More shorebirds on a cool, windy and rainy day

Black bellied Plovers, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, May 30, 2026

Black bellied Plovers, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, May 30, 2026

Black bellied Plovers, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, May 30, 2026

Black bellied Plovers, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, May 30, 2026

Song Sparrow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, May 30, 2026

Eastern Coyote, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, May 30, 2026

Groundhog, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, May 30, 2026

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, May 30, 2026

The forecast for today was not great with near record cold for highs, wind and rain.  Today was suppose to be the date for the annual Poverty Mountain bird survey but with the forecast the survey got pushed to tomorrow.  When I woke up this morning I expected rain and instead found mainly clear conditions with a breeze.  The radar didn't show any rain nearby so I first headed over to Winsor Dam and the wind was certainly up there and viewing was not easy due to the wind.  With nothing of note there and strong winds I decided to make the drive back over to the Honey Pot in Hadley to try my luck in relocating the Loggerhead Shrike seen there yesterday.  The wind was much less there to start with a mix of sun and clouds.  I decided to walk out on the dike and use the scope to scan as many spots as I could for the shrike.  Although I had no luck finding the shrike for the day the stop was well worth the effort with a number of unusual species including a silent flyby group of Black bellied Plovers that cut across the fields and continued north in the ever increasing winds.  When I made it out to the shore of the river and started my walk back I heard a shorebird calling as it flew overhead headed north.  I could not place it right away and got a recording as it quickly moved off.  I only got brief looks at it as it was going away in bad light and could not pin down an ID.  I had thoughts of trying some other spots but the clouds rapidly closed in and the light rain started as the temperatures continued to drop.  The flyover shorebird that I got a recording of had me thinking of a few different species and all would be rare.  I sent the recording off to a few people including Ted, Mary and Aaron and the overall consensus was that the bird was a Ruddy Turnstone.  Amazing to get another Ruddy Turnstone after having one at Winsor Dam less than a week ago.  I made my way home to help get Wilson ready for a surgery he had to undergo and once he was on his way I eventually made my way over to Winsor Dam.  If I thought it was windy earlier that was nothing compared to my second stop at the dam for the day.  The water had white caps and there was a sustained wind of 30MPH with higher gusts...it was not comfortable to be outside in.  Initially there was just some sprinkles and as I scanned the water I came up with some gulls including one Bonaparte's Gulls as well as multiple Double crested Cormorants.  I then caught sight of the first of several groups of shorebirds fighting the wind as they tried to move north.  I was able to ID some but others remained unidentified.  A another slug of rain then arrived and as it did so the wind increased even more and I would estimate there were some 50MPH gusts.  The flags sounded like they were about to break free and the recently installed scaffolding on the headquarters building was creaking a bit.  As heavier rain continued to move in I called it quits and headed home.

Occasionally rainy weather at the end of the heat wave produces some shorebirds

Black bellied Plover and American Golden Plover, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2023

Black bellied Plover, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2023

Killdeer, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 10, 2023

Semipalmated Plover, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 10, 2023

Sandhill Cranes, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 10, 2023

Northern Waterthrush, Hadley, MA, Sep 10, 2023

American Redstart, Hadley, MA, Sep 9, 2023

House Wren, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Sep 9, 2023

Palm Warblers 'western', Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Sep 9, 2023

Mourning Warbler, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Sep 9, 2023

