September comes to an end

Yellow crowned Night Heron, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

Baird's Sandpiper, Hatfield, MA, Sep 1, 2018

Yellow breasted Chat, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 2, 2018

Clay colored Sparrow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 19, 2018

Connecticut Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 23, 2018

Lincoln's Sparrow, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

American Kestrels, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

Philadelphia Vireo, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 22, 2018

Dickcissel, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 20, 2018

Brown Thrasher, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 14, 2018

American Golden Plover, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Sep 10, 2018

Wilson's Snipe, Hadley, MA, Sep 18, 2018

Bobolink, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Sep 19, 2018

Marsh Wren, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Sep 30, 2018

September has now come to an end and it was an epic month of birding around here despite a number of rainy days.  I blew away any previous September total for species in the county, ending the month with 164 species (average for the last five years was 155 species).  The biggest highlight of the month was a Yellow crowned Night Heron that I eventually caught up with after quite a bit of looking (and kayaking).  The heron added a new species for my county life list, bringing that total up to 295.  There were a number of other notable species for the month including a Baird's Sandpiper, Yellow breasted Chat, Pine Siskin, Clay colored Sparrow, several Dickcissel, Black crowned Night Heron, Whimbrel, White rumped Sandpiper and Marsh Wren.  Shorebirds were around in decent variety with fifteen species total for the month.  Warblers also gave a good showing with 27 species with several notables (more on warblers for the month at the follow link).  Sparrows have just started to show up in force and the numbers and variety should increase as October begins. With all of these species I found myself ahead of any other year in the county at this point so I think I will try a bit to see if I can break my big year record for Hampshire County (my current best is 238 in 2016).  I'm currently at 232 for the year with at least a few more relatively expected species to go and lots of potential for rarities as fall turns to winter.

Bobcat, Home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 27, 2018

Ruby cfrowned Kinglet, Home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 29, 2018

Bay breasted Warbler and banded House Wren, Home, Belchertown, MA, Sep 19, 2018

The house game cameras captured two new species at the water feature in September (Bay breasted Warbler and Ruby crowned Kinglet...species #43 and #44).  The camera near the brook captured my first ever Bobcat...in the middle of the day no less!

YELLOW CROWNED NIGHT HERON in Hadley and lots of other stuff this morning

Yellow crowned Night Heron, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

Yellow crowned Night Heron, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

Yellow crowned Night Heron, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

Yellow crowned Night Heron, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

After a rainy day yesterday I was ready to get out this morning and see what might be around.  I started off checking out some flooded fields in North Hadley where I found half a dozen species of shorebirds including my first White rumped Sandpiper of the year.  Viewing was intermittent due to fog with visibility changing from minute to minute.  I tried to get some digiscoped shots of the White rumped Sandpiper as it was preening but could not get anything identifiable to come out.  I assume it was the same bird that Ted G. had in the same area yesterday.  I decided to try my luck a little further south at the Honey Pot where I hoped the fog was a little less dense.  Just as I arrived there I got a call from Mary letting me know she found a night heron roosting on the roof of a house at Lake Warner.  I immediately turned around and headed back up the road to meet up with her.  I arrived at the area near the dam at Lake Warner to see Mary still there looking at a juvenile Yellow crowned Night Heron.  The bird is almost certainly the same individual found by the friend of a birder about a week and a half ago while she was out kayaking.  I had tried multiple times for the bird before including a full circuit of the lake in a kayak without luck.  I guess I just needed to look up on the roofs of nearby houses instead of in the trees along the shoreline!  The bird seemed quite content on the roof, occasionally preening but otherwise just hanging out.  It appears to be a very young bird with some odd feathering on the head that has not quite filled in yet.  After about a half hour of watching the bird I headed out to other locales.  The night heron was not only a new bird for Hampshire County this year (more on that below) but also a new county bird for me overall, bringing my total in the county to 295.  Thanks to Mary for giving me a very timely call!

