A cool week brings a few new birds

American Tree Sparrow, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Mar 18, 2016

Song Sparrow, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Mar 18, 2016

American Tree Sparrow with extensive white on wing, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Mar 18, 2016

American Tree Sparrows (one with extensive white on wing compared to typical individual), Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Mar 18, 2016

Fox Sparrow, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Mar 18, 2016

Yellow bellied Sapsucker, Mitch's Way, Hadley, MA, Mar 18, 2016

I spent the morning covering numerous areas from Quabbin over the river and then to Great Pond in Hatfield then down Route 47 down to South Hadley and then back home.  Waterfowl numbers were down quite a bit and the only large group of geese were flying north against the strong northwest winds.  I had a few notable species including several American Woodcocks and Killdeer at various locations, a Ring necked Pheasant, a dozen plus American Tree Sparrows (including one individual with extensive white on its wing) and a Fox Sparrow at Great Pond, a flock of 43 Wild Turkeys at the old Pilgrim Airport, a Wilson's Snipe (#107) and a group of 77 Horned Larks along Meadow Street in Amherst, a Yellow bellied Sapsucker and a Fox Sparrow at Mitch's Way and at least seven Tree Swallows at Lake Wallace.  Overall it seemed rather quiet given the amount of area I covered but the cool temperatures and strong winds certainly didn't help.

Mammatus Clouds, Belchertown, MA, Mar 17, 2016

I arrived home yesterday following a line of showers and had an Eastern Phoebe (#106) calling from along the Jabish Brook.  Some impressive Mammatus Clouds were also visible after the storm line moved through.

Canada Goose with limited white on face, Hadley, MA, Mar 16, 2016

I have checked the Connecticut River several times this week on the way to work but have not had anything too unusual but certainly a continued increase in Green winged Teal and Wood Ducks.  I also turned up another unusual Canada Goose which had a nearly black face with very limited white.

Mid March weekend birding

Eastern Meadowlark, Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River, Hadley, MA, Mar 13, 2016

Ring necked Duck, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 13, 2016

Bald Eagle (with leg band), Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 13, 2016

Northern Pintails (pair), Ring necked Duck, Green winged Teal and Mallard, Hadley, MA, Mar 13, 2016 

Northern Pintail, Hadley, MA, Mar 13, 2016

Sun through clouds, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Mar 13, 2016

Ring billed Gulls, Mill Valley Rd, Hadley, MA, Mar 13, 2016

I headed over to Hadley on the first morning of daylight savings time and managed to find a few notable birds.  The only new species for the county for the year was an Eastern Meadowlark (#105) found at Silvio Conte NWR.  Other notables included a flock of 410+ Ring billed Gulls plus a handful of Herring Gulls in a field along Mill Valley Rd...I thought for sure there would be something unusual in such a large group of gulls but no luck.  I had a few hundred geese in the Meadow Street fields but nothing besides Canada Geese.  The river in Hadley featured a dozen Wood Ducks, a pair of Northern Pintails and 22 Green winged Teal plus the other expected species.  A brief stop at Quabbin park produced 46 Common Mergansers, a Bufflehead, 15 Ring necked Ducks, 8 Hooded Mergansers and a banded Bald Eagle sitting on a wood duck box.  A walk later in the morning with Wilson produced a pair of Red shouldered Hawks near a swamp where I have had them breeding in the past.  A total of eleven species of waterfowl for the morning.  Overall another nice for mid March with temperatures reaching 60.

Common Merganser, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 12, 2016

Common Merganser swimming under water, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 12, 2016

Common Merganser surfacing with fish, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 12, 2016

Common Merganser surfacing with fish, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 12, 2016

Mallard, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Mar 12, 2016

Tree Swallow, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Mar 12, 2016

Ring necked Ducks, Beaver Lake, Ware, MA, Mar 12, 2016

Yesterday I stayed in the local area around the house with visits to Quabbin Park, Beaver Lake and Lake Wallace as well as a couple other spots.  I found ten species of waterfowl but nothing unusual although some species numbers continue to build with 43 Ring necked Ducks at Beaver Lake.  The best birds were probably five Tree Swallows feeding over Lake Wallace and a calling Swamp Sparrow along the land trust trail in Belchertown.

Kody

Today also marks a sad anniversary...six years since we lost Kody.  Still miss him and wish he was still here.

More new arrivals in the valley

Fox Sparrows, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Mar 11, 2016

Fox Sparrow, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Mar 11, 2016

Red tailed Hawk at nest, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Mar 11, 2016

Black Vulture, Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley, MA, Mar 11, 2016

Black Vultures (one at bottom and two on top) and Turkey Vultures, Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley, MA, Mar 11, 2016

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 11, 2016

Ring necked Ducks, Beaver Lake, Ware, MA, Mar 11, 2016

I spent the morning into the afternoon exploring many areas around the valley with several highlights.  I added two new species for the year with the sighting of Fox Sparrow (#103) and Tree Swallow (#104).  A total of 51 species for the day with eleven species of waterfowl.  Below are the highlights at various stops:

Beaver Lake- 33 Ring necked Ducks and a Common Goldeneye.

Quabbin Park- 37 Common Mergansers, 4 Bufflehead and 2 Common Loons.

Moody Bridge Rd, Hadley- 3 Black Vultures.

Meadow St fields- 1250+ Canada Geese, 4 Killdeer and 22 Horned Larks.

Great Pond- 5 Fox Sparrows.

CT River, Hadley- 15 Wood Ducks and 17 Green winged Teal.

