Bonaparte's Gulls in Gill

Bonaparte's Gulls (11) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 27th, 2020. 

 A cold wet night continued into a cold wet day! An initial check of Barton Cove in the morning hours proved to be fairly quiet though 21 Double-crested Cormorants remained from the previous day and three Horned Grebes were present, perhaps left over from the 26th as well. But the morning was highlighted by an adult Bonaparte's Gull in full summer plumage though admittedly it was a little distant. By the evening a fine flock of 11 Bonaparte's Gulls were present, all in pristine breeding plumage. They were flighty and showed interest in departing several times whilst I was there but always settled back down on the water and were still present when I left at about 17:45 hours. Also of interest, hundreds of swallows hawking over the water including 40 - 50 Barn Swallows, the largest concentration that I've seen so far this spring.

Bonaparte's Gulls - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 27th, 2020. 

The local Merlins appeared to take a special interest in hirundines today and I watched a female chasing swallows (unsuccessfully) around lunchtime, and then saw a male take a Barn Swallow over the water right in front of me this evening! Around the edge of Barton Cove, several migrant flocks of grounded, mostly male Yellow-rumped Warblers could be found foraging with a few Pine and Palm Warblers, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Further south, Josh Layfield came across a large flock of warblers at Tri-town Beach in Whately including a careful count of 39 Yellow-rumped Warblers, almost all of which were males.

 Merlin (male) - carrying Barn Swallow, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 27th, 2020. 

Merlin (female) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 27th, 2020. 

a brighter day - Greater Yellowlegs, Caspian Tern and a range of new migrants arrive in Gill.

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020.

Found by Josh Layfield and very much a 'classic' date for this scarce but regular Franklin County migrant. 

April 25th was a warm day with clear skies and temperatures peaking in the low sixties evidently allowing good numbers of migrants to filter northwards. A whole host of brand new birds arrived in Gill this morning (the 26th) and the day began in the nicest possible way with a Greater Yellowlegs wading around a small roadside puddle off Main Road. That was quickly followed by a bevy of newly arrived migrants on North Cross Road; Blue-headed Vireo, House Wren, Black-throated Green Warbler, Veery (2) and Eastern Towhee (2). Both of the Veeries were feeding at the roadside and not in song. I don't actually expect to hear Veery song locally until about May 5th/6th. Also, rather intriguingly, I heard one clear burst of a Cerulean Warbler type song though when I returned to the spot with bins and camera I couldn't help but wonder if it was actually a Brown Thrasher mimicking song fragments of a Cerulean Warbler? The thrasher certainly gave a perfect rendition of Eastern Whip-poor-will whilst I was standing there. Either way, I was unable to follow-up on the song burst that I'd heard and decided to leave it unidentified and, although it seems quite early for Cerulean Warbler in the Pioneer Valley, the local breeding birds will be back on territory in just over a week or so.

Greater Yellowlegs - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020.

Horned Grebes - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020.

The rest of the morning continued to be productive as we went for a family walk around Barton Cove Nature Trail. Pine Warblers (10+) and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (8) were the most frequent small migrants but we also had a smattering of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a single (yellow) Palm Warbler. On the  cove itself Ring-billed Gulls increased from 11 to 16 birds whilst we were there and four Horned Grebes in breeding plumage hugged the Turner's Falls shoreline but were visible from Barton Cove campground.

Pine Warbler (male) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020.

Around 12:30 pm a Caspian Tern dropped into Barton Cove found by Josh Layfield, pretty remarkable since we'd been checking the same spot from Riverview Drive only twenty minutes earlier! Thanks to Josh's timely text we were able to get over to Riverview Drive pretty quickly and enjoyed views of the magnificent beast careening all over the cove, fishing, bathing, preening and eventually circling high up over the water spending quite some time in the air before gaining more height and disappearing northwards. Surprisingly to us, it did not depart upriver but appeared, or at least as much as we could tell, to choose an overland route and head straight north at about 13:10 hours - absolutely fascinating to watch! It was certainly neat to wrap up a migration filled morning with something as impressive a migrant Caspian Tern and thanks again to Josh for his timely alert.

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020. 

Departing high to the north over Riverview Drive. 

Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020.

From Barton Cove Nature Trail. 

By early evening the Double-crested Cormorants at Barton Cove had increased from 4 to 21 and the Ring-billed Gulls (16), all of which appeared to be second-cycle birds, remained. 

Covid Spring IV - Grebes!

