First week of August sets me on a record pace for the month in Hampshire County

Solitary Sandpiper, East Meadows, Northampton, Aug 7, 2025

Orchard Oriole, Great Pond, Hatfield, Aug 7, 2025

Wood Ducks, Great Pond, Hatfield, Aug 7, 2025

Mink, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 7, 2025

Greater Yellowlegs, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Aug 6, 2025

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 5, 2025

Gray Catbird, Ware, MA, Aug 4, 2025

Yellow Warbler, Rail trail, Ware, MA, Aug 4, 2025

Cedar Waxwing with nest material, Rail trail, Ware, MA, Aug 4, 2025

Cerulean Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley/South Hadley, MA, Aug 3, 2025

Black and White Warbler, Skinner SP, Hadley/South Hadley, MA, Aug 3, 2025

Dark eyed Junco, Skinner SP, Hadley/South Hadley, MA, Aug 3, 2025

Canada Warbler, Pelham, MA, Aug 2, 2025

Grasshopper Sparrow, Silvio Conte NWR- Fort River, Hadley, MA, Aug 2, 2025

The first week of August has now come to an end and it has been a productive week with a total of 138 species in Hampshire County (my highest total ever for the first week of August...previous best was 137 in 2023 and I had my best August that year with 166 species!) and I managed to do this as I nurse some ongoing back pain.  Getting out walking helps and I have taken advantage of my time outside.  I have found a number of unusual species as well as lingering species that usually have headed off to the south already.  Highlights have included a dozen species of shorebirds (including a White rumped Sandpiper), Bonaparte's Gull, Marsh Wren, Grasshopper Sparrow, a few late Orchard Orioles, 18 species of warblers including a couple late Cerulean Warblers and a Blue Grosbeak.  The Connecticut River north of the Holyoke Dam has featured mudflats for a few days due to the water lever being lowered to have some work done on the dam.  Shorebirds have shown up along the river and although nothing too unusual it is great to see shorebirds away from the few flooded small ponds in the fields along the river.  This is now prime season for an unusual wader to show up during post breeding dispersal plus the peak of Green Herons in the area.  

A hot July comes to an end with a Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 31, 2025

Glossy Ibis, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 31, 2025

Glossy Ibis, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 31, 2025

Solitary Sandpiper, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 31, 2025

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Jul 31, 2025

Double crested Cormorant, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Jul 31, 2025

The hot and humid month of July has now come to an end.  July is usually a fairly slow month for birds overall but it did have some big highlights for me including two new species for me in the county with a Stilt Sandpiper and a White Ibis bringing my Hampshire County total to 309 and then added a Glossy Ibis this morning (becoming likely the first person to ever get two ibis species in Hampshire County in a single month).  I'm actually at my highest total ever in the county YTD with a total of 225 species as of today...I have not really chased any rarities either but perhaps I should now and possible top my best year ever in the county.  I also retired last week and now can devote all my time to birding, travel and hanging out with Wilson.  There was also some sad news with the passing of long time valley birder Tom Gagnon in the early part of the month.  

Some Least Bitterns yesterday during a walk with Devin and a new Hampshire County species for me today with a Stilt Sandpiper

Least Bittern, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jul 21, 2025

Least Bittern, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jul 21, 2025

Least Bittern, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jul 21, 2025

Least Bittern, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jul 21, 2025

Least Bittern, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jul 21, 2025

Least Bitterns, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jul 21, 2025

Rose breasted Grosbeak, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jul 21, 2025

Green Heron, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jul 21, 2025

Great Blue Heron, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jul 21, 2025

Eastern Coyote, Rail trail, Amherst, MA, Jul 21, 2025

Yesterday morning I caught up with former valley resident Devin who was in the area for some music work.  We decided on meeting at the rail trail in Amherst where we would try to turn up a Least Bittern (which would be a county bird for Devin).  I arrived a little early and walked by the marsh where a Least Bittern has been heard or seen very sporadically for a few months and had no luck.  The species has gone largely silent by this point in the year so didn't have much faith in finding one.  Once Devin arrived we started a walk along the trail and after watching a number of Green Herons flying around we approached the area where the Least Bittern has been and had one fly out of the reeds and then land in a reeds out of view.  We looked for a bit and I saw just the head of the bird showing and got Devin on the bird.  It then flew out to a more exposed perch and allowed for some great views and photos.  As we watched the bittern a second one flew out to join the initial bird.  The two of them flew around a bit for several minutes, occasionally landing in open.  The best looks I have had of the species this year by far.  Having two around certain points toward the potential for nesting once again.  We had great looks at a number of other species of birds plus had a brown colored Eastern Coyote in a freshly cut field.  It was nearly the exact same color as a White tailed Deer...a cool looking coyote.

