MA/VT - Nate & Putney

Columbus Day was warm, soggy and very humid thanks to the remnants of Tropical Storm Nate passing through our region. Initially, the conditions looked promising but yielded little in the way of unexpected waterbirds around Turner's Falls, though a raft of 22 Common Mergansers was nice to see on the power canal, and Greater Scaup, Ring-necked Duck and American Wigeon were all found loafing with the Mallards at Unity Park on Monday evening (Oct 9th).

American Wigeon - female, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2017.

Greater Scaup - non-breeding male, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2017.

Ring-necked Duck - male, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2017.

October 10th saw a clearance, and with light to moderate  North-westerlies in the forecast I headed up to Putney Mountain in southern Vermont. I arrived early to enjoy the passerines finding Black-throated Green and Blackpoll Warblers, Winter Wren (2), Rusty Blackbird (2) and Evening Grosbeak (2) before the raptors started in earnest just after 8am. From then on we pretty much had small numbers of raptors constantly on view from the hawkwatch site until I left at around 11:45 hours. The vast majority were Sharp-shinned Hawks (118) as birds 'peppered' the sky all morning, but there was also a nice variety of other species including Red-shouldered Hawks (3), Bald Eagle (2), Northern Harrier (1), Cooper's Hawk (4), American Kestrel (9), Merlin (5), and even a late Broad-winged Hawk. Of course, these numbers relate only to my personal tally for the morning. JoAnne Russo and the dedicated hawkwatchers at the site went onto record 241 Sharp-shinned Hawks for the day and have recorded well over 13,000 migrant raptors for the season thus far!

A hugely enjoyable morning, and certainly the best migration of Sharp-shinned Hawks that I've seen in our area. 

American Kestrel - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

Bald Eagle - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

Broad-winged Hawk (juvenile) - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

Merlin  (juvenile) - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

 Northern Harrier (juvenile) - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

Red-shouldered Hawk (adult) - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

 Red-shouldered Hawk (juvenile/imm) - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

Red-shouldered Hawk (juvenile) - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

Sharp-shinned Hawk (male) - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawk (juvenile) - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

Winter Wren - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

Black-throated Green Warbler - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017. 

Evening Grosbeak (fem/imm) - Putney Mountain Hawkwatch, Windham Co., VT. October 10th, 2017.