MA - quiet summer.....or was it?

 

Baird's Sandpiper (juvenile) - Caldwell Road, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. August 30th, 2021. 

On the eve of September, I was just reflecting on the months of July and August in Franklin County, the northern most county in the Pioneer Valley. For the most part it's been hot, humid and wet, difficult conditions for me personally, and as a result I ended up doing very little field birding. But as always, a few avian events stood out including a smattering of interesting shorebirds at the Caldwell Road sod fields in Northfield where single juvenile Baird's Sandpipers showed up on August 19th and 30th/31st, both birds lingering with local Killdeers. Baird's Sandpipers are scarce fall migrants in Franklin County, and late August/early September is the perfect time to find them.  Earlier in the season, on July 18th, the Caldwell Road sod fields also held 25 Least Sandpipers and 5 Semipalmated Plovers but they only lingered for the one morning. 

Baird's Sandpiper (juvenile) - Caldwell Road, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. August 19th, 2021. 

Semipalmated Plovers - Caldwell Road, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. July 18th, 2021. 

Late summer also produced a widespread influx of Great Egrets plus a couple of juvenile Little Blue Herons that initially showed up on private farmland in Sunderland and then went onto roam around the Connecticut River Valley near Hatfield, or at least one of them appeared to do so. I had the good fortune to run into a juvenile Little Blue Heron flying past the Golanka Farmstand in Whately and subsequently located it on a small marsh at the Black Birch Vineyard in Hatfield. August is probably the single best month of the year to find Little Blue Heron in the Pioneer Valley and this bird fell neatly into the sequence of August records, apparently having been present in the Hatfield area since the beginning of the month. 

Little Blue Heron (juvenile) - Black Birch Vineyard, Hatfield, Hampshire Co., MA. August 14th, 2021.

Gadwall (eclipse male at rear) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. August 10th, 2021.

Other species that caught my attention included the returning drake Gadwall at Barton Cove/Unity Park, a bird that seems to enjoy loafing, virtually unnoticed, with the local Mallards and back for its seventh straight summer! And...the first 'real' feeding flock of the autumn that passed through our yard on August 7th included a Prairie Warbler, an unexpected yard 'first' watched and videoed through the kitchen window!

Prairie Warbler - Northfield yard, Franklin Co., MA. August 7th, 2021.

iphone shot taken through kitchen window.

MA - Red Crossbills and Red-breasted Nuthatches on the move

 August 15th brought a cool, north-easterly airflow and a welcome end to a prolonged spell of heat and humidity. It really felt like fall had started and there were even small kettles of Turkey Vultures and Broad-winged Hawks, as well as a juvenile Merlin to be seen at Turner's Falls Airfield that day. The 16th was equally cool and comfortable and Hell's Kitchen supported a small but enticing selection of shorebirds including 5 Least and 1 Solitary Sandpiper, a Lesser Yellowlegs and at least 12 Killdeer. A post breeding flock of at least 15 Killdeer continued to linger at Turner's Falls Airfield as well. 

But the real story revolved around the build up of several irruptive species throughout northern Franklin County, especially Red Crossbills. I've now heard and seen crossbills every day since July 31st. Sightings appear to be completely random and almost always involve flyovers will a general movement toward the SW. Flock sizes have not been large ranging from two to nine birds and actually involving quite a lot of singles. Since August 8th I've found them at numerous sites in Gill, plus Hell's Kitchen in Northfield, Millers Falls, Sunderland, Montague and Wendell. Sound recordings from about 15 observations and all have been identified as 'Type 10' by Tim Spahr and Matt Young after analysis of the 'kip-kip' flight calls. It's fantastic having these birds in our area, especially so early in the fall, and with no signs of the influx slowing down it seems that we have plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks. 

