MA - mid-summer Bonaparte's

 

Bonaparte's Gull (first-summer) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. July 2nd, 2021.

July is off to a pretty good start. A very welcome break from late June's heatwave brought heavy, sustained rains all day on the 2nd resulting in a really good soaking and significantly cooler temperatures (62 F versus 95 F!). Although I wasn't expecting many birds to be on the move this early in July, a quick spin around Turner's Falls in torrential rain yielded at 4 Ring-billed Gulls, 2 Double-crested Cormorants and a Bonaparte's Gull. The latter was a first-summer sporting a nice 'patchy' hood and provided my first July record in Franklin County. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I don't have any previous records of Bonaparte's Gull between late May and early September. While it might be a stretch to call it an early fall migrant, there's little doubt that the day's horrendous weather conditions had an influence on it's appearance at the cove. The four Least Sandpipers that appeared at Turner's Falls Airfield later in the day were much more obvious southbound migrants and my earliest fall record by almost three weeks! Like the Bonaparte's Gull, the sandpipers were doubtless grounded by the heavy rain-soaked conditions and provided a clear signal that fall migration is under way. 

 Ring-billed Gulls - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. July 2nd, 2021.

Least Sandpipers - Turner's Falls Airfield, Franklin Co., MA. July 2nd, 2021.

Least Sandpipers - Turner's Falls Airfield, Franklin Co., MA. July 2nd, 2021.

NH/MA - Sage Thrasher, Harlequin Duck and more

 

Sage Thrasher - Hinsdale Setbacks, Cheshire Co., NH. January 7th, 2021.

Still present and initially found by Cory Ross on Dec 19th, 2020. 

Yet another stellar day of winter birding along the Connecticut River Valley. After a fairly slow start I decided to swing by the Hinsdale Setbacks primarily motived by reports of a couple of two 'yellow-billed' female goldeneyes. While the report had been advanced as two Barrow's Goldeneyes the images appeared to show a bill and head shape more more consistent with Common Goldeneye. Female Common Goldeneyes with yellowish bills have been fairly routine at Turner's falls over the years, with two to three showing up most winters. But the Hinsdale birds looked particularly yellow billed and I was more than keen to get some good views. In the event, I could only find three Goldeneyes in poor light, none of which resembled the birds in question. I moved on and invested a bit of time optimistically trying to relocate the Sage Thrasher that had last been reported on January 1st. Remarkably the bird 'popped' into view when I stopped to check the first proper feeding flock that I came across. The bird's behavior was a little different to previous visits being especially shy, skulking and fast moving. Luckily two birders up the trail arrived just minutes after I'd found it and it wasn't too long before we all managed to get some decent views as it fed on its favored Winter Berry and Multi-flora Rose.  After that the thrasher bolted down the snowmobile trail towards the parking lot and we didn't see it again. Still, I was thrilled to see that it seems to be doing 'just fine' in the New Hampshire winter. Other nice birds along the trail included a dozen or so American Tree Sparrows and a Rusty Blackbird. And, it was really nice to run into Donna Keller again after last seeing her at the Great Black Hawk in Portland, Maine two years prior!

Sage Thrasher - Hinsdale Setbacks, Cheshire Co., NH. January 7th, 2021.

Still present and initially found by Cory Ross on Dec 19th, 2020. 

American Tree Sparrow - Hinsdale Setbacks, Cheshire Co., NH. January 7th, 2021.

In late afternoon, I couldn't resist yet another visit to the Millers River. A local Harlequin Duck isn't to be taken for granted and it could be decades before we see another in the Pioneer Valley. With that in mind I negotiated the icy trails finding the bird with relative ease in the rapids upriver. It seemed settled and even swam towards me while foraging but then, and for no obvious reason that I could detect, it suddenly flew down river and into the confluence with the Connecticut River. From there I watched it swim downstream hugging the Gill side of the river until it was lost to view. It was the only duck on the river at that point and I couldn't help but wonder if we'd see it back on the Millers River in future?

Harlequin Duck (first-winter male) - Millers River, Erving, Franklin Co., MA. January 7th, 2020.

Millers/Connecticut River confluence, looking towards Gill , Franklin Co., MA. January 7th, 2020.

The Harlequin is just to the right of the snow covered rocks.

Harlequin Duck (first-winter male) -  Connecticut River, Gill , Franklin Co., MA. January 7th, 2020.

Hugging the Gill shore as it drifts downstream. 

Looking upriver towards Northfield at the French King Bridge.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (sub-adult) -  Barton Cove, Gill , Franklin Co., MA. January 7th, 2020.

At Barton Cove, Gill, the modest gull roost continued to attract only small numbers but this evening did host my first Lesser Black-backed Gull of the winter, a nice dark sub-adult with quite a lot of head streaking. This particular individual looked strikingly small compared to the surrounding Herring Gulls and actually not too much bigger than the nearby Ring-billed Gulls. 

