Close to the bank of Quabbin Reservoir just north of Goodnough Dike. These three seen together plus a larger animal (I'd guess a male) farther out in the open water. A welcome and unexpected surprise.
Vesper Sparrow - Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park.
Peregrine Falcons - 2 on migration over Quabbin Park.
Black-throated Green Warbler - 1 of 10 around the Lookout Tower at Quabbin Park.Had a good morning at Quabbin Park concentrating on Winsor Dam from the HQ buildings, the Lookout Tower area and a brief scan over Goodnough Dike. Migration was much in evidence throughout the morning (07:35hrs - 11:30 hrs) with highlights including a sudden and unexpected arrival of birds on Winsor Dam wall, a busy and rather intense feeding flock around the base of the Lookout Tower, and a small but decent collection of migrant waterfowl at Goodnough Dike. Four American River Otters at the latter spot came as a complete surprise, a species which I don't recall seeing anywhere in the Quabbin in previous years.
Here's some of the more notable species from this morning;
Common Loon - 2.
Bald Eagle - 2 (ad and juv).
Canada Goose - 114 migrants moving south (4 flock). 20 'resident' birds below Winsor Dam
BRANT - 12, departing south from Goodnough Dike area at around 11:25hrs.
NORTHERN PINTAIL - 2 (both juvs) with drake Mallard off Goodnough Dike.
Common Merganser - 1 Goodnough Dike.
Osprey -2 migrants south.
Peregrine - 2 migrants south over Lookout Tower.
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3 south over Lookout Tower.
American Kestrel - 2 (1 certainly migrating high over Winsor Dam).
Wild Turkey - 20 (two flocks).
American Pipit - 4 Winsor Dam.
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 110 migrating high over Winsor Dam.
'Eastern' Palm Warbler - 5 (2 Winsor Dam).
Blackpoll Warbler - 25 (most moving over and along Winsor Dam before 9am).
Black-throated Green Warbler - 10 (all around Lookout Tower).
Pine Warbler - 3 (including adult male) Winsor Dam.
Nashville Warbler - 1 at Lookout Tower.
Blue-headed Vireo -1 at Lookout Tower.
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 22 (most around Lookout Tower).
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 25 (most around Lookout Tower giving exceptional views).
Eastern Phoebe - 5
Eastern Bluebird - 16 (on dam wall, Winsor Dam).
RUSTY BLACKBIRD - 4 moving south-west over Winsor Dam.
VESPER SPARROW - 1 good views of this bird with Eastern Bluebirds and Pine Warblers on Winsor Dam.
White-throated Sparrow - c. 60 around Lookout Tower.
PINE SISKIN - 2 south over Winsor Dam
Purple Finch - 5 south Lookout Tower.
Dark-eyed Junco - 8 around Lookout Tower.
Brant - Twelve moving south above Goodnough Dike, Quabbin Park.
Northern Pintail - Two with drake Mallard (left), Goodnough Dike, Quabbin Park.
Winsor Dam wall - busy with Eastern Bluebirds, Palm Warblers and Chipping Sparrows.
Nasville Warbler - below the Lookout Tower, Quabbin Park.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Plenty below the Lookout Tower today at Quabbin Park.
Blueberry Hill, Granville, MA. - Susannah chats with resident hawk counter John Weeks.The day started off in the nicest possible manner with 3 Black-throated Green Warblers together in the trees at the rear of the apartment, visible from the rear balcony. Lots of American Robins, some Tufted Titmice and a White-breasted Nuthatch too.
Later, we had a family outing to Blueberry Hill in Granville (West of Springfield), a spot famed amongst birders for its raptor migration watch point. It was another glorious fall day, maybe a little too nice for a decent migration of raptors, but in the ninety or so minutes that we were there we saw two Bald Eagles, several Red-tails (non-migrants), about 10 Sharp-shinned Hawks, about 3 Cooper's Hawks, and 2 migrant Peregrines drifting South. Perhaps the highlight for us, simply because we don't see that many in Western MA, was the near constant presence of 2 -3 Red-shouldered Hawks drifting around, sparring with other raptors and frequently calling over the hillside. No pics of these unfortunately, but we all enjoyed good scope views. Quite a few passerines present near the hill top as well, with about 20 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 4 'Eastern' Palm Warblers, a single Nashville Warbler, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. All in all, a most enjoyable trip to Granville. Many thanks to John Weeks for putting up with us and for introducing us to his raptor migration watch point.
Juvenile Accipiter - This bird passed the watch point at relatively close range. We thought Cooper's in the field, based largely on structure, but looking at these images I don't mind admitting that I'm increasingly troubled by the Cooper's/Sharp-shinned species problem, especially with birds like this! Comments would be most welcome. 
Peregrine - Adult migrating over Blueberry Hill.
Best birding,
James.
Red-eyed Vireo - One of three along North Whitney Street, Amherst.
Blue-headed Vireo - One of three along North Whitney Street, Amherst. 
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - In Wildwood Cemetery.
Best birding,
James.
Peregrine Falcon - Juvenile of Arctic race 'tundrius'. Obviously a really poor image but has generally pale-headed appearance with distinct white cheek and well marked, but not especially broad, black mustache.The crown of this bird was pale, creamy-buff, well shown by this bird in Northampton's East Meadows in October 2005.
Lincoln's Sparrow - Five plus today at North Hadley, plus one at Mt. Warner Road, Hadley.The day started with heavy showers which soon eased up after 07:30am. Not having too much time to play with, I headed across to North Hadley to have an hour checking for migrants by the CT River. It was very slow to begin with, but after a little while I found a decent feeding flock consisting mostly of sparrows, primarily Song and White-throated Sparrows. Loosely associating with the flock were 2 Blue-headed Vireos, 5 Blackpoll Warblers, 1 Magnolia Warbler, a dozen or so Common Yellowthroats, 1 Scarlet Tanager, 6 Indigo Buntings, 2 House Wrens, 10+ Swamp Sparrows and 5+ Lincoln's Sparrows. A latish Chimney Swift also flew over south.
