Trip Highlights

Started at 7:30 in the morning at our usual meeting place for the Lake Wallace walk, the Dunkin’ on State St in Belchertown. The weather was sunny, cool, and very breezy. Seventeen members gathered and then we headed across the street to Lake Wallace, which is located hidden behind the Belchertown Police Station.

Lake Wallace has had some new improvements this past year. The Lake Wallace Sensory Trail is a fully accessible education and recreation trail. It is still in the process of being constructed, however we were able to utilize some of it. One of it being the new dock and observation point. It is a large wooden platform that overlooks the side of the lake. It provides a beautiful view, and at the start of our walk this morning, provided a wide variety of birds and other wildlife as well. The swallows were plentiful - Tree, Barn, and Northern Rough-winged. Also seen from this point were Great Blue Herons, a Great Egret, Canada Geese, Wood Ducks, Mallards, 3 Hooded Mergansers, and a Belted Kingfisher. Walking along the new trail, we observed a variety of sparrows: Chipping, White-throated, House, Swamp, and Song. We had beautiful views of Eastern Bluebirds, Yellow, Palm, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Phoebe, and a Warbling Vireo.

We then drove into the Foley Field area, parked out cars along the fence outside the soccer fields, and just walked along the edge of the lake. The first few minutes gave us some great views of a Chestnut-sided Warbler, along with some Black-and-White's. Woodpecker’s spotted were the Northern Flicker, Red-bellied, Downy, and Pileated. Eastern Phoebe, Warbling Vireo, Mourning Doves, Robins, Blue Jays, Tufted Titmouse, and White-breasted Nuthatch's were all seen in the shrubbery along the edge as well.

While we continued to walk along the edge, in the trees and looking out onto the lake, we saw Red-winged Blackbirds, a Brown-headed Cowbird, Grackles, Starlings, Cardinals, and Catbirds. We also had a wonderful view of the Great Blue Heron's nest. At the end of the soccer field area, in the backside of the lake, we walked into the woods along the trail, that follows the other side of the lake. We were hoping to see the resident Virginia Rail and Sora, but they were not home at the time. This area did provide us with Ovenbird and Northern Waterthrush.

Flyovers that topped off our list at 42 species included Crows, a Raven, a Red-tailed Hawk, and a few Turkey Vultures. It was a great day with a great group of birders, a first time at Lake Wallace for many of them.

More information can be found about the Lake Wallace Sensory Trail on their Facebook Page. It truly is a great place to bird any time of day!

Thirteen Birders gathered to enjoy sights and sounds while strolling along the rail trail.  The birds were few, with highlights being a Yellow Warbler and a Canada Goose with eggs and nest.  Other birds included Great Blue Heron, Kingfisher, Robin, Mourning Dove, Red-winged Blackbird, Tree Swallow, Swamp and Song Sparrows, Flicker, Titmouse and Baltimore Oriole.  Four beavers kept the group entertained, as did a muskrat, and snapping turtles were swimming with just heads poking above the surface of the water.  Spring peepers and pickerel frogs provided atmospheric backdrop with their enchanting calls.

Seven members counted a total of 37 species.  Temperatures ranged between hi-40s and mid-50s on an overcast, damp and somewhat windy day.

The best bird of the trip was a pair of Common Loons that, I am going to assume, are the same loons that have been nesting at the reservoir for a few years. We did see six species of warbler the most common being the Pine, which were singing up a storm all along the walk.  The others that we saw include Prairie, Yellowrump (in certain places they almost filled the trees), BT Green, Ovenbird and Redstart.  We did have a quick pass overhead of two immature Eagles which quickly flew out of site since we saw them through the pine trees overhead.  We could have added two additional mallards to the bird list, but when we got a scope on them, we discovered that they were actually Ring-necked Ducks, a species we don't see much on the reservoir this late in the season. Even though this trip is scheduled for only 2 hours, we stayed for a much longer time (about 3 1/2 hours) since everyone was having such a pleasant time enjoying each other’s company and trying to get as many birds as possible on such a dreary day.

Beautiful weather graced the day!  The bird walk was relaxing and, though our species count was not high, we enjoyed a few highlights, including Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Warbling Vireo, and Killdeer.

The annual meeting was short and sweet, and we were able to vote on the slate of new officers for the 2022-2023 season: President-Jim Platenik, Vice President–Andrea Bugbee, Secretary–Terri Skill, Treasurer-George Kingston, and Executive Committee members-at-Large, Tim Carter, April Downey and Bobby Olsen.  Welcome all and thank you in advance for your service to the Club.

Once business was complete, older and newer members got to know each other better over a delicious picnic lunch from Frigo’s Gourmet Foods. It was just plain fun!

The trip started on a high note as everyone got to see two Black Vultures feeding on some roadkill on Moody Bridge Rd as they drove up to Silvio O. Conte NWR - Fort River Division.  First, we got to see a good number of Barn and Tree Swallows from the parking lot along with a number of the usual species there and a quick fly-in of a Brown Thrasher.  As we headed in, we got our second good find of the day in the form of a male Orchard Oriole.  We continued on the trail and as we reached the western end of the trail, we got a Black-throated Blue Warbler, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and a Swainson's Thrush.  We then continued along the northern part of the trail, finding two Northern Parula, a Palm Warbler, a Wood Thrush and a Kingfisher flyby.  As we approached the large fields, we had a Ruby-crowned Kinglet calling along with a House Wren and a late Junco.  

We headed back to the parking lot picking up a Swamp Sparrow along the way.  This ended the trip for most though a few of us decided to head up the road to the grass fields as a Bobolink was reported at Fort River that morning.  As we walked to the road, we had an Osprey fly over and as we got up to the fields, we spotted a lone Bobolink which was singing from the top of a tree and then flew off to join another one and when they flushed from another tree, they were a group of three.  We also had a pair of Kestrels which appeared to be staying on or near one of the kestrel boxes.   We had 11 participants, perfect weather and saw a total of 51 species.