Hotline Trip

We were 7 members that gathered to search the fields of the East Meadows in Northampton for the much-anticipated Snowy Owl(s).  There have been two Snowy Owls reported since the beginning of the year, so we were quite hopeful that birders were already on the bird – and they were!  We had very nice scope views of the male Snowy sitting in the field.  While there, we spotted a Northern Harrier hunting the fields; it was a “gray ghost.”  Flocks of Canada Geese were counted as they flew high above, with the “seven sisters” of Skinner State Park as a backdrop.

We decided to move on to the Honey Pot in Hadley to look for Lapland Longspurs.  Though we did not find a Longspur, we thoroughly enjoyed scanning the large flocks of Horned Larks, with Snow Buntings mixed in.  While some were feeding in the road, many were close by in the fields.  They would take to the air when a car drove past, and then settle back down into the field very close to where we were set up for excellent views.  Just before we left this location, we spotted a Merlin perched high in the farthest tree, where the dike separating the fields meets the dike along the river.  Our scopes were as zoomed in as possible and we could barely make out the field marks; not a very satisfying view, but enough to clinch the identification.  

Next spot was Fitzgerald Lake in Northampton, where we searched and searched in vain for the reported Varied Thrush.  We did pick up a variety of songbirds, a woodpecker, and a Red-shouldered Hawk, but no robins and no sign of the rarer thrush.  It had been spotted that very morning, but this conservation area has lots of terrain to cover.

Some of the group continued birding to look for a reported Barrow’s Goldeneye on the river farther south, but it was not to be found.  It seems the Snowy Owl was the star of the day!

Click below to view the list of species identified.