MA - a Rufous Hummingbird in Millers Falls

 

Rufous Hummingbird - Millers Falls, Franklin Co. MA. November 11th, 2022. 

Found by Bruce Kanash at his home, ID ultimately verified by Master bander Anthony Hill. 

November 10th was warm and breezy with winds in the southern quarter. Since I hadn't been out to the Quabbin for a few weeks I thought I'd give it a try feeling open minded but not overly optimistic. On arrival at Gate 35 a chance encounter with Jeff Johnstone ultimately led to an encounter with a Rufous Hummingbird in Millers Falls later the same morning! A Selaphorus hummingbird had been coming to a feeder at a residence close to Millers Falls center. As it turned out, Jeff and the home owner, Bruce Kanash, had been friends for years. Bruce had first noted the hummingbird at his feeders on October 8th and kudos to Jeff, together with Ernie LeBlanc and Bruce, who identified it as a Rufous/Allen's on November 8th. 

Rufous Hummingbird - Millers Falls, Franklin Co. MA. November 11th, 2022. 

Found by Bruce Kanash at his home, ID ultimately verified by Master bander Anthony Hill. 

Quite naturally I was interested in taking a look at such a rarity, especially since I pass through Millers Falls almost every day and Bruce's house happened to be on one of my regular biking riding routes! Bruce was extremely generous with his time which was fortunate because the bird itself proved to be rather skittish. In the event, I visited on Nov 10th and 11th but never saw the hummingbird whilst standing outside. At the time, it could only be viewed from inside Bruce's home but thanks to Bruce I managed nice views on both days and secured some shots of the spread tail on Nov 11th. Certainly the images of the spread tail showed a moderate notch in R2 pointing towards a Rufous Hummingbird and I messaged Bruce with my suspicions. A few days later, on the 14th, Bruce was courteous enough to call and let me know that Anthony Hill had just successfully caught and banded the bird and identified it as hatching-year Rufous. Moreover, the bird was in good condition weighing in at 4 grams and returned to the feeders straight after banding! As the weather worsens and night time temperatures drop to well below freezing, it should certainly be interesting to see how long the hummer sticks around at Bruce's home. On a personal level, I'm extremely grateful to Bruce for sharing his hummingbird, and his hospitality.  

Around 45 confirmed records of Rufous Hummingbird currently exist for Massachusetts with others pending. However, reports from Franklin County appear to be exceedingly rare with only one other verified record to date, a single bird that came to a feeder in Ashfield in Nov/Dec 2004. 

Red-throated Loons (3) - Turner's Falls Rod and Gun club, Franklin Co., MA. November 16th, 2022.

Red-necked Grebe (juvenile) - Lake Mattawa, Franklin Co., MA. November 16th, 2022.

November in the Pioneer Valley often has a treat or two in store aside from rarities. After a fairly low key migration of waterfowl through our area it was good to finally see some Red-throated Loons in Turner's Falls on the 16th, part of a mini fall-out and a result of inclement weather, with a wider spread arrival of Red-throated Loons in southern Vermont and the Berkshires. Many of these, much like the Turner's loons, moved on quickly as the weather conditions eased somewhat during mid-morning. The same day also saw 13 Buffleheads and a Surf Scoter (immature male) at Turner's Falls and a Red-necked Grebe at Lake Mattawa. 

In terms of passerines, well this does seem to have been a very good month locally for Winter Wrens with multiple sightings at Northfield (Caldwell Road), Gill (North Cross Road), Barton Cove, Turner's Falls and Montague at the very least. It's not a rare species but numbers of fall migrants do appear to fluctuate from year to year, and this seems to be a good late fall period for them.

Winter Wren - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 17th. 2022.

Snow Buntings - Turner's Falls Rod and Gun club, Franklin Co., MA. November 16th, 2022.

Six in total and nice to see a few on the ground instead of the usual flyovers!

Barred Owl - with prey, possibly Eastern Chipmunk. Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. November 13th, 2022. 

Good numbers of Barred Owls in Gill/Northfield/Bernardston this fall including, sadly, several road killed on I-91 and Rt 10. 

Covid Spring IV - Grebes!

Horned Grebes - flock of seven, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

Red-necked and Horned Grebes - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

After a warm, promising start on April 12th the rest of the week turned decidedly chilly with cold air from the N and NW seemingly blocking, or slowing down the arrival of many spring migrants. In fact, the air was so cold that we had late spring snow falls on the 16th and 18th. Notable spring passerine migrants included Brown Thrashers singing on North Cross Road, Gill on the 12th and the 17th, and an early pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers on Meadow Road, Montague also on the 12th. Louisiana Waterthrushes trickled in but became increasingly quiet as the air grew colder in the middle of the week. A Blue-headed Vireo was singing in the NMH woods off North Cross Road on the 15th and three 'yellow' Palm Warblers dropped in by the Turner's Falls power canal on the 18th. There was also a strong 'wave' of Ruby-crowned Kinglets on the 17th and 18th with singing birds turning up in many places all over Gill.

