Record setting warmth (80 degrees!) today and a Glaucous Gull on Monday

American Wigeon, Hadley, MA, Mar 9, 2016

Green winged Teal, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 9, 2016

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 9, 2016

A truly amazing day of weather today with record breaking warmth that shattered the old record for the day by 12 degrees!  It reached a high of 80 degrees today which is the earliest date it has been this warm ever with the previously early date being in later March.  It felt more like late spring or early summer and not the beginning of March.  The day started off around 40 and that is when I was out looking for stuff moved in by the southerly winds.  I hit a few spots with the highlights being 31 Ring necked Ducks at Beaver Lake, five Green winged Teal at Winsor Dam, several hundred geese along East Hadley Rd and 11 Wood Ducks, three American Wigeon, five Black Ducks and 138 Mallards along the river in Hadley.  I expect a decent number of early migrants will show up over the next few days as the warm weather and southerly winds will continue (although not as warm as today!)

Glaucous Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 7, 2016

Glaucous Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 7, 2016

Glaucous Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 7, 2016

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 7, 2016

A brief stop before sunrise on Monday morning at Winsor Dam produced a 2nd winter Glaucous Gull (species #101) hanging out with Ring billed Gulls and Herring Gulls on some freshly formed ice.  A very bulky bird compared to the nearby Herring Gull and dwarfing the near by Ring billed Gulls.  I managed a number of digiscoped shots but the light was not great.  Also had a couple Common Loons cruising around the areas not covered in ice.

Stops along the river this week

Greater Scaup, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 25, 2015

Greater Scaup, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 25, 2015

Greater Scaup, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 25, 2015

Greater Scaup, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 25, 2015

Glaucous Gull, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 25, 2015

Glaucous Gull, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 25, 2015

Canada Goose with ice on bill, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 24, 2015

Mallards, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 26, 2015

I stopped most mornings this week to check out the ice free portion of the river below the Coolidge Bridge and managed to find some decent birds but still nothing extremely unusual or unexpected.  On Monday the species below the bridge included 778 Canada Geese, two Wood Ducks, two Black Ducks, 11 Mallards and two Common Mergansers plus around 140 gulls of the three expected species.  Tuesday found 794 Canada Geese, six Wood Ducks, three Mallards, 230+ gulls of the three usual species (still mainly Herring Gulls) and a Peregrine Falcon.  My stop on Wednesday turned up 533 Canada Geese, three Mallards, a Ring necked Duck and a Greater Scaup (species #100 for the county so far this year) for waterfowl and a Glaucous Gull among the 250+ gulls (38 Ring billed, 212 Herring and 2 Great Black backed).  Today I stopped by the Connecticut River on my to and from work and had 32 Canada Geese, 16 Black Ducks, 465+ Mallards, a Green winged Teal, two Ring necked Ducks, two Hooded Mergansers and 3 Common Mergansers.  At home in the evening I had a Belted Kingfisher rattling away in the rapidly opening Jabish Brook as well as a Winter Wren.  It does appear that waterfowl are finally able to start pushing into the area.

The middle and end of the week continued to be cold with high temperatures a bit above freezing and lows a night in the single digits to teens.  A slight moderation in temperatures started on Wednesday into today with rain late Wednesday continued into today.  Still no big warm up but at least it is above freezing today.

A day along the river as well as other stops

Lapland Longspur, Hadley Mall fields, Hadley, MA, Mar 13, 2015

Lapland Longspur, Hadley Mall fields, Hadley, MA, Mar 13, 2015

Glaucous Gull, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 13, 2015

Gulls (part of flock of 500+-mainly Herring Gulls), Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 13, 2015

Green winged Teal, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 13, 2015

Winsor Dam still solidly frozen, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 13, 2015

With the forecast for rain, freezing rain and snow over most of the upcoming weekend I figured I had better take advantage of the somewhat sunny day today so I spent the morning exploring areas along the Connecticut River and nearby areas before heading back toward home.  Nothing earth shattering but still managed to find three new species for the year (Green winged Teal, Common Grackle and Lesser Scaup) bringing me up to 97 species in the county so far.  My main focus was on waterfowl but the river remains largely frozen with few areas of open water.  Below are the highlights of the morning into the early afternoon.  A total of eleven species of waterfowl making today the best day so far this season for waterfowl...just a taste of things to come I hope.

