PINK FOOTED GOOSE plus a Greater White fronted Goose set a new Hampshire County record for me

Pink footed Goose, Hadley, MA, Dec 6, 2016

Pink footed Goose, Hadley, MA, Dec 6, 2016

Pink footed Goose, Hadley, MA, Dec 6, 2016

Pink footed Goose, Hadley, MA, Dec 6, 2016

Greater White fronted Goose, Hadley, MA, Dec 6, 2016

Pink footed Goose, UMASS campus pond, Amherst, MA, Dec 6, 2016

Just back late yesterday from a brief trip down to Puerto Rico (much more on that in a later post) and today I was out birding in the cold weather and found a second Hampshire County record of a Pink footed Goose when I ran across one in a goose flock in Hadley.  I must have some ability to attract this rare goose from Greenland as I found the first county record of the species back in the spring of 2014.  I certainly hoped to find some unusual waterfowl today and I hit the jackpot.  I found the large flock of geese in a farm field in Hadley and I initially scanned through the flock and saw nothing unusual but on my second scan through to start counting them I found the Pink footed in relatively close and I started taking digiscoped shots and getting the word out to a number of other birders.  The Pink footed Goose became species #237 for Hampshire County this year, which tied me for my previous best years back in 2014 and 2015.  I was very happy to tie my record and was not expecting to break the record today but I did after getting a call from Devin who told me he also found a Greater White fronted Goose in with the same flock that held the Pink footed.  I made another run over to Hadley and did indeed find the Greater White fronted Goose and broke my record bringing my total for the year so far for the county to 238.  I was not sure I would ever break over the 237 mark without a tropical system but I did.  Very happy these two new species decided to wait until I was back from Puerto Rico to show up!  During my second stop in the afternoon most of the geese were sleeping but as a C-5 flew past they all flushed up and headed toward UMASS where I caught up with most of them on the campus pond (minus the GWFG)...another new species for the UMASS campus. Another banner day of birding in the valley.

Northern Shrike, Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, Dec 6, 2016

Earlier in the morning I followed up on a report of a Northern Shrike at Covey WMA and I found the adult bird relatively quickly.  Hopefully it stick around for a bit...although I'm sure the local bird population would rather see it move along.

Yellow headed Blackbird (briefly) and Black Vultures in Hadley

 

Black Vultures, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Nov 11, 2014

Black Vultures, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Nov 11, 2014

Mixed species flock of blackbird, grackles and cowbirds, Hadley, MA, Nov 11, 2014

Mixed species flock of blackbird, grackles and cowbirds, Hadley, MA, Nov 11, 2014

Mourning Dove with missing tail and missing flight feathers, Hadley, MA, Nov 11, 2014

 

The goal for the day was to finally catch up with the Yellow headed Blackbird that has been seen near Huntington Road in Hadley for the last few days. I have looked for it briefly without luck the last couple days but I eventually managed to find the bird before the morning was over after much effort.  I was joined for the morning by Jacob as we started looking for the bird before seven.  We had a few blackbirds there early but not many so we decided to make a brief run over to Lake Warner to check on any geese on the lake.  The lake was totally devoid of geese (or any waterfowl) due to hunters in the area so we left there and after checking a few fields headed back to the area of Huntington Road where we spent the next 45 minutes sorting through the 2500 blackbirds, grackles and cowbirds present.  Most were distant and the lighting was poor but we kept sorting through.  Eventually many of them flew across the river to Hatfield.  With no luck with the Yellow headed Blackbird so far we headed over to the fields around Russelville Road and then to UMASS looking for geese but found very few (hunters in various areas kept the geese away I'm sure).  The UMASS fields had quite a few Ring billed Gulls but little else.  We then decided to head back toward the river where I dropped Jacob off to check the Honey Pot as I headed back to my vigil to find 'that' blackbird.  Before I left the Honey Pot we ran across our biggest goose flock of the morning when we found around 125 Canada Geese on one of the fields.  Jacob then noticed a couple Black Vultures sitting in one of the large trees near the transfer station and we managed to get some photos of the birds (the vultures stayed put most of the day and other birders got to see them too).  I arrived back at Huntington Road around 8:40 and stayed there for almost three hours (joined at the end by Jacob).  The mixed species flock had grown in numbers (4000+) but remained fairly distant.  A large number vacated the area flying back across the river into Hatfield when a couple Red tailed Hawks made a run trough the flock.  The several hundred birds that remained started dropping into the far field to feed and around 10:05 I got a look at the Yellow headed Blackbird as it fed in the field.  It (along with all the other birds) were tough to view in among the corn remnants.  I tried to get photos but no luck.  A few minutes later a Cooper's Hawk came in and all the birds flushed and I had the bird in the scope as it (along with almost all the other birds) flew across the river.  Eventually some of the birds came back but I was never able to relocate the Yellow headed Blackbird again.  I really wanted some better looks (and photos) but no luck.  Perhaps it will stay around a bit longer and I will get another chance to try for it?  The Yellow headed Blackbird became species #234 for Hampshire County this year which puts me just two species away from matching my record from last year.  Fingers crossed for more good stuff showing up!  Overall it was another beautiful day for the second week of November with the high temperature reaching near 60 once again.  I guess Veterans Day is a good day to find unusual birds in the area as I had a first Hampshire County record of a King Eider on this date last year on the 11th at Winsor Dam (I stopped there briefly today but no eiders today).

In addition there have been some early sightings of Snowy Owls in the northeast the last couple weeks and the first one showed up in western Massachusetts when one was found yesterday afternoon at Stebbins in Longmeadow and another was found in southern Berkshire County this morning.  Hopefully one will show up in Hampshire County again this year.

Shorebirds and the two year anniversary of Irene

Least Sandpipers, Hadley, Aug 28, 2013

Solitary Sandpiper, Hadley, Aug 28, 2013

Lesser Yellowlegs and Pectoral and Semipalmated Sandpiper, Hadley, Aug 28, 2013

Semipalmated Sandpipers, Hadley, Aug 28, 2013

Pectoral Sandpiper, Hadley, Aug 28, 2013

Sandpipers in the fog, Hadley, Aug 28, 2013

After looking at the radar last night and noticing all the apparent bird migration underway I thought there might be some new arrivals around this morning. Unfortunately the fog had settled in overnight which made viewing difficult (or impossible).  My original plan to scope out at Winsor Dam got scrapped when I looked at the camera there and could barely see the flagpoles, much less the water.  Instead I headed west to areas along the Connecticut River looking for shorebirds (again).  I stopped in Hadley and despite the fog found some shorebirds including Pectoral, Solitary, Spotted, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers plus a couple Lesser Yellowlegs.  Numbers were very much the same as yesterday so it appears few birds left or arrived (at least at this location).  The water level was up a bit from yesterday but not high enough to cover all the mudflats yet.  The on and off rain showers over the next few days may add further to the water levels but we will just have to wait and see.  I thought about heading over to Arcadia but with all the fog I didn’t  think I would be able to see anything so I ditched that plan.  Later in the day I saw a report from Dave at Arcadia that it was indeed productive but nothing extraordinary.

I stopped by the river again in Hadley later and had a greater number of shorebirds than earlier with a Pectoral Sandpiper, two Solitary Sandpipers, four Semipalmated Sandpipers, 32 Least Sandpipers, three Lesser Yellowlegs and a Killdeer.

Today marks the two year anniversary of the arrival of hurricane/tropical storm Irene in our area with the corresponding treasure trove of amazing birds.  Posts from that epic day can be found here:

http://quabbinbirdingandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/08/amazing-hurricane-birds.html