Last couple days around the valley

Indigo Bunting, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 9, 2017

Yellow Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 9, 2017

Cedar Waxwing, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Aug 9, 2017

Indigo Bunting, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Aug 9, 2017

On Wednesday I headed over to Arcadia around dawn but not before a quick stop at Lower Mill Pond to check for shorebirds (just the expected species around there). Arcadia highlights included good numbers of Yellow Warblers and Indigo Buntings plus other good stuff. I also spent some time at the Honey Pot checking the area around the transfer station and 'That's a Plenty Farm'.  Full lists from the morning:
Lower Mill Pond
Arcadia
Honey Pot

Yellow throated Vireo, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 10, 2017

American Redstart, Quabbin Park, MA, 

Gray Catbird, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 10, 2017

Thursday I stayed around the local area with stops at Lake Wallace and Quabbin Park. Lake Wallace featured the continued Marsh Wren as well as lots of other stuff. Quabbin Park was fairly active in spots with a few mixed species flocks but no sign of the Mourning Warblers on that day. Lists from the day here:
Lake Wallace
Quabbin Park

Blue gray Gnatcatcher, Quabbin Park, Aug 11, 2017

Mourning Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 11, 2017

Mourning Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 11, 2017

Chimney Swift, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Aug 11, 2017

Mourning Dove, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Aug 11, 2017

Today I headed over to Winsor Dam predawn to try for Eastern Whip Poor Will and had some good luck with at least two calling. Bonus birds there included a couple Great Horned Owls calling and an American Woodcock flying around.  My next stop was over to UMASS where I started at Orchard Hill and finished along the dirt road in NW campus. Nothing too unusual but some decent birds nonetheless.  I finished my morning successfully looking for a Mourning Warbler over at Quabbin Park. The adult male showed quite well but briefly and I managed some decent shots of it. Quite a few other birds around this morning with the full lists with more photos below:
Winsor Dam
UMASS-Orchard Hill
UMASS-NW campus
Quabbin Park

Sightings for the first week of August

Marsh Wren, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 3, 2017

Marsh Wren, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 3, 2017

Little Blue Heron, Fitzgerald Lake, Northampton, MA, Aug 4, 2017

Little Blue Heron, Fitzgerald Lake, Northampton, MA, Aug 4, 2017

The first week of August has been fairly productive with a number of newly arrived rarities as well as few continued ones.  The newly arrived rarities include a Marsh Wren singing on territory at Lake Wallace (one eBird list here: Lake Wallace) and a Little Blue Heron at Fitzgerald Lake in Northampton (Fitzgerald Lake) with both still being seen as of yesterday.

Green winged Teal, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 1, 2017

Black Vulture, Hadley, MA, Aug 5, 2017

Orchard Oriole, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Aug 6, 2017 (photo with iPhone through binoculars)

Other unusual species around have included a couple Green winged Teal at Lake Wallace, at least three Black Vultures in Hadley, at least one (possibly two) Orchard Orioles in among a number of other species enjoying some ripe blueberry bushes at the Honey Pot, a calling Eastern Whip Poor Will at Winsor Dam and at least 13 Fish Crows along King St in Northampton.  The Mourning Warblers also continue at Quabbin Park through at least August 3rd with a female seen carrying food and a male seen in the same area with that individual occasionally heard still chipping.

House Wren, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 2, 2017

House Wren nestlings, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 5, 2017

Meanwhile at home the two nests of House Wrens were filled with nestlings on the verge of fledging.

Little Blue Heron in Northampton and a Marsh Wren at Lake Wallace

Little Blue Heron, Fitzgerald Lake, Northampton, MA, Aug 2, 2017

Little Blue Heron, Fitzgerald Lake, Northampton, MA, Aug 2, 2017

Little Blue Heron, Fitzgerald Lake, Northampton, MA, Aug 2, 2017

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 2, 2017

Great Egret, Lower Mill Pond, Easthampton, MA, Aug 2, 2017

I headed over to Fitzgerald Lake this morning to try again to find the juvenile Little Blue Heron found by David P. a few days ago.  This time I had better luck and found the bird perched in a dead tree a few hundred feet away from the boardwalk.  This is just the fourth one I have seen in the county with three of the them being juveniles in the late summer and a single adult in spring.  I checked a variety of other spots for other waders and came across a number of others but nothing besides the expected species.