Mid-August also produced an especially noteworthy wave of Red-breasted Nuthatches with small numbers and singles occurring just about anywhere, and larger concentrations at Hell's Kitchen (15+) and North Cross Road, Gill (7+) over the 16th and 17th, and Highland Park, Greenfield (16) on the 20th.  Like the crossbills, I think we can look forward to more over the next few weeks with the potential for some quite spectacular movements and concentrations.  By comparison, the SW movement of Purple Finches over Gill and Northfield has been more subtle involving fewer birds and they have not been daily. However, the indications are there for a stronger passage in late August and into September. 

Gadwall - eclipse male, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. August 13th, 2015.

Historical image of what is presumably the same male back for another summer in 2020!

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have graced our garden feeders in Northfield with up to eight in the yard at any one time, and on the 18th I noted four individual hummingbirds moving low over the water at Barton Cove heading in SW direction - those could well have been migrants. Barton Cove has also hosted several Great Egrets and, remarkably, what appears to be the same returning drake Gadwall back for another summer. It can usually be found loafing around with the Mallards off Unity Park and is likely to stick around for several weeks. 

MA - Thanksgiving birds

American Robin - Benardston, Franklin Co., MA. November 23rd, 2016.

The days around the Thanksgiving holiday might best be described as 'steady'......at least in the Gill/Turner's Falls area. The morning of the 23rd had a few new birds in Gill especially along North Cross Road with a surprise Peregrine, several Pine Siskins and a Red-breasted Nuthatch. On the other hand, I only saw one Evening Grosbeak and their numbers seem to be tapering in Gill after peaking at over 30 on Nov 18th. American Robins have been abundant in the greater Gill/Bernardston area over the last week with easily 3000 birds foraging in loose flocks in the fields and hedgerows. 

At Turner's Falls new arrivals included four Gadwall at dusk on the 23rd when an impressive 165 Common Mergansers came into roost. The adult Lesser Black-backed Gull was again present at Unity Park and a late or wintering Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was present at the power canal. Thanksgiving morning saw the return of the long staying Cackling Goose first noted on Nov 5th. It's appearances have certainly been erratic and very much in keeping with the daily fluctuations of enormous numbers of Canada Geese currently present in our area (c.1450 coming into roost on the 23rd for example). 

Cackling Goose  - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 24th, 2016. 

Gadwall  - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 23rd, 2016. Three of the four present at dusk. 

Great Blue Heron  - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 23rd, 2016. 

Lesser Black-backed Gull  - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 23rd, 2016. 

MA - another Snow Bunting

Didn't have a lot of time to bird today but I did have 30 minutes of a beautiful calm morning at Barton Cove. Another flyover Snow Bunting was probably the highlight, along with several flyover Horned Larks and Purple Finches. Calling from the woodland fringe at the edge of the cove, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Winter Wren.

As expected, such a fine mild day produced little in the way of waterfowl but 7 Green-winged Teal and a Ring-necked Duck were new and a single Gadwall remained, and as many as four Double-crested Cormorants were present - getting quite late for those.

 Gadwall - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 3rd, 2015.

Common Grackles - with a few Red-winged Blackbirds, North Cross Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 3rd, 2015.  Part of a flock of around 600 birds, almost all Common Grackles. 

Closer to home, the day got off to a raucous start with a huge flock of at least 600 Common Grackles on North Cross Road, Gill. The same flock also contained a handful of Red-winged Blackbirds.

MA - Gadwalls spearhead interesting morning

Although I had to deal with some car issues throughout the morning I managed to squeeze in some birding between appointments. It was cold and blustery with winds in the NW quarter and there appeared to be plenty of birds moving. The morning got off to a great start with a tight flock of 11 Gadwall among the Canada Geese at Barton Cove though little else was present and last night's Bonaparte's Gull had already moved on.

Gadwall - 11 birds, Barton Cove, Gill Franklin Co., MA. October 30th, 2015.

The largest single flock of Gadwall that I've encountered in Franklin County. 

While my car was being worked on, I picked a spot off Route 2A in Greenfield overlooking an old sandpit. Although my view to the east and south was blocked, I had a decent amount of horizon to the west and north, and soon noticed large flocks of American Robins moving SW, along with some Cedar Waxwings (55), Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles. Scarcer species included a party of 3 Rusty Blackbirds and 2 calling Evening Grosbeaks.

