Egret,  Rocky Neck SP, CT, Sep 27, 2012

 Snowy Egret, Rocky Neck SP, CT, Sep 27, 2012

With the forecast of all day rain on Friday and showers and drizzle on Saturday we ditched our plans to go to Cape Cod for a few days and instead headed down to the Connecticut coast for the day on Thursday.  We went to Rocky Neck State Park and spent several hours there.  The small beach there held little in the way of bird life but the marsh and river nearby had some good birds.  The best birds of the day were actually right from the parking lot and included a Dickcissel that called several times and then dropped into a hedgerow not to be seen again and at least one flyover Pine Siskin with a group of goldfinches.  The raptors in the area also put on a bit of a show with the handful of Ospreys present showing well.  The several American Kestrels that were moving through were all quite high and moving down the coast.

Yellow billed Cuckoo, Rocky Neck SP, CT, Sep 27, 2012

Walking the series of trails near the marsh and river produced a few small flocks of birds including one that had a Yellow billed Cuckoo with it. The bird stayed at the very tops of some oaks so great photos were impossible.  

Snowy Egret, Rocky Neck SP, CT, Sep 27, 2012

Snowy Egret, Rocky Neck SP, CT, Sep 27, 2012

Snowy Egret, Rocky Neck SP, CT, Sep 27, 2012

The Snowy Egrets were the most numerous and active waders there with lots of interaction between them. 

Video 1 of birds passing in front of moon, Belchertown, MA, 10pm, Sep 27, 2012

Video 2 of birds passing in front of moon, Belchertown, MA, 10pm, Sep 27, 2012

Radar image showing heavy migration, 10pm, Sep 27, 2012

Last evening the radar showed some decent migration so I went out to listen around 10 pm and had several birds giving flight calls and a large number of birds moving past the nearly full moon. I averaged around ten birds a minute passing the moon. I took a handful of short videos with my iPhone and captured some of the birds moving by. Video 1 has a bird at bottom at 8 seconds and another close but blurry one at 10 seconds. In video 2 there is a quick flyby at 21 seconds and the best capture of a bird at 26 seconds in. Always fun to get a good night of migration in the spring or fall with a full moon and see all the birds streaming by. Another example of how good the migration was last night can be found at the following link:

http://www.oldbird.org/Data/2012/Skinner/Skinner.htm

This site records nocturnal flight calls and last night was the biggest night yet this fall with over 2800 calls noted.

The rain materialized as predicted this morning and I made a brief stop at the east meadows on my way to work but the rain was too heavy and I did not find anything of note. There certainly was the chance of birds getting knocked down by the weather given the migration occurring last night and the rain moving in predawn. The rest of the day continued to be rainy and raw with temperatures in the 50’s. On my way home from work I tried to make a brief stop at Winsor Dam but the rain was falling too hard and the visibility too reduced to see anything on the water.  Hopefully someone will find some good birds out there tomorrow morning.

Honeypot at sunrise

Sunrise at the honeypot, Hadley, MA, Sep 24, 2012

radar image from 10:00pm on Sep 23, 2012

As the radar and some night listening indicated a fairly good migration last night I decided to try my luck for a few minutes before work by stopping at the Honeypot in Hadley.  I arrived just before dawn and walked one of the fields.  Although the temperature was a cool 42 degrees there was still some activity.  Highlights included a Vesper Sparrow singing before dawn, eight Lincoln’s Sparrow (with three in one binocular view), a few Indigo Buntings and American Pipits.  A total of seven species of sparrows although I’m certain there were more.  Overall lots of stuff around and I’m sure a longer period of time once it warmed up would have produced some great stuff. 

eBird report is located at the following link:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11652856

 

Orchard Hill, Skinner State Park and a new yard bird

American Redstart, Orchard Hill UMASS Amherst, Sept 20, 2012

Radar image capture from 10:00 pm last night, Sept 19

 

Another good migration day today with a influx of a variety of species. I did some listening last night for about 45 minutes for flight calls of nocturnal migrants. Although the radar showed a lot of movement the number of birds that could be heard was fairly low. I had one Gray cheeked Thrush (county year bird #206 and yard species #147), a couple Swainson's Thrush and a dozen plus warblers of species unknown.

