Saturday, August 2, 2025

2025 - What a spring that was!!

 

Northern Lapwing - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. March 12th, 2025. 

Spring birding in the Pioneer Valley is generally pretty special but 2025 seemed to be well above the norm as far as I could tell. I was leading a trip for Naturalist Journeys LLC in Belize in early March but as reports from home filtered through, it became pretty clear that exceptional numbers of geese and waterfowl were passing through the Pioneer Valley. Impressive reports from the Sunderland/Montague area involved up to 4-6000 Canada Geese feeding in the corn stubble fields close to the Connecticut River. Having literally just returned from travel and preferring to stay close to home, my first local field outing of the month found a Pink-footed Goose at Munn's Ferry Road in Gill on March 11th. It was a distinctive individual with notable amounts of white flecking around the base of the bill, worthy of mention simply because the next day Hector Galbraith found a different individual a couple of miles further upriver in the Northfield Meadows. 

Pink-footed Goose - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. March 11th, 2025. 

Pink-footed Goose - Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. March 12th, 2025. 

Impressive as these birds were, and the thousands of geese they were with, nothing prepared me for the events of the evening when a routine check of the gulls at Barton Cove revealed a Northern Lapwing! The poor bird looked distinctly out of place standing alone on the ice slightly adrift of the gulls. Every once in a while, a gull from the flock would chase it off but it always settled back down and remained into the evening long enough for a handful of local birding friends to see it. Alas, I couldn't be there the following morning but from what I understood, the ice flows at Barton Cove had changed completely overnight and neither the gulls or the lapwing were present. We learned a day or so later that a visiting birder had also photographed the lapwing around noon on the 12th opening up the intriguing possibility that the bird had spent the entire day at the cove without being noticed! As it happens, March was a pretty good month for seeing Northern Lapwings in the north-east US with well-watched individuals reported from Newburyport, MA, Long Island, NY and Jamestown, RI in the days before the Barton Cove sighting. But, at least according to ebird, the Barton Cove bird was the last Northern Lapwing to be seen anywhere in North America in the spring of 2025. 

Northern Lapwing - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. March 12th, 2025. 

The impressive numbers of waterfowl passing along the Connecticut River Valley continued to feature throughout March with Snow and Cackling Geese turning up among the Canadas and an early Red-throated Loon at Barton Cove, but I was genuinely surprised on the 20th when a swan resting on an obscure marsh off the Mohawk Trail caught my attention while driving. Since I'd never seen a Mute Swan anywhere near that marsh I turned around for a closer look and was a bit disappointed to see the bird already in flight and getting ready to depart. Luckily for me, its departure plan included a nice, close fly-past along Rt 2 before it disappeared off to the West - a Trumpeter Swan! The following day a flock of 10 Sandhill Cranes passed over Northfield Meadows, the largest single gathering I've seen in the Pioneer Valley. Although well established as a low destiny breeding species in the western hill towns of Massachusetts, these birds were clearly migrants and ultimately continued heading north. 

Trumpeter Swan - Mohawk Trail, Shelburne, Franklin Co., MA. March 20th, 2025.


Sandhill Cranes - Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. March 21st, 2025. 

April opened with inclement weather on the 3rd inducing a huge waterbird fall-out at Barton Cove/Turner's Falls. Outstanding counts were recorded in several species including Bufflehead, Red-necked and Horned Grebes, and Long-tailed Duck but were neatly capped off by a female Tufted Duck found by Ted Gilliland. The latter was initially found at the Turner's Falls power canal with a few Buffleheads, Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Ducks allowing for close study and ruling out the specter of an aythya hybrid. By the end of the day the Tufted Duck had moved over to Barton Cove furnishing just the third record for the Pioneer Valley, the previous two also being found by Ted! 




Tufted Duck (female) - Turner's Falls power canal, Franklin Co., MA. April 3rd, 2025. 
Super find by Ted Gilliland. 

Long-tailed Ducks - Barton Cove, Franklin Co., MA. April, 2025.

Horned Grebes - Barton Cove, Franklin Co., MA. April, 2025.