Killdeer, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 9, 2023

As our late season heat wave came to an end, the weather has become unsettled with storms and heavy rain for at least part of the last three days and these conditions have produced a number of unusual shorebirds as the fields in the area along the river have filled back up with water in a few spots.  I have mainly been concentrating on warblers but the pull on unusual shorebirds have found me scanning various fields the last few days.  I was mainly stuck around the house on Friday as unforeseen circumstances kept me home with Wilson.  On Saturday I headed up to Great Pond where I had a spectacular morning with over 60 species at the location including notable species like Virginia Rail, Sora, an unidentified rail, three flyover American Golden Plovers,  American Bittern, large numbers of Eastern Phoebes, Marsh Wren and nine species of warbler including a Mourning Warbler feeding high in a tree and my first Palm Warblers of the fall migration season.  I hit a few spots in Hadley and Northampton on my way home and had a Black bellied Plover at the Honey Pot and struck out on relocating a Connecticut Warbler that Mary had in the East Meadows (warblers are always tough to relocate after an initial sighting and this is especially the case with CONW's).  Following more storms yesterday I headed out on another foggy early morning to a mosquito filled Arcadia in a fruitless hunt for Connecticut Warbler (the four Sandhill Cranes continued so all was not lost).  After getting tired of swatting at mosquitoes I headed over to the East Meadows and had some great luck with unusual shorebirds.  I noticed some movement near the phalarope puddle (which has been very quiet so far this fall migration) and quickly turned up a juvenile American Golden Plover plus a number of other more expected shorebirds and seven Green winged Teal.  I then heard a Black bellied Plover flying in and it landed in the same area.  I got the word out to a few other birders and multiple people then arrived.  A White rumped Sandpiper popped up with a couple Lesser Yellowlegs among a total of ten species of shorebird.  A Peregrine Falcon came zipping in and scattered most everything but thankfully it appeared the falcon was unsuccessful in its hunt.  After spending over an hour and a half in the East Meadows I went across the river to the Honey Pot and turned up a huge gathering of Killdeer (over a hundred) plus a Baird's Sandpiper and one each of Black bellied Plover and American Golden Plover as well as other shorebird species.  I ended the morning with a lucky 13 species of shorebirds including four plover species.  

Tropical Storm Isaias post

Black bellied Plover, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Semipalmated Sandpipers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Semipalmated Sandpipers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Semipalmated Plovers with Semipalmated Sandpipers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Semipalmated Plovers with Semipalmated Sandpipers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Jaeger species, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 4, 2020

Finally getting around to a post regarding the recent passage of Tropical Storm Isaias that hit the area Tuesday afternoon into the evening (been without power for three days following the storm). The storm initially made a US landfall in the Carolinas and then tracked north, northeast with the center passing through eastern New York and then up into Canada (the actual track drifted a bit more west than predicted). The winds here were at tropical storm strength when the storm roared into western Massachusetts and there was widespread tree damage and power outages. Despite the storm tracking overland for an extended period it still brought in some impressive showings of pelagic birds (plus other rarities). The jackpot area in western Massachusetts was the Berkshires (being closer to the east side of the eye is always best).

The best spot in Hampshire County was once again Winsor Dam which produced a number of unusual species including a juvenile Laughing Gull with two Ring billed Gulls, a distant jaeger species that was either a Parasitic or Long tailed Jaeger, two Ruddy Turnstones, three Semipalmated Plovers flying past with a small group of Semipalmated Sandpipers, 113 Semipalmated Sandpipers and 13 Least Sandpipers.  Oddly the only report of unusual species along the Connecticut River were four Sterna terns seen around 8PM at the Oxbow in Northampton (the birds were photographed but the distance and low light made an ID impossible and they were not present the next morning).  I had a rather unusual for the area Upland Sandpiper flying over at the Honey Pot early on the morning of Tuesday...tough to say if it was connected to the storm or not but nice to have nonetheless. Also present at a few different locations were Red Crossbills that have made an incursion into the area starting at the very end of July and continuing through early August. So far the vast majority have been Type 10.

In Hampden County the only storm related sighting so far was of a grounded (and obviously distressed) Sooty Tern seen along the banks of the Connecticut River in Longmeadow on Wednesday morning.

Franklin County apparently totally missed out on any storm related birds but not sure if this is due to rarities not being present or just lack of coverage.

As mentioned above the jackpot area in western Massachusetts was the Berkshires which had a very nice selection of species including the following listed below:

Onota Lake: 4 Sooty Terns

Pontoosuc Lake: 18 Sooty Terns (with at least one continued into the next day), phalarope species (possibly Red necked Phalarope)

The initial reports out of the Berkshires included some fantastic sightings including Brown Noddy, South Polar Skua, Long tailed and Parasitic Jaegers and Black Swift but subsequent research apparently proved all these initial reports wrong.

There were a few more unusual species just to our east in Worcester County with at least two Sooty Terns (with one continuing into today), Whimbrel, and Red necked Phalarope.

More information on storm related bird sightings can be found at the Birdcast link.

