MA - waterfowl on the move part two; a day for Horned Grebes

Horned Grebes (5) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.

With yesterday's low cloud, drizzle and mist continuing through the night and into the morning, and coupled with a nice temperature drop, prospects looked good for more waterbird arrivals at Barton Cove. A brief but productive early morning spin around the cove didn't disappoint. The light was so poor around 06:45 hours that I held off from taking any photos until mid-morning but the initial haul included 2 Surf Scoter (pair), 8 Lesser Scaup, 6 Greater Scaup (5 male, 1 female), 3 Ruddy Duck (2 male, one quite bright), 4 Red-breasted Mergansers (1 male, 3 female), 3 Horned Grebe (2 in breeding plumage, 1 transitional), Snow Goose (white morph continuing since Apr 2nd), and a Double-crested Cormorant arriving mid-morning. I was most impressed with the breeding plumage Horned Grebes, a species which I tend to think of as being quite a scarce migrant through northern Franklin County. With that in mind I couldn't have been more thrilled to come across a further 5 Horned Grebes in a tight flock at the Turner's Falls Rod and Gun club. The latter site also yielded my first local Ospreys (2) of the year, plus there was a notable increase Tree Swallow, Pine Warbler and Chipping Sparrow numbers along the river this morning.

Surf Scoter (pair) with Greater Scaup (6) at rear - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.

Further indications of migration included 5 (3, 2) Great Blue Herons heading north high over Turner's Falls Airfield, a species I only occasionally detect on active migration in Franklin County.

Great Blue Herons - Turner's Falls Airfield, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.

Three of five migrating high over the airfield this morning. 

By late afternoon, the weather had worsened bringing pulses of extremely heavy rain and cooler temperatures. A very quick check of Barton Cove found almost 200 newly arrived gulls including good numbers of adult/near adult Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. With them came a pristine adult/near adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. A tight flock of around 15 Double-crested Cormorants had clearly dropped in on the showers as well. 

Lesser Black-backed Gull (adult/near adult) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.
Just left of center with Herring and Ring-billed Gulls.

Bonaparte's Gulls - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.
Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield. Part of the flock of 29 initially found by David Sibley. 

Bonaparte's Gulls - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 9th, 2019.
Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield. 

And the day turned out to be far from over when David Sibley found 29 Bonaparte's Gulls and 10 Red-breasted Mergansers at Barton Cove off Riverview Drive just 70 minutes after I had to leave the area. As if that wasn't enough, David (along with Josh Layfield and Eric Huston) finished off the evening with a calling Caspian Tern flying upriver at dusk! Although April is the best month in the year to see Caspian Tern in Franklin County, it's usually the second half of the month when they show up and today's observation is the earliest that I'm aware of.