Trip Highlights

We met in Ludlow at McDonald’s at 6:30 and five of us headed for Plum Island. We had Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey and 15 DC cormorants en route and arrived at the Salt Pannes at 9:15.  The water greeted us with two Great Egrets, a Merlin, a Kingfisher, one Lesser Yellowlegs a dozen or so peeps and 30+ Tree Swallows.

The Warden’s gave us Cooper’s Hawk, two Harrier, Pewee, Phoebe and Mockingbird. Off to North Pool, where we added more Great Egrets, a Great Blue, 5 Semi-Sandpipers, an Eagle and more Tree Swallows.  The Bill Forward Pool at Hellcat landed us the best bird of the day, good looks at American Bittern, as well as a laundry list of sandpipers, 25 White-rumped, 150 Semi-palmated, 20 Least, 1 Solitary and 1 Spotted. Also there were 100 Semi-palmated Plovers, 1 Long and 6 Short-billed Dowitchers, 2 Great Blue Herons and a Little Blue, 40 Great and 4 Snowy Egrets, 20 each of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, 4 Black Ducks and 6 Mallards, 50 DC Cormorants, a Harrier sitting on the beach, a Savannah Sparrow, more Tree Swallows and 2 Barns.

A half after noon we arrived at Emerson Rocks to find 40 Sanderlings, 12 Semi Sandpipers, 12 Semi Plovers, 2 Scoters, 10 Gannets, and a beautiful Baird’s Sandpiper close and seen well. We headed across the way to Sandy Point, where we got 2 Whimbrel, 3 Red Knots, 20 BB Plovers, 75 Semi Sandpi-pers, 50 Semi Plovers, 12 Sanderlings, a Ruddy Turnstone and three species of gulls.

The first fall walk at Stebbins Refuge was attended by 8 participants and we tallied 32 species.  It was warm at 7:30 a.m. and got more humid by the time we left at 11 a.m.  It was a slow meander and quiet for the most part.

We had no warblers - a Warbling Vireo and a pair of Phoebes were present and we tallied 5 Green Herons (they were almost as ubiquitous as the calling Catbirds).  The ponds held many Wood Ducks, Mallards, Swans, Great Egrets (2), Rough-winged Swallows, and DC Cormorants.  We were treated to a Cooper's Hawk being dive-bombed by a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  We could observe well the overall size, head and body pattern differences between the two hawks.  It was a pleasant, if slow, start to fall migration and a chance to see the changes happening at the Refuge.

Four Allen Bird Club members checked the CT and Westfield River and various ponds and lagoons in Agawam and Longmeadow for late summer shorebirds, egrets and herons.  High water, resulting in a scarcity of mudflats, kept shorebirds to a lone Spotted Sandpiper and a Killdeer.  A Black-crowned Night-heron was perched out in full view at one of the Big E lagoons in spite of the many huge buses passing by every five minutes, shuttling visitors to the casino in Springfield.  The other lagoon produced Green Heron and a Great Blue.  When we reached the dike area, families of Song Sparrows were popping out of the grass.  The wires held Mourning Doves - not the usual Kestrel so often seen here.  

A quick check at Bondi's gave us two Great Egrets to add to the morning's list.  By the time we reached Pondside Road in the Longmeadow Flats, the morning was heating up.  We found more Great Egrets, Green Herons, and Great Blue Herons here.  Total species for the morning was 43.

Ten Allen Bird Club members met at Pondside for the annual Nighthawk Watch. The first Nighthawks were not spotted until nearly 7:30, giving everyone plenty of time to catch up on birding adventures and other news from over the summer.   As dusk fell, the nighthawks began to fly over, and from our standpoint at the Tina Lane pullout we tallied 47 nighthawks.  Not as many as some years, but giving all participants good satisfying looks as several swooped down low just above our heads.  

Earlier in the evening there was a Peregrine and an Osprey that showed up.  A nearly full moon shone down on a cluster of 7 Great Egrets as they gathered for their night roost.  Green Herons flew across the ponds and Great Blues fed nearby.  Ducks - Wood, Mallards, and a nice surprise of Blue-wing Teal (3) flew in from wherever they had spent their day feeding.  By the time it had become too dark to see and the mosquitoes had come out in full force, we had tallied 31 species on a very pleasant evening.

Click below to view or download complete count results.

2018 June Count Results