Brown Thrasher - North Cross Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 12th, 2020. 

My earliest arrival date for this species in Franklin County. 

Towards the end of the week the snow showers produced a light fall-out of waterbirds at Barton Cove and Turner's Falls. Two Red-necked Grebes and a female Red-breasted Merganser were at Barton Cove on the 16th along with a Horned Grebe at the Turner's Falls power canal. A more impressive fall-out took place on the 18th with seven Horned and three Red-necked Grebes in one raft at Barton Cove (Josh Layfield), along with 13 Double-crested Cormorants and 3 Great Blue Herons. And on the same morning, visible from Barton Cove campground, a male Red-breasted Merganser, four Long-tailed Ducks and a further three Red-necked Grebes. All of the grebes this week were in pristine breeding condition!

Pied-billed Grebe - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

Great Blue Herons - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

Double-crested Cormorants - some of the 13 present, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

Fields off Main Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 18th, 2020. 

MA - waterbirds of the move part four; Red-necked Grebes!

Red-necked Grebes - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 15th, 2019.

The impressive run of waterbird fall-outs at Barton Cove, Gill continued unabated this morning when a southerly airflow combined with torrential rain, mist and poor visibility brought no less than 20 grounded Red-necked Grebes. The birds were initially quite mobile rarely settling for long but as the weather improved they found refuge just off Barton Island and started to rest and feed. With them came a Horned Grebe in full summer plumage, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, as many as 9 Bonaparte's Gulls and a particularly brutish Caspian Tern. Some 15 Northern Rough-winged Swallows were present at the Turner's Falls Rod and Gun club but aside from 7 Lesser Scaup waterbirds were few, and the fall-out appeared to be more or less restricted to Barton Cove this morning though a couple of Red-necked Grebes did drop into the power canal and stayed throughout the afternoon. Today's total of 22 Red-necked Grebes was the single largest arrival that I've recorded in the Gill/Turner's Falls area to date.

Red-necked Grebes - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 15th, 2019.

With a female Red-breasted Merganser leading the flock.

Red-necked Grebes - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 15th, 2019.

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 15th, 2019.

Bonaparte's Gulls and Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 15th, 2019.

Horned Grebe (left)  with Red-necked Grebes - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 15th, 2019.

Bonaparte's Gull - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 15th, 2019.

Bonaparte's Gulls - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 15th, 2019.

Bonaparte's Gulls - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 15th, 2019.

Bonaparte's Gull - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 15th, 2019.

MA - waterbirds on the move part three; more Bonaparte's Gulls and Caspian Terns!

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 14th, 2019.

Flying in from the east with Barton Island in the background.

The morning of April 10th found me back at Barton Cove hoping to catch up with even just a tiny fraction of the fall-out seen the on the previous evening. Despite squally rain showers and 100% cloud cover, it was fairly obvious a major clearance had taken place overnight....not a single Bonaparte's Gull was present at first light. As if to emphasize the general departure of waterbirds, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers (male and 2 females) lifted off the water, circled the cove and headed off high to the NW. But 6 Ruddy Ducks, 5 Greater Scaup, 2 Horned Grebes and a Pied-billed Grebe ended up staying through the day with a fine pair of Northern Pintail appearing with the Canada Goose flocks in the evening. A Snow Goose and 2 American Wigeon remained, both species being long stayers.

Ruddy Duck - male, Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 10th, 2019.

Northern Harriers (2) - Turner's Falls Airfield, Franklin Co., MA. April 10th, 2019.
Two of a minimum of four seen within an hour at the airfield in mid-morning.

Clearing skies and a change to quite cold air coming from the north triggered a shift in focus and by mid-morning I was enjoying great views of a male Northern Harrier at Turner's Falls Airfield. Although I soon lost that particular male to view, a further two Northern Harriers dropped into the airfield together just as suddenly as the male had appeared. Both were 'female-like' in plumage but careful scrutiny showed them both to be young males, one of which lingered while with the other one departed fairly quickly to the NE. After 20 minutes or so, a fourth harrier dropped in, this one being a young female which spent a good 15 minutes quartering the rank grasses along the taxi-way. Spring harrier migration isn't a particularly easy event to see in Franklin County so to have four individuals within an hour at the same site was pretty remarkable. Moreover, David Sibley recorded three Northern Harriers (two adult male, one immature male) migrating through Hilltop Farm, Deerfield during the morning hours. In the evening Josh Layfield visited Turner's Falls Airfield finding two Northern Harriers (male, female-type) hunting, possibly lingerers from the morning, but it's equally possible that they were new migrants. Either way, April 10th was something of a stellar day for harrier migration in Franklin County.

