MA - Gill shorebirds including Baird's Sandpiper

September opened with a welcome temperature drop and brisk north-westerlies. The Caspian Terns at Barton Cove on August 31st certainly piqued my interest and I was back on September 1st finding a group of distant teal that I felt reasonably sure were Blue-winged. Fortunately this hunch was more or less confirmed in late afternoon with a male Blue-winged Teal seen in flight from Barton Cove campground. Elsewhere, I tried a hilltop west of Greenfield for raptors and had 3 Black Vultures dispersing northwards from roost with a about 15 Turkey Vultures. A handful of Broad-winged Hawks and single Red-shouldered Hawk were also seen but, generally, it felt early for raptor migration.

Blue-winged Teal - eclipse male, Barton Cove (campground side), Gill, Franklin Co., MA. September 1st, 2017. 

The Baird's Sandpiper and other shorebirds were using the exposed mud bar at the rear. 

Later in the day the focus shifted to shorebirds when Eric Huston contacted me with a probable Baird's Sandpiper being seen at distance from Barton Cove campground. Given Eric's conservative birding style I instinctively knew that it was a bird that I should try to see and eventually met up with him at the campground. Sure enough, although distant, we watched a beautiful juvenile Baird's Sandpiper foraging on a mud bar with a few Least and Semi-palmated Sandpipers. Rare shorebirds are not easy to catch up with in Franklin County and this was a county first for both of us - 'chapeau' to Eric for his excellent find.

The following morning (Sep 2nd) was shrouded in fog but Brian Kane tried his chances for the Baird's and located it just as the fog cleared. Just as I joined him, not only did we see the Baird's but Brian rather expertly found a White-rumped Sandpiper sharing the mud bar with several Killdeer, 5 Semi-palmated Plovers, up to a dozen smaller peeps mostly Least Sandpipers, and at least one Lesser Yellowlegs, plus 2 or 3 Greater Yellowlegs - not a bad haul for Gill in early September!

MA - more dabblers!

Some welcome rain brought slightly cooler temperatures today but it still felt very muggy to me. I had a quick cruise around some of the fields in Gill this morning but found little of interest except a couple of Bobolinks off Boyle Road. Little seemed to have changed at Barton Cove as well, that's until I bumped in Josh Rose at Unity Park in Turner's Falls. Again, the motley Mallard flock drew in yet another species of dabbling duck - four Blue-winged Teal. Unlike last week's Green-winged Teal, these birds didn't mind being watched at close quarters and hung around until Josh and I left at about 09:45 hrs. The molting drake Gadwall continued, now present for about a month at Unity Park. Other than that, a Pied-billed Grebe off Riverview Drive and the continuing, summering Great Black-backed Gull. But, Blue-winged Teal was the bird of the day.....no doubt about that one.

 Blue-winged Teals - four today on the CT river at Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. September 10th, 2015. 

 Common Nighthawks - two distant birds heading east, Barton Cove boat ramp, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. 

September 10th, 2015. 

Gadwall -  continuing molting male, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. September 10th, 2015. 

Later in the day, a quick check of Unity Park on a rainy, gloomy evening found the four Blue-winged Teal still present and Eric Huston scoping them out! Eric had mentioned seeing a fairly late nighthawk. Luckily for me, a quick stop at Barton Cove boat ramp found two Common Nighthawks heading east through the gloom at speed. It's getting quite late to see nighthawks locally though I think we still have a chance of seeing some stragglers through to the end of the month.