Black crowned Night Heron after returning from vacation

Black crowned Night Heron, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Jul 26, 2026

Black crowned Night Heron, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Jul 26, 2026

Black crowned Night Heron, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Jul 26, 2026

After arriving home on Saturday morning after a red eye flight to Boston and being too exhausted to do much of anything Saturday I was out yesterday morning to see if I could catch up with the Black crowned Night Heron that showed up at the campus pond at UMASS a few days before.  After waking up a little later than anticipated I made the drive over to Amherst and had the bird almost immediately as it stood on the edge of the water on the opposite side of the pond.  I got a few photos and then set up the scope to watch it for a bit.  As I was watching it move slowly on the edge someone flushed it and it flew up and perched in a nearby tree and it remained there as I left the area.  It was a new bird in the county for the year and I currently stand at 221 species for the year.  Today I guided for a couple birders from Texas in the Quabbin area and we had a great morning for birding with clear skies, calm winds and cool morning temps.  Lots of birds have quit singing so a little tougher to track stuff down.  Nonetheless we got all the target species we were after over the course of five hours or so.  More posts up soon on other parts of my trip out west...Minnesota and Wisconsin already posted here.

Searching for waders this month yields Black crowned Night Heron and Little Blue Heron today

Black crowned Night Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 12, 2021

Black crowned Night Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 12, 2021

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 12, 2021

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 12, 2021

Belted Kingfisher, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 12, 2021

Double crested Cormorants, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 12, 2021

Little Blue Heron, Hatfield, MA, Aug 12, 2021

Little Blue Heron, Hatfield, MA, Aug 12, 2021

Little Blue Heron, Hatfield, MA, Aug 12, 2021

Great Egrets, Hatfield, MA, Aug 12, 2021

I have spent as much time as I could this month checking for unusual waders and today I finally got a good payoff with both Black crowned Night Heron and Little Blue Heron (bagging me a total of five species of waders for the day).  I began what would likely be the hottest day of the year at Lake Wallace (where I have stopped many times so far this month...more on that below).  I had the usual good showing of Green Herons (with 11 today) plus a few Great Blue Herons.  As I continued to scan around the edge of the reeds I found a juvenile Black crowned Night Heron (a first for me at Lake Wallace...my 165th species there and my seventh wader species there).  With a rare wader species already in place for the morning I decided to hit a few more spots to try to find more and my next stop was down to the Holyoke Dam where I had just Great Blue Herons (as well as good numbers of Double crested Cormorants).  I then headed toward home but then saw a report from Ted of a Little Blue Heron in Hatfield and after a couple texts I heard it was relocated by Mary so I headed in that direction and arrived to find the bird there.  I checked a few nearby areas for Great Egrets and eventually found half a dozen in the same area the Little Blue Heron had been in earlier.  A great morning despite the very hot and humid conditions.

The biggest sighting in western Massachusetts in the last couple weeks would without question would be the first state record of Roseate Spoonbill that showed up in southern Berkshire County on Sunday August 8th and seen on and off for the next few days.  With the impressive incursion of this species to the north over the last several weeks I had a feeling one would show up in Massachusetts and it was nice that it decided to show up in western Massachusetts (hopeful it or another will make it to the valley).

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 11, 2021

Before another overtime shift on Wednesday I stopped by Lake Wallace and had my highest number yet of Green Herons for the year with at least 14 present.

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 7, 2021

Great Horned Owl, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 7, 2021

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 9, 2021

Purple Martins (with young looking out of nest), Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 9, 2021

Before work on Saturday and Monday I made an early morning stop at Lake Wallace to look for waders with a number of Green Herons and Great Blue Herons around but nothing unusual.  I also had a brief stop to check on the Purple Martins in Hadley and had at least two young birds peaking out of the nesting gourd.  This successful nesting attempt is the first successful one in Hampshire County in around a hundred years!  On Sunday morning I made a few stops on my way home from work but didn't find many waders.

