A couple rainy mornings to start off September downs a few shorebirds

Pectoral Sandpiper, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 1, 2026

Two mornings of rain produced a great assortment of shorebirds with the most productive morning by far being the first day of the month.  On the first I woke up before dawn and saw the heavy rain predicted overnight had not materialized as much as predicted.  Nonetheless I headed out at first light to check Winsor Dam (which was quiet) and then did some local birding as the rain steadily moved in and eventually I got rained out on my final walk.  I then returned home and waited for someone to come by to give me an estimate on some work at the house.  I saw a text that a few American Golden Plovers showed up in Hadley.  A rarity but not unexpected on the date.  By this time the rain had stopped and was not planning on heading out again but the pull of something even rarer found me making a drive over to the Honey Pot.  When I arrived I scanned a variety of fields and turned up loads of Killdeer plus a few Least Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpipers plus at least one Blue Grosbeak.  A slug of heavy rain then arrived and as I was making a final scan and getting soaked I heard a Buff breasted Sandpiper calling overhead.  I continued scanning from the car and then once the rain let up a little I scanned more fields with never finding the bird.  I was certain it set down due to the weather although there is a chance it continued on (or dropped down and then took off without being seen when the rain let up).  All was not lost as a had at least two (possibly three) American Golden Plovers so added two new species for the year in the matter on an hour (species #497 and #498 for the US this year and species #223 and 224 for Hampshire County).  Once I retuned home I got a text from Ted letting me know he found a Baird's Sandpiper at the Holyoke Dam and also got an email about a Ruddy Turnstone found by some UMASS students on the Hadley/Amherst line.  I didn't try for either as I had some obligations at home.

Ovenbird, Belchertown, MA, Sep 2, 2026

Pine Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Sep 2, 2026

Wild Turkey, Belchertown, MA, Sep 2, 2026

Between the mornings of rain I was able to get out with the main focus being warblers (and other passerines) and I had some stuff despite poor migration conditions and a bit of a breeze at times.

Spotted Sandpiper, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Sep 3, 2026

American Redstart, Belchertown Land Trust Trail, Belchertown, MA, Sep 3, 2026

Today the rain had largely passed by overnight with just a few sprinkles early in the morning.  The winds were not really conducive for great migration but I figured I would give it a try to find grounded migrants (spoiler alert I found little of note).  I tried the Honey Pot first and found just Killdeer and a few Least Sandpipers.  I then headed down to the Holyoke Dam and the only shorebirds present were a couple Spotted Sandpipers.  Despite the lack of shorebirds I did find a good selection of species to add to the month total for the county.  I expect some good stuff once the winds change to a more northerly direction heading into the weekend.

The last week back home

Black and White Warbler, Rail Trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 21, 2026

Pine Warbler, Rail Trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 21, 2026

Purple Finches, Rail Trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 21, 2026

Beaver gathering grasses, Rail Trail, Amherst, MA, Apr 21, 2026

Wilson checking out some deer, Belchertown, MA, Apr 21, 2026

Palm Warbler 'yellow', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 20, 2026

Merlin, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 20, 2026

Osprey carrying nest material, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 18, 2026

Osprey carrying nest material, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 18, 2026

Ring necked Ducks, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 18, 2026

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 18, 2026

Tree Swallow, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Apr 18, 2026

American Robin building nest, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Apr 17, 2026

Red Eft, Quabbin Park, MA, Apr 17, 2026

Now that I have been back from my trip to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona for almost a week I will try to catch up on some sighting here.  When I first arrived home last Wednesday we were in the midst of a big warm up with highs in the 70's and 80's and I got to enjoy the beautiful weather for a few days before it got much cooler and eventually cold.  There were some early arrivals during the warm spell but now things have slowed a bit as expected with colder weather and poor migration conditions.  Nonetheless birds still trickle in as it is getting toward the end of April and birds will move even in less than ideal conditions.  I have added a dozen new species for the year here since getting back with the most unusual one being an American Bittern plus a few early arrivals including Solitary Sandpiper, Northern House Wren and Black and White Warbler.  Birds are starting to nest in numbers including a variety of raptor species that only breed in small numbers in the county including Osprey at Lake Wallace plus Merlins and Sharp shinned Hawks at Quabbin.

Record setting March ends

Pied billed Grebe, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Mar 31, 2026

Hooded Mergansers, Covey WMA, Belchertown, MA, Mar 31, 2026

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 31, 2026

Pine Warbler, Belchertown, MA, Mar 30, 2026

Egg in duck box #2, Home, Belchertown, MA, Mar 30, 2026

Black capped Chickadee, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 29, 2026

Common Merganser, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 29, 2026

Rusty Blackbird, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 28, 2026

Red breasted Nuthatch, Ware, MA, Mar 26, 2026

March came to an end with some warm temperatures and that certainly brought in some new birds.  The warmer air arrived on Monday with highs that made it to near 70 with southerly winds.  More birds certainly arrived that day with Eastern Phoebes seeming to be everywhere plus a few Pine Warblers.  It was a nice reprieve from the ongoing cold.  The warmth continued along with some rain early on Tuesday and even more birds arrived with multiple new species for me.  

By the end of the month I had a total of 113 species which eclipsed my previous highest total ever in the county for March, with the old record being 109 (set last year).  I had a number of unusual species for the month including Greater White fronted Goose, Cackling Goose, Northern Shoveler, Redhead, Barrow's Goldeneye, Ruddy Duck, Sandhill Crane, both species of yellowlegs, Snowy Owl, Barn Swallow, Evening Grosbeak, Red Crossbill and Yellow rumped Warbler (plus others).  A really decent spring for waterfowl (even with few rare geese) with 28 species.  I also got the first egg in my duck boxes at home.