Horned Grebes - flock of seven, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

Red-necked and Horned Grebes - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

After a warm, promising start on April 12th the rest of the week turned decidedly chilly with cold air from the N and NW seemingly blocking, or slowing down the arrival of many spring migrants. In fact, the air was so cold that we had late spring snow falls on the 16th and 18th. Notable spring passerine migrants included Brown Thrashers singing on North Cross Road, Gill on the 12th and the 17th, and an early pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers on Meadow Road, Montague also on the 12th. Louisiana Waterthrushes trickled in but became increasingly quiet as the air grew colder in the middle of the week. A Blue-headed Vireo was singing in the NMH woods off North Cross Road on the 15th and three 'yellow' Palm Warblers dropped in by the Turner's Falls power canal on the 18th. There was also a strong 'wave' of Ruby-crowned Kinglets on the 17th and 18th with singing birds turning up in many places all over Gill.

Brown Thrasher - North Cross Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 12th, 2020. 

My earliest arrival date for this species in Franklin County. 

Towards the end of the week the snow showers produced a light fall-out of waterbirds at Barton Cove and Turner's Falls. Two Red-necked Grebes and a female Red-breasted Merganser were at Barton Cove on the 16th along with a Horned Grebe at the Turner's Falls power canal. A more impressive fall-out took place on the 18th with seven Horned and three Red-necked Grebes in one raft at Barton Cove (Josh Layfield), along with 13 Double-crested Cormorants and 3 Great Blue Herons. And on the same morning, visible from Barton Cove campground, a male Red-breasted Merganser, four Long-tailed Ducks and a further three Red-necked Grebes. All of the grebes this week were in pristine breeding condition!

Pied-billed Grebe - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

Great Blue Herons - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

Double-crested Cormorants - some of the 13 present, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

Fields off Main Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

MA - waterbirds on the move part three; more Bonaparte's Gulls and Caspian Terns!

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 14th, 2019.

Flying in from the east with Barton Island in the background.

The morning of April 10th found me back at Barton Cove hoping to catch up with even just a tiny fraction of the fall-out seen the on the previous evening. Despite squally rain showers and 100% cloud cover, it was fairly obvious a major clearance had taken place overnight....not a single Bonaparte's Gull was present at first light. As if to emphasize the general departure of waterbirds, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers (male and 2 females) lifted off the water, circled the cove and headed off high to the NW. But 6 Ruddy Ducks, 5 Greater Scaup, 2 Horned Grebes and a Pied-billed Grebe ended up staying through the day with a fine pair of Northern Pintail appearing with the Canada Goose flocks in the evening. A Snow Goose and 2 American Wigeon remained, both species being long stayers.

Ruddy Duck - male, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 10th, 2019.

Northern Harriers (2) - Turner's Falls Airfield, Franklin Co., MA. April 10th, 2019.
Two of a minimum of four seen within an hour at the airfield in mid-morning.

Clearing skies and a change to quite cold air coming from the north triggered a shift in focus and by mid-morning I was enjoying great views of a male Northern Harrier at Turner's Falls Airfield. Although I soon lost that particular male to view, a further two Northern Harriers dropped into the airfield together just as suddenly as the male had appeared. Both were 'female-like' in plumage but careful scrutiny showed them both to be young males, one of which lingered while with the other one departed fairly quickly to the NE. After 20 minutes or so, a fourth harrier dropped in, this one being a young female which spent a good 15 minutes quartering the rank grasses along the taxi-way. Spring harrier migration isn't a particularly easy event to see in Franklin County so to have four individuals within an hour at the same site was pretty remarkable. Moreover, David Sibley recorded three Northern Harriers (two adult male, one immature male) migrating through Hilltop Farm, Deerfield during the morning hours. In the evening Josh Layfield visited Turner's Falls Airfield finding two Northern Harriers (male, female-type) hunting, possibly lingerers from the morning, but it's equally possible that they were new migrants. Either way, April 10th was something of a stellar day for harrier migration in Franklin County.

Bonaparte's Gulls - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 12th, 2019.

The 11th was fairly quiet for new waterbird arrivals but the 12th was yet another fine day for Bonaparte's Gulls with the initial discovery of a tight flock of 17 at the Turner's Falls Rod and Gun club quickly followed by a further 5 at Barton Cove. By mid-morning both flocks had converged on Barton Cove while a brief check in the evening found seven birds present but included 3 first-cycle individuals not seen on the morning visit! So, an absolute minimum of 25 Bonaparte's Gulls passing through Barton Cove on April 12th. .

Overnight rain and warm southerlies brought yet more new arrivals on the 13th with some 55 Double-crested Cormorants between the Turner's Fall power canal and the Rod and Gun Club. New for the year was a Red-necked Grebe and a Spotted Sandpiper at Barton Cove (Josh Layfield), along with 4 Barn Swallows and a Bank Swallow at the Turner's Falls power canal. Scaup arrivals included 7 Lesser at the power canal, 7 Lesser at the Rod and Gun club and a further 7 Lesser joining the previously seen 5 Greater Scaup at Barton Cove. In the evening, 2 Black Vultures again appeared high over Barton Cove as they had done on the evening of the 11th.