Great Egret, Hatfield, MA, Aug 6, 2021

Green Heron, Hatfield, MA, Aug 6, 2021

Great Blue Heron, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Aug 6, 2021

Great Egrets, Meadow St field, Amherst, MA, Aug 6, 2021

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 6, 2021

On Friday I decided to head east and hit a number of spots in search of waders (with the distant hope of finding a late reported Little Blue Heron in Hatfield).  It was a bit foggy to start the day but eventually it burned off and it warmed up quite a bit.  I started at Great Pond and had a few each of Great Blue Heron and Green Heron as well as a very large roost of Common Grackles, Red winged Blackbirds and European Starlings with a total of several thousand total individuals present.  I also had some other marsh birds including a Sora, two Virginia Rails and at least one Marsh Wren.  I then checked a number of other locations in Hatfield including areas along the Connecticut River and several farm fields.  I found a single Great Egret and a Green Heron in a small wet area of a farm field but otherwise struck out in finding any waders.  I then headed north and over the river in Sunderland and then down south to check a few spots in Hadley and Amherst.  I came across at least four Great Egrets in the farm fields near Meadow St and also had a number of shorebirds in a small puddle (including Solitary Sandpiper, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and Killdeer).  My final stop for the morning looking for waders was to Lake Wallace where I added more Green Herons and Great Blue Herons.  

As the month of August marches on the hurricane season ramps up as the busiest part of the season arrives (through early October).  After a lull after a record early season start the tropics have started heating up as more and more tropical waves comes off of Africa.  Tropical Storm Fred formed a few days ago but after moving over the high mountains of Hispaniola it has been broken up badly.  It is forecast to eventually reform and possibly hit Florida as a tropical storm.  Another storm is likely to form and pass near the northern Lesser Antilles over the weekend and there are more waves behind that one.

Black capped Chickadees with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 6, 2021

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 6, 2021

Black capped Chickadees with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 6, 2021

Black capped Chickadees with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 6, 2021

I continue to come across a number of recently banded birds in the yard and the camera at the water feature has also captured a number (with up to three banded chickadees in view at once).

Black crowned Night Heron and Hooded Warbler to end April

Black crowned Night Heron, rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 30, 2021

Black crowned Night Heron, rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 30, 2021

Blue winged Warbler, Sweet Alice Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Apr 30, 2021

Today was forecast to be very windy and I wanted to get out early in the hopes that the wind would be light at the beginning of the day.  I made a brief stop at Winsor Dam before dawn to see if there was anything interesting lingering after the rain yesterday (there was not).  The wind was indeed light to begin the day so I decided to head over to the rail trail in Amherst to try to find some arriving passerines.  There was some activity along the main trail but not too much so I took a side trail and that is where I found an adult Black crowned Night Heron.  I was walking along the trail and it flushed up from a small marshy area maybe fifteen feet from me and took flight squawking a few times and then landed in a tree along the edge of another marsh.  I was able to get some good looks through some thick brush but it took some time to find a spot where I could get some distant photos.  I got the word out about it as it seemed to be staying put.  Mary was nearby and I was able to show her the exact spot to look for it and she got to see it.  Unfortunately others who looked for it later failed to relocate it but I suspect it did not go too far.  Black crowned Night Heron is a rather rare visitor to the area (especially in spring).  The species formerly bred in fairly large numbers in the area going back to the 1800's into the early 1900's.  In Birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts (by Bagg and Eliot) they note that it was not difficult to find nesting colonies of the species in the 1870's-1880's with multiple locations noted.  Even into the 1920's there were several large colonies with the largest being Pine Point in Springfield where 'several hundred' night herons nested for years.  A combination of habitat loss and vandalism destroyed the various colonies and they no longer breed here.

I hit a few other spots in the Hadley and Amherst area before heading home to take Wilson for a walk.  Oddly with the strong west winds there was a noticeable movement of raptors with many fighting hard against the wind and seeming to move more east then north (I bet the coast will get great counts of raptors today). 

Hooded Warbler, Hadley, MA, Apr 30, 2021

Hooded Warbler, Hadley, MA, Apr 30, 2021

Cedar Waxwing with orange tipped tail, Hadley, MA, Apr 30, 2021

I was home by late in the morning and was about to get some chores done around the house when I noticed a message from Mary saying she had a Hooded Warbler in Hadley.  I immediately headed in that direction and arrived to a very windy location along the river.  I walked in and met Mary and Greg and after a bit of waiting in a somewhat less windy location the Hooded Warbler sang a few times.  It largely stayed out of sight but occasionally would pop into view and eventually I got some photos.  The habitat is right for it to breed (if it can find a mate).  More on the Hooded Warbler can be found at the following link.  A really productive day to end the month of April despite the less than ideal weather conditions.  I ended the month with 146 species in the county which is above a typical April but five species short of my best April ever back in 2019.