Bonaparte's Gulls - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 12th, 2019.

The 11th was fairly quiet for new waterbird arrivals but the 12th was yet another fine day for Bonaparte's Gulls with the initial discovery of a tight flock of 17 at the Turner's Falls Rod and Gun club quickly followed by a further 5 at Barton Cove. By mid-morning both flocks had converged on Barton Cove while a brief check in the evening found seven birds present but included 3 first-cycle individuals not seen on the morning visit! So, an absolute minimum of 25 Bonaparte's Gulls passing through Barton Cove on April 12th. .

Overnight rain and warm southerlies brought yet more new arrivals on the 13th with some 55 Double-crested Cormorants between the Turner's Fall power canal and the Rod and Gun Club. New for the year was a Red-necked Grebe and a Spotted Sandpiper at Barton Cove (Josh Layfield), along with 4 Barn Swallows and a Bank Swallow at the Turner's Falls power canal. Scaup arrivals included 7 Lesser at the power canal, 7 Lesser at the Rod and Gun club and a further 7 Lesser joining the previously seen 5 Greater Scaup at Barton Cove. In the evening, 2 Black Vultures again appeared high over Barton Cove as they had done on the evening of the 11th.

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 14th, 2019.

April 14th dawned mild and calm and I wasn't expecting too much in the way of grounded birds but I decided to check Barton Cove in any case. Initially, things seemed a little quiet and I couldn't find the previous day's Red-necked Grebe. In the distance a group of small group of 'gulls' resting on an exposed mud bar caught my attention. Instead of scoping them at range I drove around to Riverview Drive for a closer look and there sat with a few Herring and Ring-billed Gulls were 2 Caspian Terns. As I settled down to enjoy them, I could clearly hear the distinctive grating bark of one or more Caspian Terns in the air.......in fact there were 5 of them present together in the cove!! I last them heading towards Barton Campground at about 07:20 hours.

Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 14th, 2019.

Caspian Terns (5) - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 14th, 2019.

MA - more heat and more migrants

Baltimore Oriole - Barton Cove, Franklin Co., MA. May 3rd, 2018.

Other passerines in the boat ramp area included warbling and Red-eyed Vireos, and several White-throated Sparrows. 

May 3rd - another busy, interesting and extremely warm day. Most obvious was a broad wave of Wood Thrush arrivals in Gill with at least 12 males heard singing on my 5K run through the woods on North Cross Road this morning. Also strikingly obvious, many Blue-gray Gnatcatchers in all habitats with seemingly above average numbers of migrants for early May. With them came the first Black-throated Blue Warblers, Least and Great Crested Flycatchers. Two Solitary Sandpipers called overhead at 06:30, the birds seen heading west. Around that time Josh Layfield found a male White-winged Scoter at Barton Cove which had been joined by two Red-necked Grebes by the time I got there at around 11:00 hours, and the first Spotted Sandpiper of the year skimmed across the water. Fourteen Ring-billed Gulls were loafing around off the boat ramp at Barton Cove while overhead there was a light movement of Broad-winged Hawks (c.10) and a couple of Ospreys.

Red-necked Grebes and a White-winged Scoter (male) - Barton Cove, Franklin Co., MA. May 3rd, 2018.

Spotted Sandpiper - Barton Cove, Franklin Co., MA. May 3rd, 2018.

Early evening at Barton Cove saw the White-winged Scoter and Red-necked Grebes still present but an increase to 33 Double-crested Cormorants, and well over 30 Ring-billed Gulls most of which were hawking for insects high above the cove. An adult Herring Gull and a breeding plumage Common Loon also dropped in towards the end of the evening, and a Black Vulture headed west over Turner's Falls presumably to roost.

Double-crested Cormorants - Barton Cove, Franklin Co., MA. May 3rd, 2018.

Black Vulture - Barton Cove, Franklin Co., MA. May 3rd, 2018.

Elsewhere, Brian Kane noted the first Orchard Oriole of the season down in Montague.

MA - White-eyed Vireo tops an interesting week in Franklin County

White-eyed Vireo - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. October 27th, 2017.