It has been a fantastic year for waders in the county with the Little Blue Heron becoming the eighth species of wader so far.  Besides the always expected Great Blue Herons and Green Herons I have had American Bittern, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Cattle Egret and Glossy Ibis.  It will be interesting to see if any other waders show up over the next several weeks.

Marsh Wren, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 1, 2017

Marsh Wren, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Aug 1, 2017

Common Yellowthroat, Quabbin Park, MA, Aug 1, 2017

Yesterday I found a singing Marsh Wren at Lake Wallace, an oddly very unusual species for Hampshire County.  I usually can find them in migration with a bit of effort but this is the first one I have found singing on territory in the county.  A few full lists from the day located below:
Lake Wallace
Quabbin Park

House Wren, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 1, 2017

House Wren, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 1, 2017

House Wren, Home, Belchertown, MA, Aug 1, 2017

My two House Wren nests are still going strong and the young are getting bigger by the day and should fledge sometime in the next few days...lots of fun watching the adults come in constantly with more and more food.

Glossy Ibis in Northampton plus other stuff for the end of July

Glossy Ibis, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017

Glossy Ibis, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017

Glossy Ibis, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017

Great Egret, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017

Yellow Warbler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017

House Wren, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, July 31, 2017

I ended July by heading out before dawn over to Arcadia to try to catch up with some early migrants. I worked my way through a few hedgerows and turned up decent numbers of Yellow Warblers, Song Sparrows and Indigo Buntings. The early morning fog burned off relatively quickly and the day started to warm from the mid 50's into the 70's. Tall grass (almost certainly filled with ticks) kept me from exploring as much as I wanted to in the meadows so I made my way to the shore of the oxbow to see if anything noteworthy was hanging around. A quick scan turned up four Great Egrets and an Osprey plus other typical stuff. Right after I got some digiscoped shots of the Osprey an eagle came in and flushed everything. Among the birds flushed were a pair of Glossy Ibis that flew around the oxbow a few times before heading off to the north...a rare species for the area and one I have not seen in any season here except spring. I tried my best to relocate them but I didn't have any luck. There has been a decent influx of post breeding southern waders into north and east over the last couple weeks including a variety of herons, egrets, ibis and spoonbills so perhaps these two came up from the south.

Great Egret, Lower Mill Lane, Easthampton, MA, July 31, 2017

After exhausting my efforts at Arcadia I decided to try a few other spots in the area to see if the ibis stopped in or if any other unusual waders were out there waiting to be found. My next stop was over to Lower Mill Pond were I found another Great Egret but not too much else. I then headed back to Northampton and stopped off at Fitzgerald Lake where a possible Little Blue Heron was seen yesterday but it was no where to be found today.

Great Egrets and Great Blue Heron, Hadley, MA, July 31, 2017

Great Egrets, Hadley, MA, July 31, 2017

Great Blue Heron, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, July 31, 2017

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 31, 2017

Once I was back across the river I stopped at Hadley Cove and had four more Great Egrets (making at least nine for the day). Although it was a bit of trek I headed down to the Holyoke Dam where I have had a variety of unusual waders in the past but could only find Great Blue Herons this morning. Other notables below the dam included 16 Double crested Cormorants and at least 120 Chimney Swifts. I decided on one more stop on my way home to check for additional waders and that stop was Lake Wallace. The only wader around there was a single Green Heron.