Weekend birding turns up a Snowy Egret, Black bellied Plovers and numerous others

Killdeer, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sep 13, 2015

Black bellied Plovers, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2015

Snowy Egret (L) with Great Egret, North Lane, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2015

Snowy Egret, North Lane, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2015

Snowy Egret, North Lane, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2015

Northern Harrier, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 13, 2015

Barn Swallow, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Sep 13, 2015

Another morning of low clouds and occasional sprinkles found me headed back over to the fields along the Connecticut River in search of birds put down by the weather.  I started out at North Lane in Hadley scanning the river trying to find a Snowy Egret that Bob Z. found yesterday and which I searched for fruitlessly (more on that below).  It was just too murky to see any white waders in the river at first light so I headed to the nearby Honey Pot and started scanning fields in search of shorebirds.  Despite many freshly tilled fields I managed to find just a single Killdeer until I was checking out the last field and I heard some birds calling overhead.  I scanned around and picked up three birds flying together heading toward me and then curving off to the southwest.  They called several times and I got decent enough looks to ID them as Black bellied Plovers.  I grabbed the camera and took some photos as they were in flight going away through the drizzly weather.  As I watched them fade out of sight I noticed I had just missed a call from Bob Z. who was back at North Lane and had relocated the Snowy Egret.  I made the couple minute drive over and finally caught up with the Snowy Egret (a great year for this species around here).  It was quite distant at first but we got a bit closer to it by walking down the dike and the bird got flushed by boats and eventually came back to land near a Great Egret (and thankfully closer to our observation point).  We watched the bird for quite awhile and were able to rule out the possibility of the Snowy Egret being something even more unusual.  Steve M. arrived after a bit and he got to see the egret too (a new species in western mass for him I believe).  After getting our fill of the egrets I headed back through the Honey Pot (no shorebirds beyond a single Killdeer but did have a flyover American Pipit) and then over to the East Meadows with the main focus being on finding the plovers from earlier (or any other shorebirds that might be around).  The first fields near the red barns featured at least 37 Killdeer but no other shorebirds with them.  I scanned through a lot of other good looking fields in the meadows but came up empty for shorebirds. 

Honey Pot: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25016421
North Lane:  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25016439
Honey Pot:  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25016434
East Meadows:  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25016431

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 13, 2015

Before I went home to get Wilson I made a stop over at Winsor Dam and had a brief and distant view of an intriguing large dark bird that lifted off from the water and headed north.  My eBird report narrative is attached below: 

A very interesting large brown bird lifted off the water way out toward the small island near the boat launch area while I was watching some loons. The bird was quite large and dwarfed a nearby ring billed gull. Overall appeared brown with no other color noted. It seemed almost as large as an eagle but with thinner wings. I never got a look at the head as it headed north. The only species that came close was a sulidae of some sort....immature northern gannet or immature brown bobby. As either of these species would be incredibly rare I will have leave it as unknown at this time and hope it shows again or one of the fishermen in the area managed to see it better and hopefully got a photo. 

Winsor Dam: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25016422

 

 

 

Northern Parula, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 12, 2015

Eastern Towhee, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 12, 2015

Yellow throated Vireo, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 12, 2015

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 12, 2015

Following what appeared to be a large scale migration from Friday night into Saturday I spent a decent part of Saturday morning exploring the area of Quabbin Park and nearby Lake Wallace. I tried to find some lingering whip poor wills before dawn but no luck in any of the areas I had them just a few days ago. I did find a couple of calling Virginia Rails at the Route 9 marsh before I headed into the park itself. There was a decent selection of birds but not nearly the numbers or diversity I expected to find after several days of limited migration and light northerly to calm winds overnight. I managed an even dozen species of warblers but many were just one or two individuals of a species. Lots of Pine Warblers around with some still singing as well as a notable increase in the numbers of Northern Parula. Still no Philadelphia Vireo for me this fall but at least three Yellow throated Vireos still hanging around was good. 

Black and White Warbler, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2015

Magnolia Warbler, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2015

Northern Parula, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 12, 2015

I hoped to catch up with a Hampshire Bird Club walk led by Aidan when I stopped by Lake Wallace but I missed them. The most notable species at the lake was a flyby Blue winged Teal that landed on the other side of a large group of cattails and remained out of view once it landed.

