MA - first sapsucker - 02/28

Back to Arctic conditions for us this week, so it was particularly nice (and surprising) to find this roadside Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Gill this morning. I haven't seen any sapsuckers locally since late October, not even on the Christmas Bird Counts so I can't help but wonder if this might be an early migrant? Even so, a lone winterer would be easy to overlook and we're still about a month away from the main arrival of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in Gill. Either way, it was great to see.

 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - poor quality shots of fast moving bird, North Cross Road, Gill,
Franklin Co., MA. February 28th, 2014. My first local sapsucker of the year. 

Habitat for Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, North Cross Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. February 28th, 2014. 

You can't really blame it for wanting to be in such a nice place!

Elsewhere, a quick check of the CT River at West Northfield produced no diving ducks at all, quite the contrast from my last visit three days ago which turned up 9 Greater Scaup and lots of Common Goldeneye.