MA - egrets, shorebirds and crossbills!

Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. July 29th, 2020.

Seven of the nine Great Egrets present forming an evening roost on Barton Island. 

July went out with something of a bang as clear indications of an incursion of Red Crossbills became very evident on the last day with seven passing over North Cross Road in mid-morning, and at least one other calling and singing at Hell's Kitchen. Later that evening, I came across a further six Red Crossbills on North Cross Road feeding in White Pines with a similar number of Cedar Waxwings for company. The 31st also brought a singing Lousiana Waterthrush to our Northfield yard, quite a rare visitor in late summer/early fall and almost certainly a migrant. 

Shorebird migration has been particularly evident in the last two weeks of the month with Least Sandpipers consistently present at Hell's Kitchen (2 - 3 birds) and also for a couple of days at the Turner's Falls power canal (10 - 15 birds on Jul 23rd and 24th). Being partially drained on those dates, the power canal showed much promise and also held a Semi-palmated Plover on Jul 24th. Similarly, Solitary Sandpipers were present at Hell's Kitchen (1 - 3 ) and at the power canal when water levels were drawn down. Unfortunately, power canal water levels went back to normal on the 25th ending a short but sweet spell for migrant shorebirds there. Rather less expected was a wandering, calling Greater Yellowlegs over North Cross Road on Jul 29th, the same day that no less than 9 Great Egrets showed up for an evening roost at Barton Cove in what has become a traditional late July build of that species in northern Franklin County. However, they were not present the following evening when a juvenile Bald Eagle had taken a liking to their preferred roost tree!

Breeding species continued to be of interest late into the month with a notably strong presence of Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Alder Flycatchers in Gill/Northfield and the successful breeding of Barred Owls for the third consecutive year on North Cross Road, Gill. And of special interest, confirmation of breeding Merlins at an unexpected location in Greenfield where a pair raised at least three young to the fledgling stage. I was lucky enough to be there with the finder just as some of the fledglings were taking practice flights right over her backyard! Although I've suspected breeding Merlins in the Gill/Turner's Falls area for years this was first actual nest and confirmation of breeding that I've come across anywhere in Franklin County......thanks very much to Tamsin Flanders for sharing the experience! 

Merlins - all recently fledged young, Greenfield, Franklin Co, MA. July 24th, 2020. 

a brighter day - Greater Yellowlegs, Caspian Tern and a range of new migrants arrive in Gill.

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020.

Found by Josh Layfield and very much a 'classic' date for this scarce but regular Franklin County migrant. 

April 25th was a warm day with clear skies and temperatures peaking in the low sixties evidently allowing good numbers of migrants to filter northwards. A whole host of brand new birds arrived in Gill this morning (the 26th) and the day began in the nicest possible way with a Greater Yellowlegs wading around a small roadside puddle off Main Road. That was quickly followed by a bevy of newly arrived migrants on North Cross Road; Blue-headed Vireo, House Wren, Black-throated Green Warbler, Veery (2) and Eastern Towhee (2). Both of the Veeries were feeding at the roadside and not in song. I don't actually expect to hear Veery song locally until about May 5th/6th. Also, rather intriguingly, I heard one clear burst of a Cerulean Warbler type song though when I returned to the spot with bins and camera I couldn't help but wonder if it was actually a Brown Thrasher mimicking song fragments of a Cerulean Warbler? The thrasher certainly gave a perfect rendition of Eastern Whip-poor-will whilst I was standing there. Either way, I was unable to follow-up on the song burst that I'd heard and decided to leave it unidentified and, although it seems quite early for Cerulean Warbler in the Pioneer Valley, the local breeding birds will be back on territory in just over a week or so.

Greater Yellowlegs - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020.

Horned Grebes - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020.

The rest of the morning continued to be productive as we went for a family walk around Barton Cove Nature Trail. Pine Warblers (10+) and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (8) were the most frequent small migrants but we also had a smattering of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and a single (yellow) Palm Warbler. On the  cove itself Ring-billed Gulls increased from 11 to 16 birds whilst we were there and four Horned Grebes in breeding plumage hugged the Turner's Falls shoreline but were visible from Barton Cove campground.

Pine Warbler (male) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020.

Around 12:30 pm a Caspian Tern dropped into Barton Cove found by Josh Layfield, pretty remarkable since we'd been checking the same spot from Riverview Drive only twenty minutes earlier! Thanks to Josh's timely text we were able to get over to Riverview Drive pretty quickly and enjoyed views of the magnificent beast careening all over the cove, fishing, bathing, preening and eventually circling high up over the water spending quite some time in the air before gaining more height and disappearing northwards. Surprisingly to us, it did not depart upriver but appeared, or at least as much as we could tell, to choose an overland route and head straight north at about 13:10 hours - absolutely fascinating to watch! It was certainly neat to wrap up a migration filled morning with something as impressive a migrant Caspian Tern and thanks again to Josh for his timely alert.

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020. 

Departing high to the north over Riverview Drive. 

Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2020.

From Barton Cove Nature Trail. 

By early evening the Double-crested Cormorants at Barton Cove had increased from 4 to 21 and the Ring-billed Gulls (16), all of which appeared to be second-cycle birds, remained. 

MA - more from the Turner's Falls area

Greater Yellowlegs (juvenile) - Turner's Falls, Franklin County, MA. September 11th, 2018.

A cold front finally brought some welcome cooler air from September 8th. I was hoping for some dramatic changes locally, especially in terms of waterbirds, but surprisingly didn't find too much in the way of new birds. Things improved somewhat on September 10th with an American Wigeon (male) at the Turner's Falls power canal and a nice selection of species at the Turner's Falls Rod and Gun club with 4 Great Egrets, 2 Greater and 1 Lesser Yellowlegs together, a juvenile Northern Harrier, a Yellow Warbler and my first Herring Gull (juvenile) of the autumn. Rain throughout the afternoon of the 10th and into the 11th seemed to have little effect in grounding migrants but a juvenile Semi-palmated Sandpiper joined the small, regular flock of Least Sandpipers at Hell's Kitchen where an Olive-sided Flycatcher called for several minutes before moving on. A Greater Yellowlegs remained at the Rod and Gun club on the 11th, as did a Great Egret with the latter species continuing to impress with at least 8 frequenting the Connecticut River between the Rod and Gun club and the Turner's Falls power canal.

American Wigeon (male) - Turner's Falls, Franklin County, MA. September 10th, 2018.

Greater Yellowlegs (two lower birds) and Lesser Yellowlegs - Turner's Falls, Franklin County, MA. September 10th, 2018.

The widespread movement of Purple Finches in northern Franklin County continues and I'm still recording birds in almost all the locations I visit though not in large numbers with flock of 3 - 6 birds being the norm.

American Redstart (hatch-year) - Deerfield Meadows, Franklin County, MA. September 8th, 2018.