Yellow Warbler, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

Palm Warbler 'western', Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

My next stop was down to the Honey Pot which unfortunately was fogged in quite a bit but I nonetheless found a decent pocket of birds with a number of sparrows and warblers, including a late Yellow Warbler.  I waited a little bit for the fog to lift but it looked to be just getting thicker so I headed a little further away from the river in the hopes of finding better visibility.

Solitary Sandpiper, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

Lincoln's Sparrow, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

Northern Parula, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

Empidonax flycatcher, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

Northern Flicker, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

American Kestrels, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Sep 26, 2018

I finally found some less dense fog filled areas when I stopped at the nearly deserted Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River. Thankfully the mosquitoes were tolerable compared to some other recent visits.  I spent the next couple hours there walking along the paths as well as covering a few field edges.  There were a number of mixed flocks moving through with a total of eleven species of warblers, a couple species of vireo and a few other migrants mixed in.  As I was walking around the trails you could actually feel when the warm front came through with an immediate and quite noticeable rise in the temperature and the humidity followed by a pick up in the wind.  The increased wind made picking out birds among the leaves quite difficult but not impossible.  It will be interesting to see if the southerly winds bring in anything unusual.

It was a great morning of birding to be sure as I managed to add two new species to my Hampshire County list for the year (#231 and #232) with one of those being a new county species for me.  I really had not intended to do another big county year this year but I really can't avoid it at this point as I have never had this many species at this time of year.  My previous best year for the county was back in 2016 when I had a total of 238 species.  I have included my overall totals for the previous four years. year to date and where I ended those years.

Year            Total as of 9/26      Final total for year
2018           232                         ?
2017           212                         224
2016           225                         238
2015           228                         237
2014           228                         237

Given that I still have a few months left in the year with at least a few easy to get waterfowl plus the possibility of any of a number of rarities there is a very real possibility of breaking my previous record...stay tuned!

Birding Plymouth county...life bird #700



Yellow-breasted Chat, Manomet bird banding station, Aug 23, 2012

 

On Thursday I did something I do not normally do and that is take a trip out to the eastern end of the state.  I usually avoid the area as it is too busy for me typically and there are so many good spots closer to home.  However I decided to take up Ian Davies on his offer to show me around the Plymouth area checking on shorebirds and stopping by the Manomet Center for Conservation Science to check out the ongoing banding operation there.  http://www.manomet.org/

Manomet Point view, Aug 23, 2012

I left home predawn to make the two hour trip out to the coast arriving out there around 7am.  I met up with Ian and we were soon on our way for a full day of birding.  Our first stop was at Manomet Point to scan the ocean for birds including the possibility of some storm-petrels.  We scanned the ocean but came up short on any storm-petrels.  We did have at least one Northern Gannet, a few Common Loons and a variety of gulls, terns and cormorants as well as a scattering of shorebirds. 

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Manomet bird banding station, Aug 23, 2012

Yellow-breasted Chat, Manomet bird banding station, Aug 23, 2012

Removing Gray Catbird from net, Manomet bird banding station, Aug 23, 2012

Removing Alder Flycatcher from net, Manomet bird banding station, Aug 23, 2012

Tufted Titmouse, Manomet bird banding station, Aug 23, 2012

View from Manomet Center for Conservation Science, Aug 23, 2012

Downy Woodpecker, Manomet bird banding station, Aug 23, 2012

 

We then went over to check out the bird banding operation arriving there a little before 7:30.  The banding team of five was just finishing up the processing of birds from the first net run of the day at 7am.  There was a handful of Gray Catbirds (the most common species captured here) as well as a first of the season Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  Between the hourly net runs I got to see some of the history of this long operating banding station.  The variety of rare and unusual birds caught here over years is quite remarkable and would deserve a blog post all on their own.  The various tools, bands, nets etc used in  capturing and processing the birds is quite interesting to see close up.  We joined the banders on three hourly net checks and captured a variety of other birds including several more Gray Catbirds, a Yellow-breasted Chat, Eastern Phoebe, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinal and Alder Flycatcher.  The Alder Flycatcher ID was the most time consuming to make as specific measurements and other criteria was needed to ID a species that is typically identified my call.  After processing the birds from the 10am net check we headed out to our next birding stop.