Lake Wallace- 23 Hooded Mergansers

Swift River,Ware- 2 Tree Swallows (my earliest ever date for this species here..beat 2006 and 2012 by a day)

Yesterday I added species #102 when I had a Cackling Goose in among a group of Canada Geese in the river.  I only had the bird in view for a minute before the entire group of geese took off toward the southeast.

Record setting warmth (80 degrees!) today and a Glaucous Gull on Monday

American Wigeon, Hadley, MA, Mar 9, 2016

Green winged Teal, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 9, 2016

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 9, 2016

A truly amazing day of weather today with record breaking warmth that shattered the old record for the day by 12 degrees!  It reached a high of 80 degrees today which is the earliest date it has been this warm ever with the previously early date being in later March.  It felt more like late spring or early summer and not the beginning of March.  The day started off around 40 and that is when I was out looking for stuff moved in by the southerly winds.  I hit a few spots with the highlights being 31 Ring necked Ducks at Beaver Lake, five Green winged Teal at Winsor Dam, several hundred geese along East Hadley Rd and 11 Wood Ducks, three American Wigeon, five Black Ducks and 138 Mallards along the river in Hadley.  I expect a decent number of early migrants will show up over the next few days as the warm weather and southerly winds will continue (although not as warm as today!)

Glaucous Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 7, 2016

Glaucous Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 7, 2016

Glaucous Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 7, 2016

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 7, 2016

A brief stop before sunrise on Monday morning at Winsor Dam produced a 2nd winter Glaucous Gull (species #101) hanging out with Ring billed Gulls and Herring Gulls on some freshly formed ice.  A very bulky bird compared to the nearby Herring Gull and dwarfing the near by Ring billed Gulls.  I managed a number of digiscoped shots but the light was not great.  Also had a couple Common Loons cruising around the areas not covered in ice.

'Gambel's' White crowned Sparrow back at the Honey Pot as well as species #100 for the county this year

'Gambel's' White crowned Sparrow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Mar 5, 2016

'Gambel's' White crowned Sparrow, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Mar 5, 2016

Mute Swans, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Mar 5, 2016

Ring necked Ducks, Beaver Lake, Ware, MA, Mar 5, 2016

Canada Goose with white on neck, Amherst, MA, Mar 5, 2016

I planned on staying around the south Quabbin area this morning but the northerly winds at Quabbin were too strong so I headed over to the Hadley/Amherst area instead.  I spent over an hour at the Honey Pot trying my luck at tracking down sparrows and I managed to relocate the 'Gambel's' White crowned Sparrow that I last had there on January 31st (I assume it is the same individual as this subspecies is quite rare around here and the bird was in roughly the same spot as previously seen).  I also had an adult White crowned Sparrow of the eastern race that was singing and a somewhat early Swamp Sparrow which became species #100 for the county this year.  I beat my previous date to get to 100 species in the county by a week and a half...a very good year so far.  Decent numbers of American Tree Sparrows and Song Sparrows were around too...full eBird list here:  http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S27973025

I found a large group of geese in a field off Meadow Street in Amherst that contained over 1300 individuals but I had no luck turning up anything beyond Canada Geese (one did have some extra white on its neck but that was the only unusual one among the large group).

A stop by Beaver Lake in Ware turned up even more Ring necked Ducks then were there yesterday plus a few other species of waterfowl but nothing too unusual.

Waterfowl continues to arrive in the valley

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 4, 2016

Ring necked Ducks, Beaver Lake, Ware, MA, Mar 4, 2016

Hooded Mergansers, Beaver Lake, Ware, MA, Mar 4, 2016

Bufflehead, Beaver Lake, Ware, MA, Mar 4, 2016

Common Loons, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 4, 2016

River Otter, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 4, 2016

Mute Swan, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Mar 4, 2016

Green winged Teal, Hadley, MA, Mar 4, 2016

Mallard, Hadley, MA, Mar 4, 2016

Canada Geese, Hadley, MA, Mar 4, 2016

I spent the morning out exploring multiple locations looking primarily for waterfowl.  I managed a total of thirteen species with the following highlights- 18 Ring necked Duck and a couple Bufflehead at Beaver Lake, half a dozen Common Loons at Quabbin Park, a little over 600 Canada Geese in several groups in various fields in Amherst and Hadley, a pair of Green winged Teal along the river in Hadley and a Northern Pintail in the Swift River in Ware.  Nothing too unusual but the numbers and diversity continue to climb slowly.  Also had a few woodcock at various locations predawn.

Wilson cleaning up the dusting of snow, Belchertown, MA, Mar 4, 2016

Wilson and I also took a couple walk late in the morning as a light snow continued to fall...Wilson was happy to help clean up the snow where he could.

Canada Goose with extensive white on head, Oxbow, Northampton, MA, Mar 3, 2016

Canada Goose with extensive white on head, Oxbow, Northampton, MA, Mar 3, 2016

Common Mergansers, Oxbow, Northampton, MA, Mar 3, 2016

Yesterday I stopped at Arcadia before work and after finding the marsh void of birds I went to the nearby oxbow which featured 36 Canada Geese (including one with extensive white on the head), 8 Black Ducks, 18 Mallards and 104 Common Mergansers.

Black Vultures over Florence

Black Vulture, Florence, MA, Mar 1, 2016

Sometimes you just get lucky and stumble across some good birds and that was the case today when I was driving along at work and noticed two dark birds circling around.  I was able to make a quick stop and watch as two Black Vultures (#99) moved past.  It is amazing how much more common this species has become around here in the last several years.

I have also stopped to briefly check for waterfowl along the river the last few morning but I didn't find anything unusual.