Lake Wallace and other nearby areas....lots of Wood Ducks and a Grasshopper Sparrow

Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013

 

Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013

Wood Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013

 

Wood Duck, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013

Belted Kingfisher, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013

Great Blue Herons at nest, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 6, 2013

Yet another hot day today as we sit in the middle of our third heat wave of the season. The low last night bottomed out around 74 and the high today made it back into the low 90's with high humidity giving us a heat index over 100 once again. I went out for a few hours around dawn before it got too hot and stopped at a few different spots. I started out at Lake Wallace where I once again had a calling Sora but still could not get a look at it. Lots of Wood Ducks with a total of 41 with just over half being various ages of ducklings. A half dozen Hooded Mergansers and a Mallard rounded out the waterfowl. The Great Blue Herons have gotten a bit bigger but are still not ready to fledge yet. Not too much else of note here. My next stop was over at Winsor Dam where I had a couple each of Common Loon and Double crested Cormorant. The only other birds out on the water where half a dozen Ring billed Gulls. A couple of juvenile Bald Eagles were still in the nest but are quite large now so they will probably fledge sometime soon. 

Grasshopper Sparrow, Palmer, MA, July 6, 2013

Grasshopper Sparrow, Palmer, MA, July 6, 2013

I next made a brief stop at the route 9 marsh before heading a bit further south. The marsh was fairly quiet overall. Further south in Palmer I had a Grasshopper Sparrow in the same area I had one last year. I thought there might be two but I can only confirm the one bird. He was certainly in a perfect spot for breeding so hopefully he had a mate nearby. Also had a couple of Black billed Cuckoos calling back and forth.  As the heat quickly built I headed for home to pick up Wilson to head for a walk along the Jabish Canal. The highlight there was a Red shouldered Hawk.

Quabbin Park and Palmer



Eastern Phoebe, Quabbin Park, July 2, 2012

Eastern Phoebe, Quabbin Park, July 2, 2012

Great Blue Heron flying past Winsor Dam,  Quabbin Park, July 2, 2012

American Redstart carrying food, Quabbin Park, July 2, 2012

American Goldfinch, Quabbin Park, July 2, 2012

I almost made the trip up to the north part of Quabbin to follow up on a report of a Boat-tailed Grackle near gate 22 but decided the chnaces of it still being there was not worth the trip and the long walk down to the water with scope, camera and binoculars.  Instead I made the loop around Quabbin Park before heading south into Palmer.  The day started off with clear blue skies and temerpatures around 60.  By the late morning the clouds moved in a bit but the temperature still rose into the 80's.  Lots of fledged young of various species around with some allowing some great views.  Again nothing too out of the ordinary for the area considering the time of year.  There were also a few pairs of Common Loons around with some calling occuring.

A sad footnote to the morning here was finding a Brown Thrasher decapitated by an appearant run in with a car along the road into Winsor Dam.  I had seen Brown Thrashers in this area all spring and they likely nested here again.  The bird appeared to be an adult.

Green Heron, Palmer, MA, July 2, 2012

After quabbin I headed down to Palmer to check a few areas and see if the Grasshopper Sparrow was still at the old capped landfill.  The fields south of the landfill area were still quite active despite some roadside mowing going on.  Oddly no Bobolinks but otherwise all the species expected here were around.  At the old landfill the Grasshopper Sparrow was calling as soon as I arrived.  At times it sounded fairly close but then would sound more distant.  Never did get a look at it today but it is nice to know it is still there.  Across from the fenced in landfill is a large marsh/pond.  There were at least five Green Herons fishing in the area.