 

Yellow crowned Night Heron-adult, Bluefish River, Duxbury, MA, Aug 23, 2012

Yellow crowned Night Herons (adult-right, juvenile upper left), Bluefish River, Duxbury, MA, Aug 23, 2012

Great Egret, Bluefish River, Duxbury, MA, Aug 23, 2012

We took a drive north to Duxbury to check on some Yellow-crowned Night Herons that have been seen along the Bluefish River there.  We got there and scanned quickly and found nothing besides a Green Heron, Great Blue Heron and some Greater Yellowlegs.  We then scanned the trees and found a juvenile well hidden in a tree.  We were about to head out when we stopped to scan the trees one more time and this time we found an even more hidden adult.  Amazing how well they blend in.  A few Great Egrets came into the area as we were leaving.

Blue-winged Teal, Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary, Marshfield, MA, Aug 23, 2012





Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary, Marshfield, MA, Aug 23, 2012

After the Bluefish River we headed even further north to Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary in Marshfield. We wanted to try and catch up with some lingering Purple Martins but they seem to have all left for the season. A brief walk to a few of the blinds produced a group of three Blue-winged Teal, a flyover Osprey carrying a fish, several Eastern Phoebe’s and a variety of other expected birds. By this time it was early afternoon so we headed back to Ian’s house to get a different vehicle to head out to Plymouth Beach.

Snowy Egrets, Damon's Point Road, Marshfield, MA, Aug 24, 2012

Bald Eagle, Damon's Point Road, Marshfield, MA, Aug 24, 2012

Our final stop on our trip north was up to Damon's Point Road in Marshfield.  We had some fairly decent groups of shorebirds here with the vast majority being Semipalmated Plovers and Semipalmated Sandpipers plus a handful of Greater Yellowlegs. The marshes had small groups of waders in them including Great Egret, Snowy Egret and Great Blue Heron. A juvenile Bald Eagle came in and flew off to the west just before we headed out. There was also hundreds of swallows (mainly Tree with a few Barn Swallows) feeding over the marsh.

Piping Plover, Plymouth Beach, Plymouth, MA, Aug 23, 2012

White-rumped Sandpiper with Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover and Semipalmated Sandpipers, Plymouth Beach, Plymouth, MA, Aug 23, 2012

Sanderling with tag "C7Y", Plymouth Beach, Plymouth, MA, Aug 23, 2012

 

Common Tern, Plymouth Beach, Plymouth, MA, Aug 23, 2012

Whimbrel (center), Plymouth Beach, Plymouth, MA, Aug 23, 2012

Sanderling flock, Plymouth Beach, Plymouth, MA, Aug 23, 2012

We ended the day by being at Plymouth Beach for high tide to check on what shorebirds and terns were around.  We arrived around 1:45 or so and drove up to the end of Plymouth Beach.   We walked out onto the beach and immediately had groups of shorebirds numbering into the hundreds.  The most prevalent species were Semipalmated Plover, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Sanderlings and Short-billed Dowitchers.  There were also a number of Black bellied Plovers around with some in near breeding plumage.  Other species of shorebirds included Whimbrel, Red Knot, Dunlin, Piping Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, White-rumped Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper plus a possible Western Sandpiper.  The terns were also present near the tip of the beach with the vast majority being Common Terns with a lesser number of Roseate, Black, Least and Forester’s Terns.  Overall the sight of thousands of shorebirds and terns was very impressive but was actually much reduced from what is normally present according to Ian.  Another note of interest was the number of leg tagged Sanderlings present (I will add more details on these in a future post as I get more info).   There were also hundreds of gulls around including Great Black backed, Ring-billed, Herring and Laughing Gulls.  We stayed there until a little after four when Ian had to leave due to a prior commitment and I made the drive back west.  Overall it was a great day of birding and I managed to reach a milestone in birding on this trip as I found my 700th species when we caught up with some Roseate Terns at Plymouth Beach.  A thank you to Ian and others at the Manomet bird banding station for a fun day of birding 'out east'.