Two more Bonaparte's in Hadley! - 11/16
After viewing the Cackling Goose on the campus pond, I drove down to the wet field on Mill Valley Road hoping to find gulls. I wasn't disappointed. Some 600 Ring-billed Gulls were present , later building to 800 birds, along with a few American Herring Gulls. Within a few minutes, I'd found two first-cycle Bonaparte's Gulls - obviously different birds to the adult of the previous day. In fact, yesterday's adult wasn't present at all. Still, three Bonaparte's Gulls in the local area over the course of a weekend is well worth seeing, easily the most I've recorded since moving here in 2005.
Bonaparte's Gulls - Both first-cycle birds are featured in these shots.
Feeling rather pleased, I also tried the wet corn field to the South on East Hadley Road and found it teeming with birds; 400 Horned Larks, 120 American Pipits, 35 Killdeer and, a little surprisingly, an American Golden Plover which must be getting rather late for this species. Anyhow, the plover wrapped up a really excellent morning of local birding, and this despite a brutal North-westerly wind that didn't relent all morning.
Bonaparte's Gulls - Both first-cycle birds are featured in these shots.
Feeling rather pleased, I also tried the wet corn field to the South on East Hadley Road and found it teeming with birds; 400 Horned Larks, 120 American Pipits, 35 Killdeer and, a little surprisingly, an American Golden Plover which must be getting rather late for this species. Anyhow, the plover wrapped up a really excellent morning of local birding, and this despite a brutal North-westerly wind that didn't relent all morning.
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