 

Black throated Green Warbler, Orchard Hill UMASS Amherst, Sept 20, 2012

 

American Redstart, Orchard Hill UMASS Amherst, Sept 20, 2012

Swamp Sparrow, Orchard Hill UMASS Amherst, Sept 20, 2012

 

This morning I started out before dawn on Orchard Hill with Ian Davies. It got fairly busy after the sun started hitting the trees and warming everything up from our night time low in the high 30's. There were many highlights such as Tennessee Warbler, many Northern Parula, a few Scarlet Tanager, a couple hummingbirds, Wood Thrush, and many Eastern Phoebe's. There were many other good birds around.  Here is the eBird list:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11632948

 

Great Egrets (five of six viewed from summit Skinner SP), Hadley, MA, Sept 20, 2012

Scope view of kettle of Broad winged Hawks, Skinner SP,Hadley, MA, Sept 20, 2012

 

Ian had to go to class fairly early so we parted ways and I birded a bit longer there with another UMASS student before he to ad to go to class.  It started to slow down a bit so I decided to head out and ended up going up to Skinner SP to do a little hawk watching for about an hour. There were a few small kettles of Broad winged Hawks totalling about 70 birds moving as well as a handful of other raptor species. I had some other notable birds viewed from there including a group of six Great Egrets in the Connecticut River, five Common Mergansers loafing on a sandbar and some warblers and juncos moving along the ridge. There was a fairly impressive flight of Blue Jays in evidence both here and elsewhere today.

Wilson enjoying his walk

Once I got home midday I picked up Wilson and we headed to Jabish Canal for a long walk. We had about 100 Broad winged Hawks in a few large kettles moving by a distance away. There were a number of Eastern Phoebes around as well as a mixed species flock.

In the yard today I had a Ruby throated Hummingbird and a Swainson's Thrush as highlights.

With the ongoing fall migration moving along rapidly the upcoming winter season approaches and with it comes the potential for irruptive species.  As mentioned previously Red Crossbills and Red breasted Nuthatch's are in the midst of an irruptive event here.  What other species may follow?  Here is a link to the annual finch report from Quebec that can give some indication of what species may move this way this winter.
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/ff2012

It could be a good year for several species...time will tell.


 

Warbler migration begins

Radar image of migration on Tue Aug 28 at 9:55pm (Hurricane Isaac visible near Louisiana)

Common Yellowthroat, Orchard Hill, Amherst, MA, Aug 29, 2012

Common Yellowthroat, Orchard Hill, Amherst, MA, Aug 29, 2012

Gray Catbird, Orchard Hill, Amherst, MA, Aug 29, 2012

Gray Catbird, Orchard Hill, Amherst, MA, Aug 29, 2012

On Tuesday night into Wednesday morning a large nocturnal movement of birds looks to have taken place with the radars lit up and lots of flight call heard as I stepped out in the evening to listen to what might be calling overhead.  I also spent just a few minutes with the scope watching the moon and had several birds fly past.  I included a radar image capture of migration.  Certainly just the start of what is to come this fall.  On Wednesday morning I got up predawn and headed over to UMASS to bird the area of Orchard Hill.  It started off a bit quiet with a handful of thrushes around including several Wood Thrush’s, a Veery and robins.  I spent just under two hours around the area and turned up some decent groups of mixed species.  I found a total of ten warbler species with the highlights being Wilson’s, Tennessee, Yellow, Nashville Warblers and at least five Northern Parula’s.  Other birds of note included five Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, several Northern Flickers, lots of Gray Catbirds, a Scarlet Tanager, a few Baltimore Orioles and three Purple Finches.  In the evening I made a brief trip over to Quabbin to check the area around Winsor Dam.  Nothing too unusual with no nighthawks seen at all.  A pair of Common Loons calling back and forth were the highlight.  I did have just over a dozen Common Nighthawks fly past the house with ten of those in one group moving southwest after 7pm.