Overall for the morning I found four species of wader among a total of 81 species. For the month I found a total of 128 species for the county which is the best July I have ever had despite being gone on vacation for just over a week. A few of the lists from the morning here:

Oregon trip July 15-22, Part 2- Oregon coast

Looking north toward Cape Lookout, Tierra Del Mar, OR, July 18, 2017

Looking south toward Haystack Rock, Tierra Del Mar, OR, July 18, 2017

We finally arrived out on the coast north of Pacific City in the late afternoon on Tuesday after a long drive over the coastal range. We arrived at our beach house and after dropping our stuff off we made a beeline to the nearly deserted beach to stretch out legs. Not much in the way of bird diversity there but it was nice to see a vast stretch of nearly empty beach in the USA...not something I have seen outside of Costa Rica!

Wilson's Warbler, Cape Lookout SP, OR, July 19, 2017

Wilson's Warbler, Cape Lookout SP, OR, July 19, 2017

Double crested Cormorant, Cape Lookout SP, OR, July 19, 2017

Chestnut sided Chickadee, Cape Lookout SP, OR, July 19, 2017

Looking south toward Haystack Rock from Cape Lookout, Cape Lookout SP, OR, July 19, 2017

Looking south at dawn, Tierra Del Mar, OR, July 19, 2017

Our first full day on the coast was spent exploring a few areas north of our beach house. We started off with a long hike out to the end of Cape Lookout which provided some spectacular views and some great birds. The full list from our stop there can be found here: After a break for lunch we headed back up north to Cape Mears and a few stops around the area of Tillimook. A bit too late in the day and too many people around to turn up much in the way of bird life but it was interesting seeing the large nesting cliffs at Cape Mears again.

White crowned Sparrow, Cape Lookout SP, OR, July 20, 2017

Song Sparrow, Cape Lookout SP, OR, July 20, 2017

Orange crowned Warbler, Cape Lookout SP, OR, July 20, 2017

Orange crowned Warbler (showing its orange crown), Cape Lookout SP, OR, July 20, 2017

White crowned Sparrow, Cape Lookout SP, OR, July 20, 2017

The original plan for Thursday was to go out on a whale watch out of Depoe Bay but the forecast called for a clouds and a chance not rain so we put off the whale watch until Friday. The day did indeed begin a bit showery but it didn't last too long and the sun was already poking through the clouds by 7AM. I went out first thing despite the rain but stayed close to the car during a stop at Whalen Island which featured a nice showing of herons and egrets feeding on the mudflats. Once the weather had improved a little we took a long walk along the sand spit at Cape Lookout before making a couple more stops late morning into the early afternoon at various stops including Cape Kiawanda and Nestucca Bay NWR.

Common Murre, Depoe Bay, OR, July 21, 2017

Pelagic Cormorant, Depoe Bay, OR, July 21, 2017

Gray Whale, Depoe Bay, OR, July 21, 2017

Pigeon Guillemot, Depoe Bay, OR, July 21, 2017

Common Murre, Depoe Bay, OR, July 21, 2017

Gray Whale, Depoe Bay, OR, July 21, 2017

Harbor Seals, Depoe Bay, OR, July 21, 2017

Savannah Sparrow, Siletz Bay NWR, OR, July 21, 2017

On our last full day we headed south down to Depoe Bay to go on a whale watch. Before we made it to Depoe Bay we stopped off briefly at Siletz Bay NWR which was quite active, especially with passerines...I just wish I had more time to explore the area but we had to make it down to the whale watch by 9:30. We arrived and immediately headed out of the small harbor aboard a small zodiac which provided some nice close to the water views (and photos) of the whales, seals and birds. It was nice to not have to go too far offshore to get the whales (in fact you could probably see them fairly well from shore)...certainly much different then the typical whale watch at home.

Overall for the trip I managed to find a total of 107 species for the week, which was fairly decent for a non birding focused trip.  No new species for me but I have been out to this area of the country several times so not a whole lot of new potentials.

Blue winged Warbler, Quabbin Park, MA, April 30, 2016

I also had one of my photos (a Blue winged Warbler) featured in the latest article from eBird/Cornell on the eBird homepage....link to article:  eBird article