On the way back to Amherst I made a very brief stop at Mt. Warner Road in Hadley and found the place pretty busy with Chipping Sparrows, Savannah Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds and at least 5 Eastern Phoebes. The highlight was a stunning 'blond-crown' juvenile tundrius Peregrine which swept through my binocular view as I was scanning the fields for sparrows. The views were immaculate, but were also very fast and the bird was already moving away by the time I'd got the camera to my bins. A fine bird to finish the morning though!
Best birding,
James
A return visit to Hatfield this morning to check for any changes in the shorebird situation from the previous day. The American Golden Plovers and Lesser Yellowlegs had gone, and for a while I thought Killdeer was going to be the only species present in the fields. On my fourth telescope scan of the same potato field I found a handsome but distant Buff-breasted Sandpiper, in fact too distant to attempt any digiscope shots. Having watched it for about 5 minutes with 8 Killdeer, 2 Horned Larks and a couple of American Pipits, the whole field of birds was spooked by a Sharp-shinned Hawk. The Killdeer took the Buff-breasted with them and despite circling the field a couple of times, never returned landing well to the south. 
Buff-breasted Sandpiper (center) in flight between two Killdeers - arguably one of the best shots ever taken of the species.
Common Yellowthroat - male
Bobolink - one of two birds together today, at Hatfield.
House Wren - one of two birds together at Hatfield.
A frustrating morning in many respects. Not only did I miss out on images of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper, but I also had one, possibly two Cackling Geese moving north towards Sunderland along the CT River which would have been my earliest in the valley if confirmed. Even so, the Hatfield area was still extremely busy with plenty to see, mostly Savannah, Song and White-throated Sparrows, increasing numbers of Swamp and Lincoln's Sparrows and a couple of Bobolinks together. One small thicket held 2 Blue-headed Vireos, 5 Palm Warblers, 1 Tennessee Warbler. 3 Purple Finch and a couple of House Wrens. Blue Jays filtered across the fields all morning.
Still a joy to be out!
James.
Thanks to a post from Mark Fairbrother on the Massbird listserve, I went out this morning and found six pristine juvenile American Golden Plovers favoring flooded potato fields in beautiful agricultural Hatfield. The birds had moved north from Mark's original posted location, and had I not walked out along the farm tracks to get closer to a Lesser Yellowlegs......well, I think I would have probably missed them altogether. They simply weren't visible from the main road. It's been a while since I've chased some good shorebirds locally, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching these beauties this morning. The area (former Hatfield-Pilgrim Airfield) is reasonably well known for attracting shorebirds, and the fields on the western side of River Road held no less than eight Buff-breasted Sandpipers in late August 2005, featured here on my old website.
The whole area was generally 'birdy', mostly sparrows with over 60 Savannah, some Song and about 3 each of Swamp and Lincoln's Sparrows, and along one of the weed-filled ditches, a rather smart Bobolink. American Pipits featured this morning too, mostly singles flying south. Raptors, well good views of Northern Harrier, Merlin, plus 3 each of Sharp-shinned Hawk and Osprey, both of the latter migrating south along the Connecticut River.
All in all, a fine autumnal morning to be out.
American Golden Plovers - six juveniles together at Hatfield, just south of the Hampshire/Franklin County line.
Lesser Yellowlegs with American Golden Plovers - Hatfield.
American Golden Plovers and Lesser Yellowlegs (second from right), Hatfield. The largest flock of AGPs that I've seen in the Pioneer Valley.
Bobolink - found feeding along the weed-filled ditch shown below (Sugarloaf Mountain in the background).
Best birding, James.
Blue-headed Vireo - Moody Bridge Road, Hadley.
Black-and-White Warbler - Moody Bridge Road, Hadley.
Black-throated Green Warbler - Moody Bridge Road, Hadley.
Departed late this morning and without any real plan. What a muggy morning it was too with complete cloud cover, high humidity and an abundance of mosquitoes - it really felt more like late July than late September. Eventually found a few migrants down on Moody Bridge road in Hadley, but I had to work for them. Perhaps the best would have been a single Swainson's Thrush, but also of note were 3 Blue-headed Vireo, 2 Red-eyed Vireo, 2 Northern Parula, 3 American Redstart, 5 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 2 'Eastern' Palm Warbler, 2 Black-throated Green Warbler and a single Magnolia Warbler.
A little closer to the Connecticut River, the corn fields along the Aqua Vitae road were much better and actually quite busy with sparrows, mostly Savannah and Song Sparrows, but several Swamp and a single Lincoln's. At least 15 Indigo Buntings and 5 'Eastern' Palm Warblers were present as well. A most impressive flock of 6,000 Red-winged Blackbirds lurked in the tall trees lining the river. Raptors attracted to all this activity featured a juvenile Peregrine (probably tundrius), a Merlin, a Cooper's Hawk, and two migrant Ospreys drifted south together around noon.
Closer to home, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was on N. Whitney Street in late afternoon.
Best birding,
James
Canada Goose raft - Turner's Falls.
Canada Geese - showing characteristics of B.c. interior.
Canada Goose - possible B.c. maxima. Large bird just left of center with the extensive white cheek and white spot on the forehead. Surrounded mostly by B.c. canadensis.
White-crowned Sparrow - first-winter, Barton Cove. An adult was present with this bird.