Red-necked Grebes - Barton Cove, Franklin Co., MA. April, 2025.

An early Great Egret (in full breeding plumage) turned up at the old Pilgrim Airfield in Whately on the 4th, about two weeks ahead of my previous earliest. As impressive as these April highlights were, the next bird completely caught me off-guard. While driving home from an evening bike ride on the 10th, I noticed a 'raptor' teed-up high in a roadside tree in Gill. It was along a stretch of Main Road that I'd driven a thousand times and an area which I knew to be frequented by a pair of Red-tails. I very nearly drove on but there was just something about this bird that made me turn around and take a second look, and how glad I was that I did....it was a Short-eared Owl! It's high perching posture initially threw me for a loop until it flew with characteristic moth-like wing beats and began quartering over the field of rough pasture below. Then, in what seemed like a bizarre move, it flew across Main Road, over a new construction site and into the NMH Campus! It was clearly a migrant on the move and, not surprisingly, never seen again. 



Short-eared Owl - Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 10th, 2025. 
Inexplicably rare in Franklin County, this being the first since Lynn Pelland's
observation in Deerfield Meadows, January 2014. 

Another weather event on April 26th brought a full breeding plumage Laughing Gull to Barton Cove, found by Ted again, and only the third county record. At some point during the morning it was joined by a Caspian Tern, both species resting together and looking resplendent in full plumage on an exposed sand bar. By 10am, the Laughing Gull had already departed but the Caspian Tern lingered for the whole day as they often do at Barton Cove. 

Laughing Gull and Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2025. 
Found by Ted Gilliland. 

Laughing Gull and Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2025. 


Caspian Tern - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. April 26th, 2025. 


Brant - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 2nd, 2025. 


Common Loons - Barton Cove, Gill, Franklin Co., MA. May 6th, 2025. 

May was good for Brants at Barton Cove with flocks of 14 on the 2nd, and 15 on the 9th when torrential rain grounded four Short-billed Dowitchers at the former Pilgrim Airfield in Whately providing a rare opportunity to photograph them. Historically, almost all of the Short-billed Dowitchers I've noted have been flyovers. Impressive numbers of 'grounded' Common Loons spent some time resting at Barton Cove early in the month when I tallied 61 on the 5th, the largest gathering I've seen there. And, the last day of May brought a small arrival of shorebirds to the Caldwell Road fields in Northfield including a White-rumped Sandpiper with several Semipalmated Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers

Short-billed Dowitchers - Whately, Franklin Co., MA. May 9th, 2025.

As local species settled down for the breeding season in June, I 'settled down' accordingly and did very little birding though the first few days of the month produced some late, roaming migrants with a singing Wilson's Warbler at Pauchaug Brook boat ramp in Northfield on the 3rd, and a singing Kentucky Warbler in Gill on the 5th. Though July would hardly qualify as a 'spring' month, over the years it's been a good time to look for Acadian Flycatchers in the hemlock woods of northern Franklin County and this year came up trumps when Daniel Shustack found a singing bird at Mohawk Trail State Forest on the 10th. Trips to the tropics prepared me well for the hike involved as it was incredibly warm and humid on both the dates I visited, but I did meet with success on the 15th and the 21st. The bird was typically aloof and difficult to locate in the sub-canopy but the patch of forest it chose was beautiful and absolutely no hardship to be there. I got the impression the flycatcher was an unattached male searching for a niche. 


Wilson's Warbler - Pauchaug Brook, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. June 3rd, 2025.


Acadian Flycatcher - Mohawk Trail State Forest, Franklin Co., MA. July 21st, 2025.

Finally, as a postscript of sorts and scrolling all the way back to winter. I was out of the country tour leading in Trinidad when I learned (from a friend) of a Harris's Sparrow visiting private land in Deerfield during the harshest days of a severe cold snap in late January. Unfortunately, this bird chose a feeding spot that couldn't accommodate birding visitors. It was accompanied by a tiny handful of juncos, cardinals and White-throated Sparrows and could have turned up with any feeding flock just about anywhere in Franklin County, so why that spot?! Ironically, at least according to ebird, the only other acceptable Franklin County record also comes from Deerfield way back in Jan/Feb 1999. 

