MA - March in northern Franklin County

Northern Shovelers - (with Mallards) Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. March 27th, 2018.

After a promising start, March turned out to be a relatively quiet and rather wintery month. Numbers of waterfowl appeared to be fairly stable with continued large numbers of Ring-necked Ducks, Common and Hooded Mergansers loafing at Barton Cove and the female Redhead present through to at least mid-month. The last few days saw better diversity with increased numbers of American Black Ducks, Wood Ducks (19 together on the Connecticut River at Erving), Green-winged Teal ( 9 together at Barton Cove on the 30th) and Northern Shoveler (4, including three males at Barton Cove during 27th - 29th), and Lesser Scaup (3 at Barton Cove and 2 at Erving), and also a smattering of Bufflehead, Northern Pintail and American Wigeon on several days throughout March. And there was a nice early Pied-billed Grebe at Barton Cove on the 30th. 

Pied-billed Grebe (in the mist) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. March 30th, 2018.

Cackling Goose - with Canada Geese, Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. March 10th, 2018.

Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield . 

On March 10th, Josh Layfield found a Cackling Goose at the power canal in Turner's Falls. It was a typical Richardson's (B.h.hutchinsii) and remarkable in the sense that it was the only definitive Cackling Goose that I've managed to see in Franklin County all winter. Moreover, it appeared for just one day and was evidently associated with the large numbers of Canada Geese (1500+) moving through that particular weekend. On the 30th, both Brian Kane (in Sunderland) and Josh Layfield (at Barton Cove) had a large flock of Snow Geese migrating north in late afternoon, most likely the same individual flock of around 100 birds.


The first two weeks of March also saw continued numbers of Iceland Gulls (up to 7) and Glaucous Gulls (up to 2 first-cycle birds) at  Barton Cove through to about March 12th. After that, gull numbers and diversity gradually dwindled, though a single Iceland Gull was still present through to March 28th at least.

Iceland Gull (first-cycle) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. March 27th, 2018.

At beginning of the month, Black Vultures began to appear over downtown Greenfield with increased numbers of Turkey Vultures with no less than 11 Blacks in one flock over Federal Street on March 8th, by the far the largest single flock of Black Vultures that I've recorded in Franklin County. Towards the end of the month, and perhaps a little later than average, Fish Crows started to appear along Federal Street in Greenfield, with others in Turner's Falls including seven together in Unity Park on the 29th.

Fish Crows - three of seven feeding on Sumac, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. March 29th, 2018.

Arrivals of summer breeders also appeared to be later than average this year Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (1 at Gill Elementary on the 30th), Pine Warbler (1 at Gill at Elementary on the 30th) and Eastern Phoebe showing up before the end of the month but only just, and none of them widespread before April 1st. Indeed, Tree Swallows seemed absent altogether and I was unable to find any in Gill before the month ended. A strong contender for bird-of-the-month was stunning adult Red-shouldered Hawk along Boyle Road, Gill on the 27th and spotted by our son Matan as I drove him to school. Equally memorable has been the impressive concentration of displaying American Woodcocks along North Cross Road in Gill, with seven seemingly undeterred by a foot of fresh snow on the 14th, and at least 10 displaying there on the 29th.

MA - Horned Larks, late Pec and more saw-whets this week

Horned Lark - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 8th, 2016.

Notable observations in the Northfield/Gill/Turner's Falls area this week included a late Pectoral Sandpiper in Hell's Kitchen on the 7th, together with about eight Killdeer, and up to 11 Killdeer at the same spot on the 9th.

 Pectoral Sandpiper - Hell's Kitchen, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. November 7th, 2016.

Not that easy to see in Franklin County, and getting late to boot. 

Killdeer - Hell's Kitchen, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. November 9th, 2016.

Small flocks of Horned Larks showed up in Gill on River Road, and Northfield on Caldwell, both flocks offering excellent close views. There was also a huge flock of 150 Cedar Waxwings on Caldwell Road along with good numbers of American Robins which passed through the area in good numbers this week.

Horned Lark - Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. November 8th, 2016.

Down at Turner's Falls, the Cackling Goose continued to be seen periodically with Canada Geese through to the 11th when two drake Northern Shoveler also showed up with the Canada Geese. Otherwise, a general build-up of Common Mergansers and Common Goldeneyes continues, as does the numbers of gulls arriving at Unity Park at dusk. Unity Park has also hosted up to three Merlins again this week with the birds seemingly unconcerned by the busy recreational activities taking place in the park.

Cackling Goose (left) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 8th, 2016.

Continuing bird present through Nov 11th.

Northern Shovelers (2) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 11th, 2016.

Found very late in the day with a small flock of Canada Geese. 

Merlin - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 9th, 2016. 

Up to three around Unity Park most evenings this week. 

 American Robin - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 8th, 2016.