Coolidge Bridge- 46 Canada Geese, three Wood Ducks, 14 Mallards, a Green winged Teal, a Ring necked Duck and two Common Goldeneyes plus a Glaucous Gull and at least two Iceland Gulls in among just over 500 gulls (mainly Herring Gulls) as well as a Peregrine Falcon.
 

Aqua Vitae Road- a Killdeer and 63 Horned Larks

UMASS campus pond- 3 Canada Geese, half a dozen Black Ducks and 220+ Mallards
 

Hadley Mall- 130+ Horned Larks and a Lapland Longspur
 

Holyoke Dam - 7 Canada Geese, two Mute Swans, 21 Mallards, five Ring necked Ducks, a Lesser Scaup, a dozen Common Goldeneyes, six Common Mergansers and four Common Grackles
 

Belchertown along North Washington St- a Turkey Vulture feasting on a road killed skunk
 

State Fish Hatchey Belchertown - five Killdeer
 

Swift River Belchertown - 7 Black Ducks, a dozen Mallards and 11 Hooded Mergansers
 

Home in Belchertown- four Pine Siskins

Kody

Kody with some of his favorites

Today also marks a sad anniversary.  Five years ago today we lost our good boy Kody.  It is still tough to think about that day so instead I try to think of all the good times we had together.  I really wish he was still here but sadly he is not.  I would have loved to have seen Kody playing with Wilson...it would have been fun to watch those two raise hell together!  Miss you buddy...

Gull show along the Connecticut River

Glaucous Gull (R), Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 9, 2015

Glaucous Gull (R), Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 9, 2015

Iceland Gull, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 9, 2015

It does indeed appear that the weather may have finally turned the corner from winter to spring (even if only slightly).  The temperatures have warmed to the 40’s during the day with a corresponding increase in the avian activity in the area (mainly gulls and waterfowl).  The gulls have been the biggest show in the last couple days with some of the largest numbers and variety I have seen along the river in Hampshire County in quite some time.  Yesterday I stopped to view the slowly growing open stretch of water below the Coolidge Bridge both on my way to and from work.  In the morning I had just a pair of Wood Ducks and around a dozen Mallards.  The afternoon proved to be much more active with a large roost of gulls numbering just over 300 which included a Glaucous Gull, three Iceland Gulls, a dozen Ring billed Gulls, 290 Herring Gulls, ten Great Black backed Gulls and an interesting looking individual which may have been something even more unusual but not sure of it.  The only waterfowl around in the afternoon included the continued pair of Wood Ducks plus a single Common Merganser.

Glaucous Gull (center), Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 10, 2015

 

Iceland Gull, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 10, 2015

Canada Goose with ice encrusted bill, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 10, 2015

Iceland Gull, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 10, 2015

Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 10, 2015

Today I stopped at the bridge on my way in and had a huge roost of gulls numbering around 475 individuals of five species including the continued Glaucous Gull and three Iceland Gulls plus 24 Ring billed Gulls, 430+ Herring Gulls, 22 Great Black backed Gulls and a few unidentified gulls that were hidden among the mass of others.  I have no doubt more unusual stuff will turn up if one keeps checking back.  Waterfowl there this morning included singles of Ring necked Duck, Common Goldeneye and Hooded Merganser plus 113 Canada Geese and seven Mallards.  No luck finding any of the reported Bohemian Waxwings seen yesterday near downtown Northampton but did have at least two Fish Crows on King Street in Northampton early in the afternoon