Rusty Blackbird - one of three moving SW over Route 2A in Greenfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 30th, 2015. 

Token record shot. The other two birds appear in the same frame but couldn't be squeezed into this heavy crop. 

Greater (left two birds) and Lesser Scaups - Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. October 30th, 2015. 

Meanwhile, at Turner's Falls, a flock of 18 Pine Siskins flew straight over Avenue A in downtown Turners in mid-morning, and the 2 Greater Scaup continued at the power canal, this time joined by the long staying Lesser Scaup.

MA - September odds n' ends

The heat of mid-summer is still very much with us in the Pioneer Valley and with this afternoon's temps hitting 90 degrees in Gill, it really doesn't feel very autumnal at the moment. My blog posts have been sadly neglected over the last few weeks but a few things have caught my eye especially at Turner's Falls where the 'motley' molting Mallards at Unity Park have drawn in three other species of dabbler duck including a summering drake Gadwall (throughout August) and a molting drake Green-winged Teal on the 4th.

Gadwall - male non-breeding plumage, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. August 13th, 2015. 

 Gadwall - male non-breeding plumage, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. August 31st, 2015. 

Same as above, seen here with female Mallard. 

 Gadwall - male non-breeding plumage, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. September 8, 2015. 

Same as above, breast darkening and contrasting more with gray face. White secondaries showing here. 

Green-winged Teal - male non-breeding plumage, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. September 4th, 2015.

American Black Duck - male, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. September 4th, 2015.

Beautiful male hanging out with the local Mallards. 

Fish Crows continued to impress (me at least) with several noisy family groups in Turner's Falls including Unity Park and at Avenue A near the Cumberland Farms gas station.

Although most bird song tapered in August, vireos continue to be quite vocal with a Yellow-throated Vireo singing at the rail yard in East Deerfield on Sep 1st and wide scatter of Warbling Vireos still singing in Gill and Turner's Falls through to Sep 8th.

I had my first Pied-billed Grebe of the fall at Turner's Falls power canal on Sep 1st with another at Unity Park on Sep 4th.

Pied-billed Grebe - Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. September 4th, 2015.

And for the second summer in succession, a Great Black-backed Gull, perhaps a failed breeder, has summered at Turner's Falls, often the only gull present.

Great Black-backed Gull - Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. September 8, 2015. 

Present throughout August into September. Almost certainly a returning 'summering' bird from 2014. 

MA - recent waterfowl - 10/28

Finally the weather has turned more seasonal with cool, blustery days and temps dipping below freezing at night. A smattering of interesting ducks continue to show up at Barton Cove, with birds widely scattered across the cove. This morning, a cracking male Gadwall flew nervously around the cove before settling close to a large group of Canada Geese off Unity Park. The long staying Northern Shoveler also joined the same group, seemingly becoming increasingly tame and hanging with the local Mallards just off the bank at Unity Park. Elsewhere around Barton Cove were a female type Greater Scaup, five Hooded Mergansers, and five continuing Ring-necked Ducks.

At the Turner's Falls power canal, a nice rafting mass of 600 or so Canada Geese but, surprisingly, nothing out of the ordinary amongst them. The highlight here was a fly-over Lapland Longspur, my first of the fall season. On the same theme, my first-of-season Buffleheads turned up off Riverview Drive, Gill on Friday October 25th but evidently not present this morning.

 Gadwall - adult male, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA.

October 28th, 2013. Digiscoped with Canon Powershot G10.

 Buffleheads - three, all female-types with Ring-necked Ducks (rear),
Riverview Drive, Gill, Franklin Co., MA.
October 25th, 2013. Digiscoped with Canon Powershot G10.

 

Northern Shoveler - female/first-winter, first noted at Barton Cove on October 21st

and becoming increasingly tame hanging out with local Mallards off Unity Park, Turner's Falls.

October 28th, 2013. Canon Powershot G10.