May - third week

Veery - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 16th, 2020.

Plentiful during the Mass Audubon bird-a-thon. This was off River Road, Gill. 

It hardly seems like a week has already passed since the Mass Audubon Bird-a-thon event last weekend! In terms of migration, gradually dwindling numbers of northbound migrants tapered towards the end of the week.

Upinngil Farm, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 15th, 2020. The storm clouds that brought an abrupt end to Friday evening viewing during the bird-a-thon. 

The Mass Audubon Bird-a-thon was just fabulous. Given the climate of the time, it was a human-powered, socially distant event, restricted to families birding from home and nearby surroundings. Being a 'carbon-free' effort, bicycles were allowed and between 6pm on Friday the 15th and 6pm on Saturday the 16th I managed to log 54 miles of Garmin measured riding and notched up 114 different bird species. I was impressed with that tally considering no vehicles were involved and the fact that a major thunderstorm brought an abrupt and early end to plans for night birding on the Friday. My 'remote' field companions, all independently covering other corners of Franklin County, had successful days too with plenty of migrants around though usually reliable summer breeders such as Black-billed Cuckoo and Alder Flycatcher were notably absent. However, between my family and three other teams working Franklin County, we managed a combined haul of 126 species - all on foot or by bicycle. During the count I discovered that North Cross Road was something of a sweet spot for warblers, especially Cape May Warblers with more than a dozen there on the 16th and a huge count of 25 on the 17th. With them came Bay-breasted, Blackpoll and Tennessee Warblers and a lot of Northern Parulas. I really enjoyed the bird-a-thon but as much as I'd like to do it again next year, I'm genuinely hopeful that my tour schedule will be up and running and we'll have returned to 'relative normal' in spring 2021. 

Early morning, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 16th, 2020.

Early morning, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 16th, 2020.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Northfield, RT 142, Franklin Co., MA. May 15th, 2020.

Some unfortunate roadkill along the bird-a-thon , two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak below.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (male) - Northfield, RT 10, Franklin Co., MA. May 16th, 2020.

 Louisiana Waterthrush - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 16th, 2020.

Plentiful during the Mass Audubon bird-a-thon with 27 noted on the 16th. This one was off River Road, Gill. 

Swainson's Thrush - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 16th, 2020.

A scarce migrant, this one was off River Road, Gill. 

 Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 16th, 2020.

Woodland fringe on the Mass Audubon bird-a-thon, off River Road, Gill. 

Cape May Warbler  - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 16th, 2020.

Very good numbers (16) seen during the Mass Audubon bird-a-thon. This male was on North Cross Road, Gill. 

Even more were present on North Cross Road the next day. 

Cape May Warbler  (male) - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 17th, 2020.

Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield. 

Cape May Warbler  (male) - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 17th, 2020.

Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield. 

Wilson's Warbler - Greenfield Community College,  Franklin Co., MA. May 16th, 2020.

Image appears courtesy of Josh Layfield. 

Josh managed to tally four of these scarce spring migrants in the college grounds during the bird-athon.

My trusty steed. Giant Revel. Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. May 16th, 2020.

54 miles ridden at an average speed of 11.5 miles mph and 114 bird species recorded. 

Mid-week was, for me at least, highlighted by nice close views of a migrant Gray-cheeked Thrush at the mountain bike trails at Orchard Hill, Umass-Amherst on the 19th. It was very co-operative and feeding right alongside a Swainson's Thrush. The 19th/20th also bought a strong 'wave' of Tennessee Warblers throughout northern Franklin County with at least 15 singing the Montague area alone. The 22nd brought fewer Tennessee Warblers and a couple of Blackpoll Warblers to the Gill area but did produce a nice surprise in the form of a Solitary Sandpiper on Ben Hale Road, Gill.

Gray-cheeked Thrush - Orchard Hill, Umass-Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. May 19th, 2020.

Swainson's Thrush - Orchard Hill, Umass-Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. May 19th, 2020.

Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrush (rear) - Orchard Hill, Umass-Amherst, Hampshire Co., MA. May 19th, 2020.

Solitary Sandpiper - Ben Hale Road, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 22nd, 2020.

May 14th -

Bobolink - one of at least five singing males, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 14th, 2020.

The day dawned cold, clear and frosty once more. Initial indications appeared to point to very few new birds so I settled for catching up with some local breeding birds including Bobolinks and Orchard Orioles in Gill, and Killdeers at Turner's Falls where I just happened to come across a nest with four eggs!

Killdeer (nest with eggs) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. May 14th, 2020.

As the day warmed up migrant warblers including Blue-winged, Nashville and Northern Parula became more obvious but as I set off for a morning bike ride I wasn't quite prepared for the numbers of parulas that would actually be out there. A 22 mile loop from Montague Plains through Sunderland and Turner's Falls produced no less that 40 Northern Parulas, easily the biggest wave of the species that I've experienced in Franklin County. Other notable arrivals on the same ride included Northern Waterthrush (8) which seem to have been scarce so far this spring and Yellow-throated Vireo (4), notably late in arrival compared to previous springs.


The evening hours were decidedly balmy in Gill (72 deg F) with a fantastic chorus of Barred Owls and Wood Thrushes and my first 'singing' Veery of the spring. Our yard in Northfield also turned out to be something of a sweet spot for thrushes with Susannah spotting a migrant Swainson's Thrush, several foraging Veeries plus a Hermit Thrush in song early in the morning.

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. 

Back in town - 04/24

Apologies for such a long pause between posts. No excuses, just two major tours (Israel and Texas) since my last update in early March. I'm hoping to have more frequent updates in the forthcoming weeks as spring migration gather momentum.

Saturday, April 24th, saw a few birds of interest in our local area including 3 Blue-headed Vireos, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and plenty of Yellow-rumped Warblers on North Whitney Street, Amherst. At Quabbin Park, Gate 52, an early-ish Veery, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and several Pine Warblers, plus soaring Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk and Common Raven were the highlights of a family walk.

Sunday/Monday has seen large numbers of American Goldfinches, perhaps 100+, along North Whitney Street/Redgate Lane in Amherst.

More to follow, including highlights from both Israel and Texas.

JPS