Black and White Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 29, 2021

Yellow bellied Sapsucker, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 29, 2021

Pine Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 29, 2021

Pine Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 29, 2021

White throated Sparrow, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 29, 2021

Yesterday I spent a few hours at Quabbin Park before the rain arrived.  I began the day before dawn in a successful search for some Eastern Whip Poor Wills.  I then covered a variety of locations around the park overt the next three hours of so and eventually had 77 species with the highlights including a calling Virginia Rail, a Black billed Cuckoo, large numbers of Yellow bellied Sapsuckers, Ruby crowned Kinglets, Chipping Sparrows and Eastern Towhees, a flock of a dozen Red Crossbills (Type 10) and 14 species of warblers with large numbers of Ovenbirds, Black and White Warblers and Yellow rumped Warblers.  I then headed home to pick up Wilson and we took a couple short walks as the rain started to come down.  I ended the morning with just under 90 species with eight new species for the year for me in Hampshire County.  

Ruby throated Hummingbird, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 30, 2021

Black and White Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 28, 2021

Black Bear, Home, Belchertown, MA, Apr 30, 2021

At home the cameras continue to capture birds coming into the water feature with the notables the last few days including a Ruby throated Hummingbird and Black and White Warbler (among others).  I also had a visit from a Black Bear today.

The forecast for the first day of May looks to be windy and cold with a chance of at least snow flurries and possibly a dusting in the hills.  

An interesting warbler and Black crowned Night Heron this morning

Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Black crowned Night Heron, Lower Mill Pond, Easthampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Black crowned Night Heron and Great Blue Heron, Lower Mill Pond, Easthampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Great Egret, Lower Mill Pond, Easthampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

One never knows what a day out and about will turn up but today was really fantastic with some great stuff around for the middle of August including an interesting Connecticut Warbler and a Black crowned Night Heron among some eighty species overall. I was unsure where exactly to start the humid summer like morning today but I decided on Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River where I hoped to find some warblers in the dense underbrush.  Although I didn't have too much luck with warblers there I did have a couple of Eastern Screech Owls calling back and forth.  Unfortunately the mosquitoes were a bit annoying so I decided to head out of there before I ended up with West Nile Virus and stopped over to Lower Mill Pond in Easthampton to try to catch up with a previously reported juvenile Black crowned Night Heron (a very tough species to find in the county, at least for me...I have only seen one other, back in 2015).  When I arrived at the pond there were three wader species around (Great Blue Heron, Green Heron and Great Egret) but initially no night heron.  After a few scans I walked a bit further up the road to view into a previously obstructed cove and there was the bird in all its dull brown glory standing in some shallow water.  A great day in the county when you can have four species of waders in the same spot!  This continues the great year for waders with the night heron bringing the total to nine species for me, a very good total for inland Massachusetts.  My eBird lists from these two stops: Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River and Lower Mill Pond. After getting my fill of the waders and the few shorebirds around I then headed over to Arcadia to see what else I could turn up.

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Bobolink, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Yellow Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Common Yellowthroat, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Indigo Bunting, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Song Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Arcadia once again offered up some great birds with the best by far being a very interesting individual I initially identified as an exceptionally early Connecticut Warbler found along the edge of a field in some low brush.  The behavior was exactly what I would expect from a Connecticut Warbler including walking up a branch.  However the plumage details point more to a juvenile Mourning Warbler although I still cannot explain the odd behavior.  Besides the warbler I had lots of other good stuff with continued high numbers of Indigo Buntings and Song Sparrows.  Full eBird list with more photos here: Arcadia

Mourning Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Mourning Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Late in the morning I made my way over to Quabbin Park where I was once again able to find one of the Mourning Warblers still hanging around...full list here: Quabbin Park.  I would have liked to explore some additional areas there but the day was rapidly getting hot and Wilson needed his walk so off to home I went to pick him up.

Red tailed Hawk, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Red tailed Hawk, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 19, 2017

Red tailed Hawk, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 19, 2017

The afternoon was spent around the house enjoying the day and I was treated to lots of activity from a very vocal and active family of Red tailed Hawks.