Trip Highlights

Eleven people and 3 cars arrived in Lenox at Post Farm to find other birders led by Mass Audubon from the Worcester area.  The most unusual sighting there was a pair of Virginia Rails, copulating while 3-4 young were nearby.  There was no sign of Gallinule or Sora or Bittern, but Marsh Wrens and Alder Flycatchers were vocal.  A chickadee was busy and noisy around its nest in a dead birch stub a few feet away from the bridge.  Hummingbird and Kingbirds were also there.  We stopped briefly at Woods Pond on the way out, getting Wood Ducks, a Kingfisher and many swallows.  A Great Blue Heron flew over during the ride to Ice Glen in Stockbridge, where the Cliff Swallows were busy feeding young under the eaves of a large, red barn.  In the marsh there were two Willow Flycatchers and an Alder calling constantly.  We drove up the hill to look down on the main part of the marsh, but no Bittern caught our eye.  Instead, an Olive-sided Flycatcher perched for perfect views in the top of a tree in front of a gated mansion.  From the precarious side of a busy Route 7 we had another Marsh Wren and a Kingfisher.  The first bird on Meadow Street in Tyringham was a flyby accipiter with prey in its clutches. At Breakneck Road and the Appalachian Trail we found three Willow Flycatchers, swallows and Bobolinks before the rain ended the trip just as we found another Chickadee nest with babies.

The 10 participants of this trip promptly (well, mostly) met at 7:00 at our meeting place and quickly drove to the gate of Westover Air Reserve Base where we met another 34 people from two other clubs (Hampshire Bird Club & Brookline Bird Club).  Unlike other years in which we were able to drive our own cars inside Westover to the birding location, this year was different.  We were met by an Air Force bus which took us on our birding trip, first stopping for a bathroom break and informational talk by Frank Moriarty, our leader from Westover.  The bus accomodations were more comfortable than I had initially thought.  The seats were roomy and there was air-conditioning which came in handy later in the day when the temperatures and humidity rose.  It was a little cool and somewhat foggy when we arrived at the birding field, but about an hour later the sun came out and the temperature started to rise along with the humididy.  At first everybody walked down the gravel path together to view any birds that would show themselves.  When we got to a side path that led off to the right, about a dozen people took that path and remained there for just about the entire trip.  The rest of the group stayed spread out on the main path with some people walking quite a bit ahead of everyone else while others arranged themselves somewhere in between.  

During the entire walk Bobolinks were flying all over the place.  There was a tie for the next most abundant bird between Meadowlarks and Upland Sandpipers.  It seemed as though there could have been many more Uplands than I counted only because once they landed in the tall grass they disappeared.  When they flew again it was hard to determine if it was the  same bird or a new one flying off.  Since the grass was not as tall as last year the number of grasshopper sparrows, in my count, was not as high as in past years.  In addition they were farther away sitting on whatever tall bushes they could find.  In past years these tall bushes were adjacent to the path.  After about 1 1/2 hours of walking through the field we were called back to the bus and taken to a wet area on a part of the base we had not previously visited.  Since we had to walk through tall grass to get a good look at the small cattail marsh, my aversion to ticks kept me and quite a few other folks outside at the bus to see what showed up.  We were rewarded with looks at a Kestrel and a pair of Bluebirds along with a few other common birds.  Back on the bus we went and drove in air-conditioned comfort back to our cars waiting for us outside the gate.  All three clubs, I'm sure, were very pleased with this trip and the target birds which we all saw in abundance.  We'll have to wait for next year to do it again.

There were 8 teams and 14 observers in the field to count birds in the Little River Important Bird Area (IBA).  This contiguous area encompasses the wild, sparsely populated parts of northern Granville, eastern Blandford, southern Russell and northwest Southwick.  Together the counters recorded 113 species, slightly more than the 13 year average for the count.  The 4,322 total individuals and the 57.8 average of individuals per hour were both well above average.  Most of the average numbers per year of the 120 species recorded have been very consistent over the 13-year period and four stand out as most abundant; Red-eyed Vireo 328, Ovenbird 259, Veery 155, and Robin 146.  The next 27 species average from 47 to 112 individuals per year.  The next 33 species average from 10 to 40 per year.  There are 56 more species with less than 10 individuals average per year.  That adds up to 120 species recorded over the 13 years of counting.  This year, high counts were set for Hummingbird (21), Phoebe (54), Tree Swallow (92), Rough-winged Swallow (10), Red-breasted Nuthatch (12), Eastern Bluebird (22), Gray Catbird (104), Louisiana Waterthrush (9), Pine Warbler (24), Prairie Warbler (15), Bobolink (96), Red-winged Blackbird (138), and Grackle (67).  The Common Merganser, Bald Eagle, and American Kestrel were each found for only the 5th time, Brown Thrasher for the 4th time, Sora for the third time, and Hooded Warbler for the first time.

Click below to view or download complete count results.

2016 June Count Results

On a hot and humid Sunday morning, 11 members of the Allen Bird Club met at Meadowbrook School in East Longmeadow to explore some of the lesser known birding areas in that town.  We began by walking the Jarvis Nature Sanctuary, an area of old fields and woods behind the school, where we found Yellow and Blue-winged Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, and an Ovenbird, as well as numerous Song Sparrows and a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird.  From there, we drove to the Deer Park Industrial Park off of Shaker Road, parked at the cul-de-sac and walked in to Jawbuck Pond.  Here we found an Indigo Bunting, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Magnolia Warbler, Wood Thrushes, Field Sparrows, and Northern Orioles.  At the pond itself, there were Eastern Kingbirds, a Great Blue Heron, and Canada Geese.  The real treat, however, was a pair of Osprey, one flying and the other sitting in a tree near the nest.  This will be the first time Osprey will have nested in this area.  The next stop was the Brown Farm on Hampden Road, where we walked into the woods and found more Wood Thrushes.  The last stop was Hoover Quarry at the end of Fernglen Road.  The trail was blocked by recently fallen trees, but there was an Oriole was singing right over the parked cars.  The trip took three hours and we found a total of 46 species of birds.

Eight observers started out on a warm, summer-like day.  It started hazy, but soon cleared at Laughing Brook, where the hoped-for Louisiana or Northern Waterthrush was neither seen nor heard.  Some did see a Hummingbird and all saw two Bluebirds and heard a Black-billed Cuckoo as well as a Wood Pewee and a Black-throated Green Warbler.  We drove to North Road, stopping at the crest to hear and see five Bobolinks, two Barn Swallows, and a Meadowlark in a farmer’s field.  At Hollow Road we heard Towhee, Tanager, and a Great Crested Flycatcher and most of us got good looks at a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  At the end of South Road we got good looks at a female Redstart at its nest.  We also saw two Chestnut-sided Warblers and heard a Blue-winged Warbler.  Our species count was 43.