MA - October third week

Pileated Woodpecker - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 13th, 2019.

Relatively common throughout Franklin County but never taken for granted, Pileated Woodpeckers have been 

active and visible at many locations in October. 

It's been a steady week of migration and falling leaves. North Cross Road in Gill has featured strong numbers of Hermit Thrushes on most mornings with 7 - 15 birds calling from the roadsides, sometimes foraging on the road itself before traffic starts in earnest around 7am. Yellow-rumped Warblers continue to migrate south-west in good numbers with 20 - 45 birds on most mornings around sunrise. Most other warblers, perhaps as expected, have become extremely few and far between but Brian Kane had a Nashville Warbler in his Sunderland yard on the 18th. It's been a decent week for Rusty Blackbirds with one heading south over Mill Village Road, Deerfield on the 18th and 4 over North Cross Road on the 19th.

Rusty Blackbird - migrant heading south over Mill Village Road, Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 18th, 2018.

Least Sandpiper - Hells Kitchen, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 11th, 2019.

Very probably the same individual bird that's been lingering here from the beginning of October through to the 21st at least.

Shorebirds continued to have a patchy, irregular presence at Hell's Kitchen in Northfield but patient birders have been rewarded with Solitary Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper and up to 5 Pectoral Sandpipers through to the 21st. And a personal highlight for me was two American Woodcocks seen 'chittering' over North Cross Road, Gill early on the 18th. A Pectoral Sandpiper also touched down at Caldwell Road sod fields during the storm of the 17th when it was the only shorebird present there.

Savannah Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 13th, 2019.

Sparrows continued to feature and perhaps increase in number with several pronounced 'waves' of Song, Savannah, Chipping, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows this week. At least 160 Savannah Sparrows were present in the Mill Village Road fields south of Historic Deerfield on the 17th, which also happened to be the last date on which the Le Conte's Sparrow was seen. The Deerfield Meadows also produced over 21 White-crowned Sparrows on the 19th, 18 of which were in the North Meadows when there was also an Eastern Meadowlark close by (David Sibley). Still at the Deerfield Meadows, single Field Sparrows and up to three Vesper Sparrows have been found fairly consistently amid the hordes of Savannah and Song Sparrows.

Le Conte's Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 17th, 2019.

White-throated Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 17th, 2019.

Lincoln's Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 17th, 2019.

Vesper Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 17th, 2019.

MA - small, dark Canada Geese in Whately

Canada Goose - small, dark individual among Atlantic Canada Geese, Whately, Franklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2019.

It's been a relatively slow start to the goose migration in the Pioneer Valley. Although migrants have been arriving it's been more of a steady build rather than a sudden incursion of hundreds of birds, something which we quite often see at this time of year. But, it's still early in the month and presumably we can look forward to some large arrivals over the next 10 days or so.

Canada Geese - dark individuals amid Atlantic Canada Geese, Whately, Franklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2019.

This looked more like a family group of dark birds, perhaps too dark side for Hudson Bay Canada Goose B.c. interior?

Canada Geese - large, white breasted birds showing characteristics of Atlantic Canada Goose (B. c. canadenis), Whately, Franklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2019.

Canada Goose - small, dark individual amid Atlantic Canada Geese, Whately, Franklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2019.

Canada Goose - small, dark individual amid Atlantic Canada Geese, Whately, Franklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2019.

Same individual as above. 

I did find a flock of geese at Tri-town Beach, Whately and at least six individuals, possibly from two different family groups, caught my attention in being exceptionally small and dark. I am used to seeing a lot of variation within Canada Geese in the Pioneer Valley and at this time of year we tend to get two, fairly distinct forms; Atlantic Canada Goose (B.c. canadensis) which are typically large, pale gray-brown and white/pale breasted, and Hudson Bay Canada Goose (B.c. interior) which tend to be darker, browner and more dusky in appearance with a darker breast and appear to average quite a bit smaller in size than Atlantic Canada Goose. With this in mind, I tend to be quite careful about variation within Canada Goose flocks but today's birds really did stand out as being exceptionally dark to the point where I'm pretty sure that I haven't encountered anything like these locally before. I'm not sure what they are, or how to account for the very dark appearance but I'm hoping that posting a few images will draw some attention to these very interesting geese. And for those interested, some essential reading on Distinguishing Cackling and Canada Geese by David Sibley can be found here;
https://www.sibleyguides.com/2007/07/identification-of-cackling-and-canada-goose/


Elsewhere in the valley, well warm, muggy rain showers came back today after a relatively cool weekend bringing 9 Green-winged Teal, 6 Pectoral Sandpipers and 1 Least Sandpiper to Hell's Kitchen in Northfield. And there was a surprise Vesper Sparrow very briefly on the sod fields at Caldwell Road, Northfield.