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 14th, 2019.

April 14th dawned mild and calm and I wasn't expecting too much in the way of grounded birds but I decided to check Barton Cove in any case. Initially, things seemed a little quiet and I couldn't find the previous day's Red-necked Grebe. In the distance a group of small group of 'gulls' resting on an exposed mud bar caught my attention. Instead of scoping them at range I drove around to Riverview Drive for a closer look and there sat with a few Herring and Ring-billed Gulls were 2 Caspian Terns. As I settled down to enjoy them, I could clearly hear the distinctive grating bark of one or more Caspian Terns in the air.......in fact there were 5 of them present together in the cove!! I last them heading towards Barton Campground at about 07:20 hours.

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 14th, 2019.

Caspian Terns (5) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 14th, 2019.

MA - waterfowl on the move part two; a day for Horned Grebes

Horned Grebes (5) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.

With yesterday's low cloud, drizzle and mist continuing through the night and into the morning, and coupled with a nice temperature drop, prospects looked good for more waterbird arrivals at Barton Cove. A brief but productive early morning spin around the cove didn't disappoint. The light was so poor around 06:45 hours that I held off from taking any photos until mid-morning but the initial haul included 2 Surf Scoter (pair), 8 Lesser Scaup, 6 Greater Scaup (5 male, 1 female), 3 Ruddy Duck (2 male, one quite bright), 4 Red-breasted Mergansers (1 male, 3 female), 3 Horned Grebe (2 in breeding plumage, 1 transitional), Snow Goose (white morph continuing since Apr 2nd), and a Double-crested Cormorant arriving mid-morning. I was most impressed with the breeding plumage Horned Grebes, a species which I tend to think of as being quite a scarce migrant through northern Franklin County. With that in mind I couldn't have been more thrilled to come across a further 5 Horned Grebes in a tight flock at the Turner's Falls Rod and Gun club. The latter site also yielded my first local Ospreys (2) of the year, plus there was a notable increase Tree Swallow, Pine Warbler and Chipping Sparrow numbers along the river this morning.

Surf Scoter (pair) with Greater Scaup (6) at rear - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.

Further indications of migration included 5 (3, 2) Great Blue Herons heading north high over Turner's Falls Airfield, a species I only occasionally detect on active migration in Franklin County.

Great Blue Herons - Turner's Falls Airfield, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.

Three of five migrating high over the airfield this morning. 

By late afternoon, the weather had worsened bringing pulses of extremely heavy rain and cooler temperatures. A very quick check of Barton Cove found almost 200 newly arrived gulls including good numbers of adult/near adult Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. With them came a pristine adult/near adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. A tight flock of around 15 Double-crested Cormorants had clearly dropped in on the showers as well. 

Lesser Black-backed Gull (adult/near adult) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.
Just left of center with Herring and Ring-billed Gulls.

Bonaparte's Gulls - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.
Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield. Part of the flock of 29 initially found by David Sibley. 

Bonaparte's Gulls - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.
Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield. 

And the day turned out to be far from over when David Sibley found 29 Bonaparte's Gulls and 10 Red-breasted Mergansers at Barton Cove off Riverview Drive just 70 minutes after I had to leave the area. As if that wasn't enough, David (along with Josh Layfield and Eric Huston) finished off the evening with a calling Caspian Tern flying upriver at dusk! Although April is the best month in the year to see Caspian Tern in Franklin County, it's usually the second half of the month when they show up and today's observation is the earliest that I'm aware of. 

Horned Grebe,Turner's Falls - 12/29

Horned Grebe. Barton Cove/Turner's Falls, Franklin County, MA. Dec 29th.

Another run up to Turner's Falls to look at the gulls. Ice conditions looked perfect for viewing roosting birds from Riverview Drive in Gill but sadly the main mass of birds didn't arrive until quite late (after 4:25 pm). Even so, I did have close views of 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a first-cycle Kumlien's Iceland Gull and more distant views of what I think may have been a first-cycle Nelson's Gull (Glaucous x American Herring Gull hybrid).

Slightly more surprising was a Horned Grebe just off Riverview Drive. I say surprising because I'm really not sure that I've seen Horned Grebe at Turner's Falls/Barton Cove. Virtually all my local sightings of this species have come from the Quabbin Reservoir usually during fall migration and I don't recall ever seeing one on CT River before today.

Lesser Black-backed Gulls - two images showing two different adults, this sleeping bird having much brighter yellowish legs than the other.