Today I decided to try once again to find some shorebirds in the valley.  I stopped briefly at Metacomet Lake and the fog made viewing difficult.  I had a single Least Sandpiper there but nothing else.  I then headed over to Northampton and Hatfield.  The fog coming up from the river completely obscured any viewing in the fields here and despite much effort I completely struck out on shorebirds once again in this area. 

Nice push of migrants

Common Loon raft, Winsor Dam at Quabbin Park, May 4, 2012

Common Loons, Winsor Dam at Quabbin Park, May 4, 2012

Common Loon raft, Winsor Dam at Quabbin Park, May 4, 2012

Common Loon raft, Winsor Dam at Quabbin Park, May 4, 2012

Common Mergansers, Winsor Dam at Quabbin Park, May 4, 2012

Another dreary start to a day in May but the birds were back in spectacular fashion.  Many highlights from the day including at least 26 Common Loons, 19 species of warbler, ten first of year birds including Green Heron, Least Flycatcher, Blue-winged Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Chestnut sided Warbler, American Redstart, Prairie Warbler, Solitary Sandpiper, Indigo Bunting and Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  I forgot my good camera at home and the birding was too good to run home to get it so all the photos were taken with the trusty iPhone.  A total of 101 species today without visiting too many different areas.  I have included my total list from Quabbin Park and selected highlights from Covey WMA, Pelham and Belchertown.

Today also marked a milestone as I attempt to see 200 species in the county this year as I passed the 150 mark.  My total as of today stands at 158.

Here is a radar map from early last evening showing the birds moving north.

Quabbin Park

Canada Goose 5
Wood Duck 2
Common Merganser 6
Wild Turkey 14
Common Loon 26 grounded by weather, largest group of 18 together
Great Blue Heron 3
Turkey Vulture 1
Bald Eagle 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 2 at nest
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Ring-billed Gull 4
Mourning Dove 7
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 4
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 5
Pileated Woodpecker 3
Least Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 7
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Yellow-throated Vireo 2
Blue-headed Vireo 6
Warbling Vireo 2
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 11
Common Raven 2
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 1
Tree Swallow 182 most feeding low over reservoir
Bank Swallow 3
Barn Swallow 18
Black-capped Chickadee 7
Tufted Titmouse 9
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4
Eastern Bluebird 2
Wood Thrush 1
American Robin 23
Gray Catbird 8
Brown Thrasher 1
Ovenbird 28
Louisiana Waterthrush 1
Blue-winged Warbler 2
Black-and-white Warbler 19
Nashville Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 3
American Redstart 2
Northern Parula 2
Magnolia Warbler 1
Blackburnian Warbler 6
Yellow Warbler 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler 5
Black-throated Blue Warbler 4
Palm Warbler (Yellow) 2
Pine Warbler 15
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 66
Prairie Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 16
Eastern Towhee 31
Chipping Sparrow 67
Field Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 2
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 8
White-crowned Sparrow 1 singing
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Indigo Bunting 1
Bobolink 1 unusual here
Red-winged Blackbird 19
Common Grackle 15
Brown-headed Cowbird 7
Baltimore Oriole 3
American Goldfinch 9



Covey WMA

Wood Duck 4
Ring-necked Duck 1 male in small pond
Hooded Merganser 2
Great Blue Heron 9
Green Heron 3
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Barred Owl 1
Least Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
Warbling Vireo 2
Winter Wren 1
Hermit Thrush 1
Wood Thrush 3
Ovenbird 3
Nashville Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Yellow Warbler 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 7
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Field Sparrow 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2
Baltimore Oriole 5



Packardville Road marsh Pelham

Hermit Thrush 1
Northern Waterthrush 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Northern Parula 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 4


Belchertown Land Trust Trail

Common Merganser 2
Solitary Sandpiper 2
Eastern Kingbird 2
Warbling Vireo 1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
Gray Catbird 2
Brown Thrasher 2
Ovenbird 3
Black-and-white Warbler 2
Common Yellowthroat 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 1
Pine Warbler 5
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 6
Field Sparrow 3
Scarlet Tanager 1
Baltimore Oriole 2