Harris's Sparrow - Deerfield, Franklin Co., MA. January 28th, 2025. 










Saturday, December 31, 2022

December - not too shabby at all!

Smith's Longspur - Hadley Honey Pot, Hampshire Co., MA. December 14th, 2022.
A fabulous find for hard working local birder Scott Surner. Fifth state record and the first documented in the Pioneer Valley.
Discovered on Dec 12th delighting hundreds throughout its stay and still present on the last day of the year!

December, traditionally a month of minimal daylight, falling temperatures and usually lots of snow. Compared to October and November, my expectations for birding in December are generally pretty low, yet over the years the month has produced exciting birding in the Connecticut River Valley. Look no further that the near simultaneous appearance of two Sage Thrashers in 2020, one in Hampshire Co., MA and one in Cheshire Co., NH!


Rufous Hummingbird (fem/juv)- Millers Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 16th, 2022.
As hardy as they come - Rufous Hummingbird in a blizzard!! First noted on Oct 7th by home homeowner
Bruce Kanash. Banded and identified on Nov 14th by Anthony Hill. Present and thriving at Bruce's home through to about Dec 21st. 


In addition to the long staying Rufous Hummingbird in Millers Falls, the month brought another major rarity in the form of a Smith's Longspur to the Hadley floodplain. Kudos must go to Scott Surner who found this bird lingering at the side of a busy thoroughfare in the Hadley Honey Pot on December 12th. To the joy of many, myself included, the longspur was courteous enough to stick around for weeks allowing hundreds of birders to share in Scott's discovery and to find itself added to the local Christmas Bird Count! At the time of writing (Dec 31st) it was still present favoring the same general area along Cemetery Road in the Honey Pot. Scott's find furnishes the fifth state record for Massachusetts and the first ever in the Pioneer Valley though there is an historical report by Harvey Allen from the nearby East Meadows April 1st, 1993. Though this record wasn't accepted by the MARC, it's always intrigued me largely because of the compelling elements of the description with comments such as "tame", "observed as close as ten feet" and "un-streaked buffy underparts indicating a female". But, birding in the modern era demands a high standard of documentation and in this respect the Hadley bird was a gift being absurdly tame, calling frequently and usually returning to the same feeding spot day after day, even when it was flushed. 


Smith's Longspur - Hadley Honey Pot, Hampshire Co., MA. December 14th, 2022.
An amazing find by Scott Surner and extra-ordinarily approachable. 

I've had quite a lot of luck with Smith's Longspurs over the years having seen them in the breeding areas on the Denali Highway, Alaska multiple times. But, the Hadley bird was only my third away from Alaska after chasing singles at Jones State Beach, Long Island, NYS in Feb 2007 (2nd state record) and Tuthill Road, Maricopa Co., AZ in Jan 2012 (2nd state record). To have one so close to home and showing so well was an absolute dream. Thank you Scott!

Other passerines of note this month but closer to home included a lingering Hermit Thrush and a late Eastern Towhee on North Cross Road, Gill on Dec 23rd and a small handful of Red Crossbills (Type 12) over Gill and along Green River Road, Colrain towards the end of the month. 

Redheads - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 25th, 2022.
Loafing with the Mallards at Unity Park on Christmas morning, a lovely surprise though they didn't stick around for long.


View of Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 25th, 2022.


Frigid temperatures and major ice flows over the Christmas period brought some unexpected waterfowl to Turner's Falls with a female Northern Pintail at the power canal on Christmas Eve and three Redheads including a fine drake at Unity Park on Christmas morning. The Redheads didn't linger but the pintail stayed until Dec 31st and was briefly joined by a second fem/juv on the 28th. A lone juvenile Snow Goose at Barton Cove on Dec 26th was the most unusual goose of the period but also fairly typical in its random appearance. 


Northern Pintail (fem/juv) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 24th, 2022.
Another unusual duck showing up with Mallards, this time at the power canal. This bird lingered to the 
year's end and was joined by a second fem/juv on Dec 28th. 

