MA - Pacific-slope Flycatcher plus a stellar cast of locally rare passerines

Pacific-slope Flycatcher - Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. November 4th, 2019.

Pacific-slope Flycatcher - Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. November 4th, 2019.

Update November 11th; despite ever decreasing temperatures and the potential for snow in tomorrow's weather forecast, the Pacific-slope Flycatcher continues to put on quite the show in Hadley. This morning, Susannah, Matan and I joined not more than half-a-dozen birders patrolling the staked out area off Huntington Road. Initially, things seemed pretty quiet, very quiet in fact and several disappointed birders left the area without success. But around 11:30 hours one sharp-eyed gent kindly waived us over after he'd just had brief views of the flycatcher right off the main track. The bird was low, furtive and very, very difficult to see well but eventually we all had pretty good views over a thirty minute period as it worked up and down the low vegetation along the main pathway under the power lines. One week on from the really good views I had on November 4th, I can admit to being genuinely surprised that it's still hanging on so deep into the fall. 

 Pacific-slope Flycatcher - Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. November 11th, 2019.

In the mean time, while we were chasing the rarest of flycatchers in Hadley, Josh Layfield was busy finding his own birds in Deerfield and simultaneously came up with a Clay-colored Sparrow in the North Meadows! 

 Clay-colored Sparrow - Deerfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. November 11th, 2019.

Found and photographed by Josh Layfield. 

November 4th; A few years ago I ran into Frank Gallo at Hammonassett Beach State Park in Connecticut. It was a brisk November day and I was still relatively new to US birding, but one of Frank's comments from that day really stuck with me when he said, "anything that's green and yellow at this time of year has to be worth a closer look". How right he was. Here we are in early November 2019 being treated to a host of avian gems in the Pioneer Valley, brightly colored and relatively easy to pick out amid the denuded sumac thickets. Chief among these has to be the long staying Pacific-slope Flycatcher off Huntington Road in Hadley right along the eastern bank of the Connecticut River. First found by Joe Oliverio on October 23rd, this unexpected waif from the Pacific Northwest has both treated and frustrated hundreds of birders during its two week stay. It was even courteous enough to allow my UK tour group to catch up with it on October 28th, and stick around offering spectacular views on November 4th. Such rarities only come around once in a generation and this bird looks set to become the first state record for Massachusetts thanks to a wealth of sound recordings, photographs and expert opinion. Thanks go to all of those folks for being so keenly involved in the identification and for keeping tabs on the bird's movements. 

Pacific-slope Flycatcher - Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. November 4th, 2019.

Often flicked its tail upward when perched. 

Pacific-slope Flycatcher - Hadley, Hampshire Co., October 28th, 2019.

Continuing with the 'green and yellow' theme, and not to be outdone by the flycatcher, Brian Kane and Noel Watkins came up with a local rarity of their own in the form of a White-eyed Vireo in Montague on November 3rd. Only the third Franklin County record that I know of and fitting neatly into a concentrated pattern of late autumn occurrences as follows; Northfield Meadows on Nov 2nd 2013 (Eric Huston), Turner's Falls during Oct 26th - Nov 8th, 2017 (JPS), and now Montague Nov 3rd - 5th, 2019 (BK and NW). 

White-eyed Vireo - Montague, Franklin Co., MA. November 5th, 2019.

Showing characteristics of a first-winter individual and quite strikingly different 

to the Turner's Falls bird from 2017 featured below. 

White-eyed Vireo -  Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 1st, 2017.

Nashville Warbler - Deerfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. November 2nd, 2019.

Late, bright and unexpected. My personal latest in Massachusetts. 

Marsh Wren - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 5th, 2019.

Late, super skulking and again, unexpected. Only my second observation of Marsh Wren in Franklin County. 

Aside form the discovery of the Pacific-slope Flycatcher in Hadley, October produced a host of noteworthy grassland species many of which showed in the Deerfield area;

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

Found by Chuck Caron on October 13th, 2019.