Finally, in Gill, the incredible show of Northern Saw-whet Owls continued on the 10th when I was joined by Laura Gaudette and Brian Kane. We checked four sites around the town finding saw-whets in all four, with just one site being a repeat visit from Nov 8th. Again we enjoyed a nice range of vocals with the drawn out 'squeal' or 'whine' call being the most frequent, but at the last site we also heard prolonged and sustained quiet 'tooting' as well as various squeals. It was another very successful sortie in less than favorable conditions with wind gusts of about 10 mph at times. However, with tally from the 8th and 10th combined, that gave us around 11 saw-whets Owls found in Gill this week alone and a further six or so from the 7th in Northfield.....pretty impressive!

MA - Northern Shovelers in Gill

Stopped by Barton Cove for ten minutes this morning on my way to an appointment. Nice to see Common Goldeneyes (2) and Ring-necked Ducks (10) lingering plus a continuing non-breeding Common Loon. Two Northern Shovelers and a male Green-winged Teal were more recent arrivals. There was also a lot of Pileated Woodpecker activity in the woods along the campground road and a singing vireo there which I'm pretty sure was a Blue-headed.

 Northern Shoveler - male and female, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 27th, 2015.

Common Goldeneye - two females with female Common Merganser, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. 

April 27th, 2015.

Other than that, the woods continue to be rather quiet as the constant northerlies do their worst.......I'd normally expect to be hearing Ovenbird, Black-throated Green Warbler and American Redstart in the woods by this time, though I did manage a FOY House Wren along the power canal yesterday. We could see some south-westerlies by Wednesday/Thursday which will hopefully bring warmer days and widespread arrivals of familiar summer migrants.

Pileated Woodpecker - male, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 27th, 2015.

Local Pileateds tend to be quite skittish but this bold male was rather approachable today. 

MA - Northern Shoveler and more, Turner's Falls

We're bracing ourselves for a plunge of Arctic air and even had a little taste of it this afternoon. In between times, I had a quick check of the Turner's Falls area finding a few nice long stayers but no obvious new arrivals. The female Northern Shoveler continues at the power canal, neatly hidden among the Canada Geese. A male Merlin was soaring over the Turner's Falls bridge this afternoon and a slight improvement on the gull situation found a nice adult Lesser Black-backed Gull at Unity Park. A couple of Cedar Waxwings were feeding along the power canal, a species that was curiously absent during the same sector of the Greenfield CBC on December 28th.

 Northern Shoveler (right) - female continuing from late December, Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. January 5th, 2014. Skillfully hiding among 350 Canada Geese!

Canada Goose - abberant bird with unusual amounts of white flecking on the black neck.

Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. January 5th, 2014. The goose flocks at Turner's Falls often

hold two or three birds like this which seem to have increased over the last five years or so.

 Lesser Black-backed Gull - adult, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. January 5th, 2014.

 Cedar Waxwing -  Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. January 5t., 2014.

Nice to see after completely dipping on this species during the Greenfield CBC.

Yesterday evening I hung around for the goldeneye roost at the power canal. It was a fine show with about 85 birds coming in and a great deal of displaying. There was, however, no sign of the male Barrow's Goldeneye which I don't think has been recorded here since the beginning of the New Year. The Eastern Phoebe was also calling toward dusk, continuing from late December. 

MA - Shoveler and other Gill notes - 10/22

A Northern Harrier flew south low over our house on Main Road, Gill, just before a major band of rain set in for the afternoon on Oct 22nd. About our sixth record overall, fitting nicely within a pattern of other mid-October occurrences. The yard continues to 'heave' with Yellow-rumped Warblers and White-throated Sparrows but overall diversity amongst other species seems to be dwindling. Even so, the weekend yielded Blue-headed Vireos on the 19th and 20th and a singing Purple Finch also the 20th. A major incursion of Dark-eyed Juncos and, to a lesser extent Chipping Sparrows, also took place over the weekend, not so much in our yard but very apparent along the roadsides in Gill.

Yesterday (10/21), waterfowl were again of interest at Barton Cove this time highlighted by a Northern Shoveler, seemingly quite a scarce/rare migrant through the Pioneer Valley in fall. Also present, a nice drake Wood Duck, 3 Green-winged Teal, 6 Ring-necked Duck and a very high count of exactly 50 Mute Swans.

Northern Shoveler - female/first-winter, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA.

October 21st, 2013. Digiscoped using Canon Powershot G10.

The Swamp Sparrows in our yard seem to be dispersing from the solid numbers present (up to 15) in the second and third weeks of October. They've been easy enough to see but the 'devil' to photograph. Finally, one teed up on Saturday long enough for me to take an image.

Swamp Sparrow - Gill yard, Franklin Co., MA.

October 19th, 2013. Canon Powershot G10.



And a belated note for the 17th - I was really surprised to see a Savannah Sparrow at the edge of the yard which, though distant, perched up long enough for an image to be taken. We've had Savannah's Sparrows close by before, but this may have been our first actually within the yard itself.

Savannah Sparrow - Gill yard, Franklin Co., MA.

October 21st, 2013. Digiscoped using Canon Powershot G10.