MA - November third week

Lesser Black-backed Gull (juvenile, third from right) - Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. November 16th, 2017. 

The last week has seen a mixed bag of falling temperatures, light snowfalls and occasionally blustery conditions. The high turnover birds experienced through the greater Turner's Falls area seems to have slowed right down with relatively few new birds arriving this week. However, the numbers and presence of large gulls has improved with up 65 Herring, 25 Great Black-backed, 2 - 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a single Iceland (adult) Gull showing up from the 15th, and up to 120 Ring-billed Gulls from the 19th.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (juvenile preening, third from right) - Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. November 16th, 2017. 

Ring-billed Gulls - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 19th, 2017. 

With the exception of Common Mergansers (up to 65 on the power canal) and Hooded Mergansers (up to 65 on Barton Cove) waterfowl numbers have remained consistently low with 14 Ring-necked Ducks on the 19th being the only stand-out moment. Otherwise a Common Loon, 3 Lesser Scaup, 2 Common Goldeneye remained at Barton Cove to the 21st, and a Pied-billed Grebe was present there on the 20th.

Ring-necked Ducks - over Barton Cove from Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA . November 19th, 2017.

Bald Eagles have been present throughout and relatively active with five seen together at the Turner's Falls Rod and Gun club on the 19th, and a pair actively chasing the large gulls at Barton Cove also on the 19th. Similarly, Peregrines have been present in Gill, Northfield and Turner's Falls with two together sparring over the power canal on the 21st, and a juvenile hunting Hooded Mergansers also on the 21st. Eastern Screech-Owls surprised me twice with a nice red phase appearing at dusk at Turner's Falls on the 19th, and another calling from a new site (for me) at dawn on North Cross Road, Gill on the 20th. Also on the 20th, whilst on the way to the airport, I made a slight detour to look for a Snowy Owl being reported in Hadley and met with success though the bird looked totally out of place sat atop a heavily manicured evergreen hedgerow.

Eastern Screech-Owl - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 19th, 2017. 

Snowy Owl - Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. November 20th, 2017.

Bald Eagle - Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA . November 19th, 2017.

Merlin - Gill Riverside, Franklin Co., MA. November 17th, 2017.

The most interesting passerines of the week concern a smattering of flyover Snow Buntings and Purple Finches at several locations in Gill and Northfield, and gradually increasing numbers of American Tree Sparrows with eight on North Cross Road, Gill on the 21st, just by way of an example. We also had two Fox Sparrows in our yard in Northfield on the 18th and Winter Wrens have been frequent and easy to hear calling at dawn along North Cross Road, Gill with three or four individuals present.

Dark-eyed Junco - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 21st, 2017. 

American Tree Sparrow - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 21st, 2017. 

MA - small larid, Ring-billed? - 11/05

presumed Ring-billed Gull - first-cycle, Barton Cove, Turner's Falls, Franklin County, MA. November 5th, 2009.

In late October Frank Bowrys mentioned seeing a possible Mew (Common) Gull at Barton Cove, Turner's Falls. His bird was a first-cycle and since that time I've been making scans of the cove's Ring-billed Gull flock on a regular basis. Today, this bird caught my attention. Initially it was breast on, swimming between two Ring-billed Gulls and looked tiny, roughly comparable to seeing a Franklin's Gull on the water between two Laughing Gulls. When it turned its head, the bill looked small, petite and mostly dark. At this range (c.200 meters), dusky markings around the eye gave the head a very different look to the accompanying Ring-billed Gulls, and for a moment I felt sure that this was the bird that Frank had seen in late October. I ran (literally) to the parking lot closest to the dam where the gulls 'free-load' from bread thrown for the ducks. A handful of Ring-billeds were on the water but the bird in question was missing. Could I really have been that mistaken? I turned around to face the parking lot with my back to the river, and there standing alone on the bike path was the gull of interest. It still looked dusky, petite and maybe even darker mantled than most Ring-billeds present. The head and bill jizz was especially dainty but the bird flew and landed back in the water before I had chance to get some reasonable images.

Sadly, by this time, most of the Ring-billeds were heading back up-river for roosting so I couldn't get any good images of the bird in question directly alongside typical Ring-billed Gulls. However, this image set may give an impression of how the bird appeared in the field. As I watched and photographed it at very close range, I couldn't see any actual plumage features that would be unusual for first-cycle Ring-billed Gull, and certainly couldn't find anything that would point strongly toward this bird being Mew or Common Gull.

As it happened, after seeing the images Frank was able to confirm that this individual and his own observation did NOT match. I'm not quite sure what the make of this bird, other than it being a 'runt' Ring-billed Gull. I've seen small birds before but nothing quite like this, and would have said it was about 5-10% smaller than average in direct comparison to the Ring-billeds present.

It also means that Frank's bird is still out there!!


NB. Several American Tree Sparrows at Unity Park as well.