Spotted Sandpiper, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 22, 2025

Semipalmated Sandpiper, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 22, 2025

Least Sandpipers, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 22, 2025

Killdeer, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 22, 2025

 

Spotted Sandpiper, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Jul 22, 2025

On my way to work this morning I decided to see if I could track down any shorebirds or waders.  A bit of north winds brought in some cool temps (low 50's) overnight and I thought some shorebirds would respond to the good early season migration conditions.  I briefly checked for waders and shorebirds in Hadley before heading to the East Meadows.  I came up to a small muddy area that had some great shorebird habitat and immediately started scanning the multiple birds present.  The first scan through produced a number of species with the most unusual among them being a rare for the area Stilt Sandpiper.  It was in the same general area as a few Solitary Sandpipers and was standing upright and seemed very nervous.  I was able to get good views for about 30 seconds and then decided to try to get the scope out to get better views and some photos.  As I was getting ready to get out of the car the bird took off and headed off to the south.  I got the scope out and started scanning through the remaining birds and hoped the Stilt Sandpiper would return, which it never did.  I was short of time and after around twenty minutes I had to head to work.  Besides the Stilt Sandpiper I had five other species of shorebirds and got some photos of those.  Stilt Sandpiper is a very rare species here and this was actually the first one I have ever had in the county!  This addition brings my Hampshire County list to 308.

Gray Fox, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jul 20, 2025

Opossum, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jul 19, 2025

Raccoon, Home, Belchertown, MA, Jul 19, 2025

I checked the camera at the water feature yesterday and besides a number of bird species captured I had a few mammals including Gray Fox.

The start of May

Red tailed Hawk, Ware, MA, May 1, 2025

Black capped Chickadee, Quabbin Park, MA, May 1, 2025

 Pine Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, May 1, 2025

Brewster's Warbler, Amherst, MA, May 2, 2025

Solitary Sandpiper, Amherst, MA, May 2, 2025

May is off to a good start with a continued influx of birds with decent migration conditions.  The first day of the month produced over a hundred species despite me not be able to stay out as long due to some commitments at home.  Today started off with some thunderstorms that moved through starting around 3:20AM which woke me up and had me worried Wilson would be a mess (which is typically the case).  After lots of flashes and rumbles and me waiting for Wilson to lose it he finally woke up and wandered a little around 4:30 and seemed totally unfazed...a positive aspect of him becoming nearly deaf I guess.  Still surprised the rumbling didn't make him nervous.  After waiting around a bit to see if he remained calm (which he did) I headed out to a few areas to check on arriving migrants before I headed back home.  I almost stayed around the Quabbin area to see if any migrants got put down by the weather but was afraid the fog would make seeing anything at the dam impossible so I headed to Amherst and Hadley instead (there were a number of unusual waterfowl put down in Franklin County at Barton's Cove so perhaps I should have stayed at Quabbin...always the problem of spring...too many places to be at the same time to try to catch something interesting.  I decided to concentrate on warblers and had some good luck with the highlight being a Brewster's Warbler.  Even without a lot of time I managed a hundred species today and 104 yesterday...gotta love May!  The weather now looks to take a rainy turn as a cut off low in the Ohio valley will continue to pinwheel in rain from time to time until at least Wednesday.  At least it will not be rainy all the time and the rain could even result in some species being put down by the weather.

Rainy weather brings in shorebirds today

Solitary Sandpiper, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Aug 25, 2023

Short billed Dowitcher, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Aug 25, 2023

Semipalmated Plover, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Aug 25, 2023

Sandhill Crane, Great Egret and Great Blue Heron, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Aug 25, 2023

Sandhill Cranes, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Aug 25, 2023

With the rain that started last night and continued into the morning and intermittently through the day today I had hopes in finding some shorebirds (and perhaps other migrants) downed by the weather.  I made it over to a very muddy East Meadows around dawn and started looking and listening.  The shorebirds were around in good numbers and variety with a total of at least a dozen species present plus another individual I'm fairly certain was a Baird's Sandpiper but the bird flushed up with a bunch of others and I could never relocate it to confirm.  Unusual shorebirds included a couple of flyby Black bellied Plovers and a Short billed Dowitcher and above normal counts of Semipalmated Plovers, Least Sandpipers (180+), Spotted Sandpipers and Solitary Sandpipers.  I also had a single Sandhill Crane when I arrived that was working a large puddle along with a Great Egret and a few Great Blue Herons.  Eventually the single crane started calling and was joined by three others.  After my time in the East Meadows I headed across the river to the Honey Pot and added another shorebird species with three flyover American Golden Plovers that flew around for a bit but never settled down (got some decent recordings as they flew around).  Not a bad morning with at least 13 and possibly 14 shorebird species.  I also tried Quabbin in the hopes of finding a tern or gull of note but missed on that.  Scott did find a Common Tern from Winsor Dam but multiple attempts by me later in the day to relocate it failed.  The Black bellied Plovers and American Golden Plovers added both new species to the month and the year and I now stand at an amazing 162 species for August and 223 for the year...not bad for not trying for a big year in the county.

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 24, 2023

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 24, 2023

Northern Parula, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 24, 2023

Magnolia Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 24, 2023

Yellow bellied Flycatcher, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 24, 2023

Baltimore Oriole, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 24, 2023

Red Crossbill, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 24, 2023

Prairie Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 23, 2023

Black throated Blue Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 23, 2023

The previous couple morning I have concentrated on warblers and have had some great luck with a total of twenty species including more early arrivals with my first Cape May Warblers of the fall leading the pack.  My stop at Quabbin Park yesterday was particularly productive with 16 species of warblers and other notables including a couple Yellow bellied Flycatchers, loads of Red eyed Vireos, a couple Red Crossbills collecting nest material and lots of Baltimore Orioles.