Quabbin Park: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24993182

Lake Wallace: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24993710

I got a few phone calls from Bob Z. during the day with his first report being of several American Golden Plovers scared up by a harrier over in the West Meadows. A bit after lunch he called again with a report of either a Snowy Egret or immature Little Blue Heron on a sandbar in the CT river in Hadley. After a bit of discussion with him it sounded like it was a Snowy Egret but I decided to head over to check it out for him to confirm the ID. The bird flew before I arrived and despite a lot of searching I only managed to turn up a Great Egret. After I left Bob called me again to say he had the Snowy Egret in the river viewed from North Lane in Hadley. 

Quabbin Gate 22 and summary of year so far (and what is...hopefully...to come)

 

Black bellied Plovers (L) and Dunlin ( far R), Quabbin Gate 22, June 1, 2013

Black bellied Plovers (L) and Dunlin ( far R), Quabbin Gate 22, June 1, 2013

 

 

Black bellied Plovers (L) and Dunlin ( far R), Quabbin Gate 22, June 1, 2013

 

Black bellied Plovers, Quabbin Gate 22, June 1, 2013

Black bellied Plovers, Quabbin Gate 22, June 1, 2013

 

Common Loon, Quabbin Gate 22, June 1, 2013

 

Tiger Swallowtail, Quabbin Gate 22, June 1, 2013

I spent a good portion of the morning guiding up at Gate 22 for a birder up that way (I do occasionally bird out of Hampshire county!). It was simply a stellar day and the temperatures were actually not too bad in the morning. We walked down to the water and back with a couple of diversions to side trails. We had a total of 51 species during our 4 1/2 hours at Gate 22. The highlights were many and included an Acadian Flycatcher calling a few times from suitable breeding habitat, at least five Common Loons, four other species of waterfowl, a dozen species of warbler and a mother turkey with at least a dozen very small young that were literally at our feet. In addition we had a great shorebird show where we had three Black bellied Plovers, a Dunlin Quabbin species #229), a Greater Yellowlegs, a few Killdeer and a couple peeps (we added a Spotted Sandpiper at another location) giving us an even half a dozen shorebird species...not bad at all for a sunny day on June 1st in Franklin county!  If only all these birds were in Hampshire county I could have added two species to my county year list with Acadian Flycatcher and Dunlin...oh well! I will just have to try to catch up with them elsewhere in the county sometime in the future.  Sorry for the quality of photos as I only had my old scope and the iPhone to try to get photos today so once again some imagination is required to actually see the birds mentioned!  In addition to the avian sights we had a Porcupine feeding fairly low on a tree branch that seemed just too small to support him.

On my way home I stopped at Quabbin Gate 12 and had several species of warbler as well as a Yellow billed Cuckoo. With the temperatures rising rapidly through the 80's I headed for home where I relaxed and tried to stay cool as the temperature eventually reached the low 90's.

 

As May has now come to an end I will look at where I stand in my quest to best my previous record for a year in Hampshire County (for those following along my old record is 228..for those not following along all these numbers are meaningless!).  As of today I stand at 210.  Last year I reached 210 on October 13th and stood at 185 at the end of May last year (and added only one new bird in June).  From these numbers it looks like I will have no problem surpassing last year...but it may not be as easy as it seems.  I had a spectacular spring this year with many birds I normally don't get until fall seen already.  I will now look at what species I’m still missing that I have seen in the county before with the likelihood of the potential for seeing it again this year.  I will use “1” for likely, “2” as possible, “3” unlikely but still possible, “4” as nearly impossible and “5” as ‘not unless a hurricane hits’ or I get REALLY lucky.  As can be seen by the list the groups most likely to add species at this point include waterfowl and shorebirds. 

Waterfowl: Brant (2), Tundra Swan (3), Trumpeter Swan (4), Eurasian Wigeon (4), Northern Shoveler (3), Redhead (3), Surf Scoter (1), Barrow’s Goldeneye (3), Great Cormorant (3)

Game birds: Northern Bobwhite (2), Ring necked Pheasant (1)

Wading birds: Least Bittern (4), Great Egret (1), Snowy Egret (3), Little Blue Heron (4), Tricolored Heron(4),

Raptors: Golden Eagle (3)

Marsh birds: Common Gallinule (4), American Coot (3)

Shorebirds: American Golden Plover (3), Upland Sandpiper (4), Whimbrel (4-5), Hudsonian Godwit (4-5), Ruddy Turnstone (3), Semipalmated Sandpiper (3), White-rumped sandpiper (3), Baird’s Sandpiper (3), Dunlin (3), Buff breasted Sandpiper (3), Wilson’s Phalarope (4-5), Red Phalarope (4-5)