Back home in the snow and cold for a short time

Pine Warbler, Williamsburg, MA, Feb 13, 2026

Bufflehead, Coolidge Bridge, Hadley, MA, Feb 13, 2026

Greater Scaup, Coolidge Bridge, Hadley, MA, Feb 13, 2026

Ring necked Ducks, Coolidge Bridge, Hadley, MA, Feb 13, 2026

Mallards, Arcadia, Easthampton, MA, Feb 13, 2026

Wilson eating snow, Home, Belchertown, MA, Feb 12, 2026

Eastern Towhee, Granby, MA, Feb 12, 2026

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Feb 11, 2026

After a long ride home with Wilson that started before dawn on Monday we arrived home to a snow filled hellscape on Tuesday.  Thankfully we missed the absolutely brutal cold of the weekend when it was below zero with wind chills at -30.  The only silver lining was I still had some new species to try to find in Hampshire County for the year as I only had New Years Day to find stuff before I left to Florida.  After spending most of the morning Wednesday cleaning up all the snow I eventually made it out to try to track down a Yellow rumped Warbler along the river and eventually I had a single flyover.  I then spent some time trudging through a foot and a half of snow trying to track it down to get a photo without any luck...just ended up getting soaked.  I also stopped by Winsor Dam and found the reservoir totally iced over...something that doesn't occur most years.  Thursday we had to drive down to Tufts for an appointment for Wilson in the morning and the only birding I did was to stop down at a private residence where an Eastern Towhee is overwintering.  I managed to get some good looks and marginal photos of the bird after a bit of looking (thanks Carol for allowing me to stop by).  Friday was a very cold morning with a low near 10 but the winds from the last couple days had abated.  My main focus for the morning would be trying to catch up with a Pine Warbler at a private residence in Williamsburg (which I did indeed catch up with).  Before making it to see the Pine Warbler I was out the door well before dawn to chase down owls and hopefully get a look at a rocket launch headed to the International Space Station (I missed seeing that).  Owls were around and I had a few species before hiking a bit in Williamsburg where I had at least three Red Crossbills flying over.  Around eight I made it to the spot with the warbler and had the bird on a couple occasions coming into a mealworm feeder over the course of 45 minutes.  I then headed east with stops at Arcadia where I had a couple Yellow rumped Warblers, the Coolidge Bridge where I had both species of scaup, three Ring necked Ducks, a couple Bufflehead and a possible Barrow's Goldeneye and then Aqua Vitae Road before going home to pick up Wilson for a walk.  Once back home I had a couple Black Vultures flying over the house.  By the end of the day I had found several new species for the year in the county and my count now stands at 82.  

Nor'easter brings in...nothing (at least for me)

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 13, 2025

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 14, 2025

Eastern Bluebirds, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 14, 2025

Pine Warbler, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 14, 2025

Our first nor'easter of the season arrived Sunday night and the effects continued through today with slowly diminishing winds out of the northeast and occasional showers and drizzle.  I had high hopes the winds would bring in something unusual (think odd gulls or perhaps some unusual waterfowl) but despite lots of checking over the last two days at Winsor Dam and a few other nearby areas I failed to find anything storm related at all.  You never know with storms like these so you have to go and try...its the only way to know for sure if something unusual is indeed around.  The most interesting sighting at the dam over the couple days was a mixed flock of passerines made up mainly of various sparrow species plus a group of Eastern Bluebirds and a Pine Warbler...with any luck this group will overwinter again.  Waterfowl was nearly non existent with just some Common Loons, a couple each of Mallards and American Black Ducks and a flock of up to 78 Canada Geese that would occasionally make an appearance.  The only gulls around were Ring billed Gulls and a single young American Herring Gull.  Proving that the storm did bring some great birds nearby Ted found a group of four Common Eider at Gate 35 at Quabbin (on the Franklin County/Worcester County border).  Common Eider is abundant on the coast but extremely unusual inland.  I have just one Common Eider in the county and that was one I found at Winsor Dam on November 9, 2022 and that was only the third county record ever.  Another cold front coming in Wednesday will bring in colder air and strong winds out of the north and northwest for a couple of days so that may result in some waterfowl showing up.

Third week of August ends with some cooler conditions and a small influx of migrants

Prairie Warbler, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Aug 21, 2025

Ruby throated Hummingbird, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Aug 21, 2025

Olive sided Flycatcher, Hickory Ridge Conservation Area, Amherst, MA, Aug 21, 2025

Northern House Wren, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2025

American Goldfinch, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2025

Eastern Meadowlarks, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2025

Pied billed Grebe, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2025

Veery, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 21, 2025

 Lesser Yellowlegs, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Aug 21, 2025

Dawn, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Aug 21, 2025

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 20, 2025

Common Yellowthroat, Ware, MA, Aug 19, 2025

Pine Warbler, Rail trail, Ware, MA, Aug 19, 2025

Cedar Waxwing on nest, Rail trail, Ware, MA, Aug 19, 2025

Eastern Kingbird, Rail trail, Ware, MA, Aug 19, 2025

Dawn, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 19, 2025

The third week of August snuck up on my fast so will mainly let the photos speak for themselves.  We had a bit of rain yesterday (over an inch) with north winds overnight into this morning.  The winds increased throughout the day as Hurricane Erin made it closest approach.  The last week has featured some decent birding conditions although not much in the way of obvious migrants.  Today was a different story with multiple species of obvious migrants around including an early Philadelphia Vireo, a Mourning Warbler and a Pied billed Grebe plus my second Olive sided Flycatcher of the fall migration season.  I'm currently it at 154 species for the month in the county (tied for my highest total for August at this point) and 228 species for the year (two ahead of my best year ever in the county YTD).  We shall see what the rest of fall into winter holds for me before we head off to warmer climates for the winter.