Ashley Ponds, Holyoke

The trip went great!  The weather was cool, sunny, and probably around 48-50 degrees when we set out.  We had a total of 41 species!  Might have even had more, but Steve was calling them out really quickly.  In the parking lot where we met, we spotted 4 Killdeers. The highlight birds on the walk at Ashley were the many Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.  We saw a Blue-Headed Vireo, 3 Brown Creepers, and a pair of beautiful Ospreys. The warblers for the day were Palm, Pine, and Yellow-rumped.  We ended the walk with a Carolina Wren singing its little heart out.

Steve also showed us what pishing can do, a ton of birds came down, it was quite funny.  He was actually laying on the ground doing the sounds.  We less experienced birders all learned a lot, and throughout the walk he was doing bird sounds, talking about how to pick out binoculars, just all kinds of stuff.