Pectoral Sandpiper - two of six, Hell's Kitchen, Northfield, Framklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2019.

Pectoral Sandpiper - one of six, Hell's Kitchen, Northfield, Framklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2019.

Vesper Sparrow - Caldwell Road Sod, Northfield, Framklin Co., MA. October 7th, 2019.

MA - Northfield shorebirds, kestrels and Cape May Warblers

Greater Yellowlegs, Solitary and Pectoral Sandpipers - Caldwell Road fields, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. 

September 26th, 2018.

Another volatile weather system brought heavy rain for the whole of the 25th followed by warm, muggy, south-westerlies the next day. Storm related birds appeared to be very few on the 25th but I did find a 'pocket' of shorebirds at Caldwell Road fields in Northfield late in the day. A modest haul of 2 Pectoral, 2 Semi-palmated and 2 Least Sandpipers plus Greater Yellowlegs and Killdeer wasn't bad compared to most other sites that I checked which seemed to be bereft of birds. American Pipits though, appeared in numbers for the first time this fall with 11 visible on the sod fields.

American Pipits - Caldwell Road fields, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. September 26th, 2018.

The following day, the 26th, was a very different story. A return to the Caldwell Road fields had me captivated for three hours! The place was hopping and it was clear that a major songbird fall-out had taken place. The very first warbler that I saw and identified was a first-winter Cape May setting the theme for the morning as Cape May Warblers (12 in total) lifted out of the corn fields to filter through the trees and bushes along the roadside. Again, I was struck by the relative abundance of this species in northern Franklin County compared to previous years. Other warbler species included Yellow-rumped (10), Tennessee (5), Magnolia (2), American Redstart (3), Common Yellowthroat (9), Northern Parula (5) and plenty of unidentified birds that were just too quick or high for me to be sure of. Red-eyed (5) and Blue-headed Vireos were both included in the mix and I'm pretty sure I had a Philadelphia Vireo leaf gleaning but just couldn't clinch it.

Cape May Warbler (first-winter) - Caldwell Road fields, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. 

September 26th, 2018.

American Redstart (first-winter) - Caldwell Road fields, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. September 26th, 2018.

Red-eyed Vireo - Caldwell Road fields, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. September 26th, 2018.

Down on the sod fields, some shorebirds remained and had even increased from the previous evening, surprising given the clearing weather conditions - 5 Least, 2 Pectoral, and 3 Solitary Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs and Killdeer, and an increase to 35 American Pipits.

Solitary and Pectoral Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs - Caldwell Road fields, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. 

September 26th, 2018.

In terms of spectacles, well 14 American Kestrels on wires along a stretch of dirt road no more than 300 meters would take some beating and certainly the closest I've come to a fall-out of that species in our area.

American Kestrel (5 of the 14 birds in view here) - Caldwell Road fields, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. 

September 26th, 2018.

Northern Harrier (juvenile) - Caldwell Road fields, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. 

September 26th, 2018.

Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs - Pine Meadow Road fields, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. 

September 27th, 2018.

MA - more golden plovers in Northfield

Pectoral Sandpiper (center) flanked by American Golden Plovers - Four Star Farms, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. September 6th, 2017. 

Yet more storm activity overnight bringing heavy to torrential rain throughout the morning, plus one or two power outages in our area. Again I checked a few likely spots for shorebirds and found the Northfield sod farms to be the most productive with 4 American Golden Plovers and a Pectoral Sandpiper in mid-morning, along with at least a dozen Killdeer. The same site had been bereft of shorebirds the previous day so I assumed that all were fresh birds arriving on the current turbulent weather system. Turner's Falls airfield had a Killdeer and two shorebirds in flight that I'm pretty sure were Pectoral Sandpipers but couldn't quite confirm it in the height of the deluge. At Barton Cove, last weekend's Pied-billed Grebe had been joined by a second bird.

MA - Pec Sand and Common Nighthawk - 09/01

September at last, and thank goodness for increasingly cool nights and foggy, autumnal dawns.

Two nice local sightings today, as if to welcome one of the most exciting birding months on the calender. This morning I saw heard, then saw a Pectoral Sandpiper flying around Upinngil Farm with a small flock of Feral Doves and Starlings! It spent a good seven minutes circling the fields and paddocks in the area before heading off North.

And this evening, between the thundery showers, a Common Nighthawk over Rt 2 in Gill near the intersection with Main Road and the Turner's Falls bridge.

Of note, the calls of Red-eyed Vireos and Eastern Wood Pewees have been common sounds through out Gill over the last two days.

Alas, a brief check of Barton Cove in mid-morning did not produce any sign of yesterday's Re-necked Phalarope though I did see a Great Black-backed Gull, 7 Ring-billed Gulls and 4 or 5 immature Bald Eagles.

JPS