Snow Goose (imm) - Barton Cove/Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 26th, 2022.


Barred Owl - Northfield, MA. December 22nd, 2022. 
Plenty of Barred Owls around often out 'sunning' on the coldest days. 


Iceland (Kumlieni) Gulls (first-cycles) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 29th, 2022.
Two; one darkish, one night in center of image. 

After a steady start, the numbers of large gulls began to build quite nicely towards the end of the month. With them came Iceland (Kumlien's) Gulls, initially two but then building up to five together at Barton Cove on Dec 28th with a new individual seen on the 29th so perhaps as many as six in the area by month's end. One or two Lesser Black-backed Gulls were present among the Herring Gulls too, though being immatures they were easily lost among the masses but I think at least two individuals were involved between Dec 22nd and 29th. 


Iceland (Kumlieni) Gulls (second-cycle) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 29th, 2022. 
In the center of the image. 

Iceland (Kumlieni) Gulls - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 29th, 2022.
Four; two darkish first-cycle, one light first-cycle, one light second-cycle. 

Lesser Black-backed Gull (first/second cycle) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 22nd, 2022.
 

Lesser Black-backed Gull (first-cycle) - Turner's Falls, Franklin Co., MA. December 29th, 2022.
Upper left bird in this image, and probably different to the LBBG I noted on Dec 22nd. 



Happy New Year and a bird-rich 2023 to all!





 

Thursday, November 17, 2022

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. 








Tuesday, November 1, 2022

MA - a Purple Gallinule in Longmeadow

 

Purple Gallinule (juvenile) - Longmeadow Flats. Hampden Co., MA. October 25th, 2022.

Late October often brings a really good, memorable bird to the Pioneer Valley and this year was no exception gifting a Purple Gallinule to the Fannie Stebbins Refuge at Longmeadow Flats. This fascinating record first came to light when Jean Langevin drew attention to it via Facebook on the Western Mass Photographers page. Though aloof at times it lingered for the best part of a week at one of the most heavily used public spots on the refuge allowing dozens of birders to catch up with this genuinely rare bird for the Pioneer Valley. It was juvenile much like a previous record from the same location and on remarkably similar dates, October 24th and 25th, 1978! I don't do a lot of bird chasing to the lower Pioneer Valley but the gallinule had some appeal and I managed to squeeze in ten minutes with the bird at the public gazebo on Pondside Road on October 25th. Having seen quite a few Purple Gallinules over the years, most recently on visits to Central America, I don't recall any of those birds being quite so fearless and showy as this smart, personable juvenile - I'm glad I made the trip!

Over the years we've had late October vagrants from all the points of the compass, some being state level rarities while others occur annually in coastal Massachusetts but are notably rare in the interior part of the state, for example the Purple Sandpiper found by Ted Gilliland at Holyoke Dam on Oct 30th, 2020. From the far west, the Pacific-slope Flycatcher in Hadley stood out as being exceptional. First found by Joe Olivero on Oct 23rd, 2019, this bright empid was courteous enough to stick around for over a month allowing hundreds of birders to catch up with an exciting state first. Another obliging flycatcher, a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, was found by Jeff Johnstone on Oct 22nd, 2009 at Orange Airport and stayed for several days to the delight of many, including me! And October 26th, 2011 brought a Pink-footed Goose to Turner's Falls. At the time it was only the fourth state record but of course that species has become much more frequent in Massachusetts since. 


Pacific-slope Flycatcher - Huntington Road, Hadley, Hampshire Co., MA. Nov 2019. 

New to Massachusetts found by Joe Olivero on Oct 23rd, 2019. 

 

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Orange Airport, Franklin Co., MA. October 22nd, 2009.  


Pink-footed Goose - Turner's Falls Power Canal, Franklin Co., MA. October 26th, 2011. 

The fourth record for Massachusetts. 

 


Purple Gallinule (juvenile) - Longmeadow Flats. Hampden Co., MA. October 25th, 2022.
First noted by Jean Langevin on October 21st, 2022.