Trip Highlights

Thirteen birders started out on this leisurely walk along the Ludlow Reservoir hoping to find some fall migrants, early winter birds (usually this trip get first of season Juncos for many of us) and perhaps some water fowl and raptors.  For the first quarter mile we had eerie silence and no birds.  I even joked that I hope we see "A bird."  Our luck soon changed as one of our first birds of a the day was a Kestrel on the other side of the reservoir that we could see in the scope and flybys of a Common Merganser and Kingfisher, who landed and also afforded good views through the scope.  There was also a grebe farther up the waterway, but we could not make out the type at that distance.  A group of 19 Ring-billed Gulls flew by.  As we proceeded up the path we were soon surround by chip notes and calls of a number of different warblers, many of whom would not stay still long enough to identify.  What we did ID in this group were Pine, Palm, Yellow-rumped and Blackpoll Warblers (we came across another cache of Blackpolls later on as well).  A late Phoebe, Red Breasted & White Breasted Nuthatches, Blue-headed Vireo and Ruby-crowned Kinglets were also seen.  We were then treated to great looks at a Swainson's Thrush, which was first spotted about 10-12 feet from us on the ground.  He stayed visible for many minutes.  

A group of Blue Jays crossed the path and a few minutes later we hear their calls mixed with the croaks of a Raven that they must have stumbled across.  We finally reached the farthest point that we were going to and found a number of great birds, including two Bald Eagles, one fishing and the other that landed in a tree and allowed us to scope him.  We also spotted 3 Turkey Vultures and distant Peregrine Falcon along with the grebe which turned out to be a Pied-billed Grebe, a Great Blue Heron and a Common Loon that eventually did a swim-by pretty close to us, affording great looks.  At this point we headed back and found another Swainson's Thrush, a Song sparrow (our only sparrow of the day) and a group of Black-throated Blue Warblers, as well as our third immature Bald Eagle.

All in all we ended up with 31 species, not counting the unidentified warbler species that were just moving around too quickly to ID.  Not a huge number, but we did get some really nice birds and some great looks at them.

We had 14 participants and totaled 29 species.  The highlight of the morning was at Arcadia, where we had a kettle of raptors, including Red-tailed, Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks and a Northern Harrier.  

It was difficult seeing much of anything when we first started as it was quite foggy.  Once it burned off it became warm and clear.  We did the Northampton Meadows, Aqua Vitae Rd, Honeypot Rd and Arcadia last.  There was a folk festival at Arcadia that day which brought in many people, but it did not affect where we were headed so that was good.

There were nine participants in all for this annual fall trip south.  We were happy with our number of 108 species until I came home and looked at previous years.  It is the lowest we've recorded!  Part of it was that weather was not in our favor.  It rained on Sunday, so we didn't return to Higbee at all.  We just did Nummy and the Wetlands Institute that day.  Although we added some good species at those places (Wilson's and Blackpoll, Willet, Rb Nut), we still lacked some that we usually get.  Brig was okay, with low tide, so we saw Clapper, etc., in the channels, but the water in the pools had already been raised, so there were few shorebirds, and numbers of ducks had not come in yet.  The hawkwatch was good, with good looks, but I don't think migration was at its peak.  Highlights by day are included below.

Sept 21 – Brig had 12 Wood Duck, 2 Gadwall, 10 American Wigeon, 75 Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, 8 Pied-billed Grebe, 3 Clapper Rails, 5 Pectoral Sandpiper, 100 Semipalmated Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, 2 Long-billed Dowitcher, Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Caspian Tern, 120 Black Skimmer, 20 Glossy Ibis, Black Vulture, Peregrine Falcon, 1 White-eyed Vireo, 1 Marsh Wren, 1 Seaside Sparrow, 20 Boat-tailed Grackle, and 5 Savannah Sparrow.

Sept 22 – Higbee gave us 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Eastern Wood-Pewee, 1 Yellow-throated Vireo, Carolina Chickadee, Brown Thrasher, 3 American Pipit, 2 Bobolink, 2 Baltimore Oriole, 1 Black-and-white Warbler, 1 Dickcissel, American Redstart, 1 Magnolia Warbler, 2 Prairie Warbler, 5 Blue Grosbeak, 7 Indigo Bunting, and 1 Nashville Warbler.

Cape May Hawkwatch Platform and the Cape May Meadows had 15 Blue-winged Teal, 6 Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, American Oystercatcher, Pied-billed Grebe, Peregrine Falcon, Black Vulture, Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, 3 Cooper's Hawk, Bald Eagle, Belted Kingfisher, 5 American Kestrel, Merlin, and Little Blue Heron.

Sept 23 – Nummy’s Island provided looks at American Oystercatcher, 2 Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 1 Green Heron, 12 Black-crowned Night-Heron, Red-eyed Vireo, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 1 House Wren, Brown Thrasher, American Redstart, Palm Warbler, 1 Wilson's Warbler, and 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  Finally, Stone Harbor Blvd – Wetlands Institute added 1 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, 6 Northern Flicker, and 1 Blackpoll Warbler to our trip list.

Six birders came for the walk on a warm, sunny day.  We saw a total of 25 species.  Noticeably absent were migrating birds and warblers, with a Redstart and a Common Yellowthroat being our only warblers.  However, it was a nice day to be walking in the woods and near the end we were able to get good looks at a pair of Scarlet Tanagers, not in breeding plumage.

The annual Allen Bird Club/Hoffmann Bird Club hawk watch and picnic was held today on Blueberry Hill in Granville.  We were also joined by several members of Massachusetts Audubon from Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton.

We had hoped for a big push of raptors today after the week's dreary weather, but it was not to be (at least not at our site).  Nevertheless, we enjoyed many good looks at an assortment of raptors, and several of the newcomers commented that they learned a lot about the identification of these often confusing birds.

The watch ran from 8:45 AM to 3:00 PM, on a mostly sunny day with balmy, late-summer temperatures.  Species counts are below.
       
       COUNTED AS MIGRANTS:
       Osprey 1
       Bald Eagle 3
       Northern Harrier 1
       Sharp-shinned Hawk 18
       Broad-winged Hawk 98
       American Kestrel 7
       Merlin 2
       Blue Jays 25
       Monarch Butterflies 10
       
       ALSO PRESENT:
       Double-crested Cormorant
       Turkey Vulture 2
       Red-shouldered Hawk 2
       Red-tailed Hawk
       Northern Flicker 3
       Eastern Phoebe
       Blue-headed Vireo (sang briefly)
       American Crow
       Common Raven 2
       American Robin
       Common Yellowthroat (only warbler tallied!)
       Purple Finch 4
       American Goldfinch 2