Last weekend's Cattle Egrets in Gill perhaps indicated that more species with a southern distribution could be lurking out there waiting to be discovered. Remarkably, we would later find out via Facebook and ebird, that Rick Hart had discovered a juvenile White Ibis at the Oxbow in Northampton (Hampshire County) on the same day that the Cattle Egrets had arrived in Gill - October 22nd. White Ibis is a review species and an exceptionally rare bird in interior Massachusetts with perhaps less that 25 records for the entire state. Fortunately it was well photographed.

Balmy, soggy southerlies and high temperatures persisted until the 26th when a cold front brought heavy rain, northern winds and a light smattering of waterbirds to the Turner's Falls area including six White-winged Scoters, a Bonaparte's Gull and a nice raft of six Red-necked Grebes. The following day saw two Surf Scoters and the first Buffleheads of the fall, while the 28th brought two Black Scoters to Barton Cove.

 White-winged Scoter - male, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2017.

 Bonaparte's Gull - first-winter, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2017.

Red-necked Grebes - non-breeding, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2017.

As thrilling as these waterbirds are in Turner's Falls, it's fair to say that they should be expected in late October under the right conditions. Far less expected was an immaculate White-eyed Vireo found in a riverside thicket. My time constraints and the bird's ultra-skulking behavior meant that it would have to be recorded as a 'heard only' on the day of its discovery. It was frustrating in the extreme to have a singing White-eyed vireo just feet away and not be able to see it! It was still present the following day but far less vocal in the cold and rain, but finally on the 27th it gave itself up and offered reasonable views in bright sunshine. I would have to admit that from a personal perspective this was the single most elusive and skulking species that I've encountered in our area for years.

 

White-eyed Vireo - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. October 27th, 2017. ebird does not appear to show any records of this species in Franklin County. In fact, I only know of one other report, a credible sight record from Eric Huston in Northfield Meadows on Nov 2nd, 2013. 

The Cattle Egrets continued to be seen in the Gill meadows throughout the week but their numbers dwindled almost daily until only one bird remained on the 28th. The same area (Boyle Road) produced some nice incidental sightings with two Rusty Blackbirds on the 27th, and a calling Great Horned Owl and two American Woodcocks on the 28th.

Cattle Egret - Boyle Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. October 28th, 2017.

MA - Red-necked Grebe, Snow Bunting both season firsts

 Red-necked Grebe - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 1st, 2015.

First local migrant of the season. 

Nothing too dramatic over the weekend but a Red-necked Grebe showed up at Barton Cove on Sunday morning (11/01) with two Gadwall, three Hooded Mergansers and three Double-crested Cormorants remaining there. 

Gadwall - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 1st, 2015.

Probably remnants from the flock of eleven on Oct 30th.

Two Greater Scaup and a single Lesser Scaup remained at Turner's Falls power canal where a calling Snow Bunting flew over on Monday morning (11/02).

With warm southerlies forecast for much of the week, it looks like we could be in for a quiet time regarding waterfowl arrivals and raptors. Perhaps time spent in the woods and field edges might yield more in the way of late or unusual passerines.

NH - Hinsdale waterfowl 12/22

This morning I happened to be passing the Hinsdale Setbacks on the Connecticut River. It's been a while since I've done any birding at all in New Hampshire and this spot is a mere fifteen minutes from our new house in Northfield. I dare say I'll be doing a bit more here over the next few months. Several years ago we lived in Keene, NH and spent plenty of time birding and hiking in this particular corner of the state. Needless to say, it was really good to get back and do a little birding if only for a few minutes.

My expectations were not high but I was pleasantly surprised by the range and numbers of species visible above Vernon Dam. Hooded Mergansers were by far the most common duck with over 100 present. Less expected were 2 Red-necked Grebes, 2 Long-tailed Ducks, a Common Loon, a Mute Swan and a Great Blue Heron. All of the water on the river was ice-free but I expect most of these species will disperse once the really hard weather arrives and the river freezes up. Still I was pleased with this haul and will try and get back again soon.

At Hinsdale the birds are often distant and I apologize for the grainy, heavy crops below;

Common Loon - Hinsdale Setbacks, Cheshire Co., NH. December 22nd, 2014.

Long-tailed Ducks (2) - with Hooded Mergansers, Hinsdale Setbacks, Cheshire Co., NH. December 22nd, 2014.

Mute Swan - Hinsdale Setbacks, Cheshire Co., NH. December 22nd, 2014.

Great Blue Heron - Hinsdale Setbacks, Cheshire Co., NH. December 22nd, 2014.

  Red-necked Grebe (one of two) - Hinsdale Setbacks, Cheshire Co., NH. December 22nd, 2014.