Le Conte's Sparrow - Mill Village Road, Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 14th, 2019. 

Initially found by Chuck Caron on October 13th, 2019.

Blue Grosbeak (first-winter) - North Meadows, Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 9th, 2019. 

Found by Aaron Hulsey and Joe Oliverio. 

Dickcissel - North Meadows, Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 4th, 2019. 

A stellar month for this species with  1 - 4 irregularly in Deerfield Meadows between October 4th and 13th. 

Clay-colored Sparrow  - North Meadows, Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. October 2nd, 2019. 

A fairly rare autumn migrant in Franklin County this being only my second record,  

with the first at Turner's Falls on October 12th, 2017. 

MA - Redheads and a Red-throated Loon in Gill

 Redheads - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 6th, 2017.

 Yet another fascinating day for migration in northern Franklin County, a day which really began the previous evening as warm, moist air brought fog and heavy rain showers all night resulting quite a few birds. The previous evening brought the first major arrival of gulls to Turner's Falls as a single flock of 15+ Ring-billed and 45+ Herring Gulls suddenly appeared out of the gloom and settled at the power canal. 

This morning (11/06) I did my run in the darkness and finished with enough time to get down to Barton Cove for first light. It looked quite barren at first but an American Coot suddenly appeared next to the boat ramp and 3 Redheads looked nervous as they hung around with the Canada Geese. At the Rod & Gun club good numbers of Canada Geese were already departing by the time I arrived and there was no sign of the previous day's Pink-footed Goose seen by just two lucky observers mid-morning. But I did find 16 Green-winged Teal, 2 American Wigeon, a Bufflehead, a Common Goldeneye, 2 Ring-necked Ducks and 2 Red-breasted Mergansers among other things whilst I was there. 

Red-throated Loon - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 6th, 2017.

By 8am I was back home and back into our daily routine but sneaked out just before noon amid yet more heavy showers. The Redheads remained on Barton Cove but as attractive as they were, the bird that really captured my imagination was a Red-throated Loon way out on the cove. Since I was some distance away, I decided to move over to the boat ramp for better views, proceeded to lose it and never saw the bird again! It disappeared just as mysteriously as it had appeared. Despite watching the Gill/Turner's Falls area regularly during spring and fall migration I couldn't recall ever seeing a Red-throated Loon in the area before and for some reason it looked unexpectedly out of place on Barton Cove!

American Coot - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 6th, 2017.

The balmy, wet southerlies continued for much of the day, grounding the Redheads for the whole day and bringing a nice male Long-tailed Duck to the Rod & Club in late afternoon. On the other hand, 8 Common Goldeneye at the power canal looked more like returning winterers than actual migrants. As if the day wasn't complete enough, the White-eyed Vireo once again showed up in its sheltered nook by the Connecticut River in Turner's Falls.

White-eyed Vireo - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 6th, 2017.

MA - White-eyed Vireo lingers into Nov

White-eyed Vireo - adult, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 1st, 2017.

The month started with a nice sharp frost, very welcome after an incredibly warm October. The day continued to be cool, windless and cloudy creating a pretty interesting atmosphere much more in keeping with the conditions we expect in late fall. In between errands I checked a number of spots around Turner's Falls notching up close to 50 species before noon. Oddly enough I failed to connect with any of the waterfowl movements well reported on the local social media outlets today though I did have a 'token' Brant fly past me at Unity Park. 

Brant - adult, Unity Park, Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 1st, 2017.

But the day held other surprises, namely in the form of lingering 'scarcities' that I felt sure had moved on, but then popped up and presented themselves. The White-eyed Vireo in Turner's Falls was one of these, and the Cattle Egret showed up again at Upinngil after seemingly being absent all day yesterday. A calling Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on North Cross Road, Gill was another surprise this morning.

Cattle Egret - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. November 1st, 2017.

Notables in Turner's Falls included Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Winter Wren and a large flock of 85 Cedar Waxwings.

Hermit Thrush - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 1st, 2017.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. November 1st, 2017.

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.