Neighborhood Nestwatch year five

Song Sparrow with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 3, 2019

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 3, 2019

Gray Catbird with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 3, 2019

House Wren with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 3, 2019

Pine Warbler, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 3, 2019

Hairy Woodpecker, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 3, 2019

Tufted Titmouse, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 3, 2019

Veery, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jun 3, 2019

Today marked the fifth year of banding birds in the yard as part of the Neighborhood Nestwatch program. The weather was sunny and breezy which is not the optimal conditions as the birds can see the nets when the sun is shining on them and the breeze moves the nets enough to make them visible. Nonetheless we managed to catch a wide variety of species including five individuals of the target species that are part of the program. The target species caught included a House Wren, a Gray Catbird, two Black capped Chickadees and a Song Sparrow. The target species were all banded with unique color codes so later resigntings can be done without having to recapture the birds. Five individuals of target species was a bit less than we typically get but we made up for it somewhat by capturing a larger than typical number of non target species including a couple of Tufted Titmouse, a Pine Warbler, a Hairy Woodpecker and a Veery. We had never caught a Pine Warbler or Hairy Woodpecker in the past so it was neat to see these two species. There were a number of near misses including an Eastern Phoebe that sat on top of a net, a few more catbirds that came in close as well as a close American Robin (as well as a number of other non target species that came in close). All things considered with the less than optimal weather conditions it turned out to be a fairly good morning of banding.  A thank you to Corey and Sebastian for coming by to conduct the banding operation.  Posts from the previous years of banding can be found here:2018, 2017, 2016, 2015.

Over the past five years we have had the following number of target species plus non target species:

Year            Target species              Non target species        Total
2015            8                                  1                                    9
2016            8                                  1                                    9
2017            8 *                               1                                    9
2018            7                                  1                                    8
2019            5                                  5                                    10   

*additional 3 target bird (American Robins) in 2017 during second visit to place geolocaters on birds

Additional photos in the following flickr album.

Glossy Ibis and an early American Redstart yesterday and then rain today

Glossy Ibis, rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 25, 2019

Glossy Ibis, rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 25, 2019

Hairy Woodpecker, rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 25, 2019

Black and White Warbler, rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 25, 2019

Great Blue Heron, rail trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 25, 2019

I managed to get a few hours off in the morning yesterday for my birthday before going into work and I enjoyed a productive morning that started off a bit chilly (36 degrees) but warmed up nicely once the sun came up.  I started off my morning at Winsor Dam where I had at least two Eastern Whip Poor Wills calling.  My next stop was over to the rail trail in Amherst going from Station Road up to Hop Brook.  The best birds were waiting for me up at the Hop Brook marsh where I heard a Virginia Rail calling as I arrived and as I scanned the marsh I quickly found a single Glossy Ibis...a quite rare species in Hampshire County.  I have only had sightings of the species on five other occasions in the county before yesterday at the following locations and dates:

1 on Apr 22, 2004 at Arcadia
3 on Apr 18-25, 2013 at Hop Brook in Amherst
5 on Apr 15, 2014 along Aqua Vitae Rd in Hadley
1 on Jun 28, 2016 at Arcadia
2 on Jul 31, 2017 at Arcadia

I watched the ibis for several minutes as it fed and actually called once as some geese were flying around near it.  I texted a number of people to see if they were available to come see the rarity for themselves.  The bird was still there when I left but people were unfortunately unable to relocate it later in the morning.  Another unusual bird at the marsh was a Sora that called a couple times as I was admiring the ibis.

American Redstart, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 26, 2019

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 25, 2019

I then headed back toward home to check out Quabbin Park for about an hour and a half.  The best sighting was an early male American Redstart (the record beats from previous earliest date a few days...my old record was April 29 in 2017).  Lots of other migrants around with high counts of Blue gray Gnatcatchers, Chipping Sparrows, Eastern Towhees and Black and White Warblers (actually a drop in numbers of these species from April 24 but still a good morning).  I made a few other stops on my way into work but didn't find anything too unusual.  The month is still shaping up to be one of the best every for overall number of species and rarities...I'll review it all in detail once the month ends.

Bufflehead, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 26, 2019

Today has featured rain most of the day with occasional downpours and some thunderstorms.  I stopped along Aqua Vitae Road on my way home and although the area looks perfect for shorebirds I once again came up empty in that department.  A stop at Winsor Dam turned up some Bufflehead but nothing else too unusual although a Red breasted Merganser and some Bonaparte's Gulls were reported later.

Record setting cold for late December

Eastern Bluebirds, Home, Belchertown, MA, Dec 25, 2017

Eastern Bluebird, Home, Belchertown, MA, Dec 25, 2017

American Tree Sparrow, Home, Belchertown, MA, Dec 26, 2017

Hairy Woodpecker and Tufted Titmouse, Home, Belchertown, MA, Dec 24, 2017

December looks to be ending on a very cold note with record low temperatures, some snow and brutal wind chills.  This morning the low reached -10 and will likely not even get to 10 degrees tomorrow with a decent wind.  The temperatures has been below freezing since Christmas and will likely stay below freezing for nearly a two week streak.  The weather is just too damn cold to be out for any length of time so not much to report bird wise.  I have gotten some interesting stuff showing up at the feeders after the snow on Christmas and the ongoing cold temps. 

Fruitless search for new shorebirds but did find some raptors

Osprey, Quabbin Park, August 18, 2012

Bald Eagle, Quabbin Park, August 18, 2012

Old Pilgrim Airport fields, Hatfield, Ma, Aug 18, 2012

I started off this raining Saturday looking for shorebirds that had been grounded overnight but didn't have much luck despite a lot of looking.  I started predawn at the Belchertown state school fields and had 9 Killdeer.  I then drove over to the East Meadows in Northampton. The drive through there with several stops produced only two Least Sandpipers.  The swallow numbers however were quite impressive here (as well as other stops today).  There were several hundred in flight at once with most being Tree Swallows with a smaller number of Barn and Bank. I then headed up through Hatfield to the Whately line.  The only productive area for shorebirds was the old Pilgrim Airport which had 30+ Killdeer.  It looked like the shorebird search was a bust but worth the try nonetheless.  I decided to stay over in the Hadley/Amherst area with various stops including Silvio Conte NWR/Moody Bridge Rd, UMASS and the Amherst business park.  As mentioned in the title there were some decent raptors around including American Kestrel, Red shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk and Turkey Vulture in the Moody Bridge Road area and a Peregrine Falcon perched above the UMASS campus pond.  As usual this year, I missed finding any Black Vultures on this trip.  In the Amherst business park I stopped at a small man made wetland (water run off pond) that looked promising for rails but came up empty.  There was a Double-crested Cormorant there as well as a small group of passerines including a Warbling Vireo that easily could have been mistaken for a Philadelphia Vireo but once it sang that possibility ended.

Hairy Woodpecker, Quabbin Park, August 18, 2012

Monarch, Quabbin Park, August 18, 2012

Canada Goose with leg tag, unable to get entire number sequence, Quabbin Park, August 18, 2012

After lunch I decided to head over to Quabbin Park to check out a new trail that was recently completed there which runs from the HQ building through the woods down to the Swift River and back.  A nice walk with several good birds including at least three Red Crossbills (too far away to get any good photos or audio), two Osprey, at least a dozen Turkey Vultures, one Bald Eagle, a Brown Thrasher and others.

This evening at home in an hour of nighthawk watching I managed to see just one lone bird heading southwest...not a big night of movement for them here.