Gulls and Terns: Black legged Kittiwake (5), Lesser Black backed Gull (3), Glaucous Gull (3), Sooty Tern (5), Caspian Tern (3), Black Tern (3),Common Tern (3), Parasitic Jaegar (5)

Owls: Long eared Owl (3), Northern Saw whet Owl (2)

Hummingbirds: Rufous Hummingbird (3), Allen’s Hummingbird (5)

Flycatchers: Acadian Flycatcher (2), Western Kingbird (4)

Vireos:  Philadelphia Vireo (1)

Wrens: Sedge Wren (4), Marsh Wren (3)

Thrushes: Gray-cheecked Thrush (2), Varied Thrush (5)

Irruptives: Bohemian Waxwing (3), Boreal Chickadee (4)

Warblers: Prothonotary Warbler (3), Orange crowned Warbler (3), Connecticut Warbler (2), Kentucky Warbler (4), Hooded Warbler (3), Yellow breasted Chat (4)

Sparrows, etc: Lincoln’s Sparrow (1), Nelson’s Sparrow (5), Dickcissel (2)

Blackbirds:  Yellow headed Blackbird (4-5)

“Others”: White tailed Tropicbird (5)

Tough to say how many of these I will actually see over the next several months but I have a shot at getting close to the mark I set last year but who knows for sure?  With a good shorebird fallout in late summer/early fall and/or a good show of waterfowl I could break my previous record.  A hurricane that tracked in a similar fashion to Irene would almost guarantee a record setting year but is not very likely.  As always...stay tuned and try not to let the extreme suspense overwhelm you!

 

Overnight rain brings down unusual birds -Black bellied Plovers and Short billed Dowitchers

Winsor Dam near dawn, May 29, 2013

Flock of Black bellied Plovers (I swear!), Winsor Dam, May 29, 2013

As predicted yesterday the rain overnight resulted in some unusual birds around this morning (nice to have one of my bird predictions come true!).  The winds stayed south during the night and the rain moved in overnight putting down some birds.  I heard the rain falling around 4am so I figured it could be good once I got up.  I headed over to Winsor Dam around 5:30 with a light rain still falling but luckily little fog.  As soon as I got to Winsor Dam I thought I heard Black bellied Plovers but scanned around and could not find them.  A couple minutes later I heard the calls again and this time caught sight of a group of about 25 birds in flight.  I had the scope out and got on them fairly quickly and had a total of 28 birds with 26 of them being Black bellied Plovers.  Along with the plovers were two other shorebirds that I originally called just dowitcher species.  The group circled around a couple times before finally disappearing to the north.  As the group flew around the plovers were calling constantly and the dowitchers called a few times (giving a three note call) which turned the ID to Short billed Dowitcher.  I quick grabbed out my phone and tried to get a photo despite the rain.  I managed a couple of out of focus shots of part of the group but nothing you could use to ID the birds.  Tough to get a flock of shorebirds moving by using the phone and a scope but I did give it a try!  These two species added two more species to my Hampshire county list for the year: Black bellied Plover (#209) and Short billed Dowitcher (#210).  This is only the second time I have had Short billed Dowitchers in the county and both times have been at Winsor Dam in May in rainy weather.  Before today I had a group of 32 together land along the dam during a heavy rain on May 17, 2009.  I have never had Black bellied Plover in spring before here but the views I got ruled out anything else.  I tried my best to turn at least a few into golden plovers but couldn’t.  All the plovers were in breeding plumage which made for a great sight as they flew by.   I’m sure there were other unusual birds out there just waiting to be found but with not many people looking and lots of potential spots for the birds to be I didn’t hear of any other reports in the valley.  A bit further east at Bolton Flats a Franklin’s Gull made an appearance so there were indeed other oddities nearby.

Here is yet another example of unusual birds being grounded by the weather in the local area. James Smith had an extremely rare inland Forester's Tern along with two Common Terns in Turners Falls. In addition he had a late Gadwall and flyover Black bellied Plovers and Short billed Dowitchers. Here is his blog post about some amazing birds that morning.  Great stuff James!
http://pioneerbirding.blogspot.com/2013/05/ma-cerulean-warbler-forsters-tern-in.html

The next few days will feature summer like conditions with sun, humidity and heat with temperatures at or above 90.