Trip Highlights

The first walk of the season in Longmeadow was extremely birdless.  No robins or thrushes where expected or found. However, Al Richardson and I identified 2 Red-shouldered hawks on Pondside.  One flew in with a flash of red on its wings.  We studied it and when it flew to join another hawk, we got positive identification marks.

It started slow at the meeting place on Bark Haul and Pondside, but when we moved up to the parking area on Pondside across from Tina Lane about 6:45pm, the Nighthawks began to flow down over the ponds.  At one point there were 35 swirling directly over our heads.  We ended with 107 Common Nighthawks, and everyone had great looks.  We also had about 75 Chimney Swifts, several Tree Swallows, a Barn Swallow and some Rough-winged Swallows.  There were nine participants plus leaders, and we picked a good night.  It was a nice evening and everyone seemed pleased with the number and the great views - lots of insects for sure - plus a nice sunset.

At the meeting place, Pynchon Point in Agawam, two screaming Peregrine Falcons flew over us.  One continued west and the other landed on the cell tower across the street, calling for a few minutes.  Walking to the Point, we managed to find 2 Great Egrets, a Great Blue, and 3 Dc Cormorants.  We drove to the Expo Lagoon and found 3 Great Blue Herons, 5 Green Herons, 2 Dc Cormorants, Great and Snowy Egrets, 2 immature Black-crown Night-herons, a Solitary Sandpiper, a Kingfisher, an Osprey perched, and a Killdeer heard only.  On to Longmeadow, where Pondside gave us 11 Great Egrets, 3 Great Blues, 35 Wood Ducks, 7 Mute Swans, 40 Mallards, 4 Least Sandpipers, 3 Tree Swallows, 3 Orioles, and 3 Warbling Vireos.  At the Island the water was too high for anything but one Spotted Sandpiper, 2 Great Egrets, 2 Dc Cormorants, a Bald Eagle close overhead, and a preening Peregrine Falcon perched atop dead driftwood on a reduced sandbar.

Only a handful of people showed any interest in the weekend Cape Cod trip due to the overnight cost and the expected crowds.  Instead, we offered interested birders a five hour offshore trip for pelagic species a few miles off Chatham.  We were accompanied in the small fishing boat by veteran pelagic expert and spotter Peter Flood.  Before boarding for the afternoon we had time to visit Morris Island beach, where many hundreds of mostly gulls, terns and Cormorants were roosting on offshore sandbars at high tide.  We walked the shoreline to find some shorebirds and a preening White-winged Scoter.  The tide was falling as we waited to board at the Fish Pier, so we scanned the island in the bay for Red Knots, Oystercatchers, Turnstones, Greater Yellowlegs, Semi and Black-bellied Plovers, Least and Semi Sandpipers, and Piping Plovers.  At first the captain warned us there was fog off shore, but we had come too far to let that deter us.  The fog soon faded away, revealing a gently rolling sea with many close birds sitting on the water and in flight.  Within a short time we had close looks at Great, Corey’s, Sooty, and Manx Shearwaters. Wilson’s Petrels were also numerous in most areas.  Roseate and Common Terns were flying over chattering most of the time and several small flocks were on the water.  We saw a Black Tern fly past, disappearing in the distance, and a group of seven Red-necked Phalaropes flew low past the boat.  We headed north toward some whale activity getting good looks at 2-3 pods of 2-5 animals each.  We spotted two single Parasitic Jaegers and one group of four.  We stopped to chum for a while with fish parts thrown out by the captain.  Hundreds of gulls came to feed with a bedlam of chatter, and with them were some incredibly close shearwaters.  We returned in time to have a take-out meal at the fish pier before heading back to Western Mass.

As usual the mid-day walk before the picnic had plenty of good birds; Sapsucker, Wood Pewees, Indigo Buntings, a Hermit Thrush, two Blue-headed Vireos, two Bluebirds, and 2 Yellow-rumped Warblers.  Barn Swallows were eating while we dined on our picnic lunch and Turkey Vultures were looking for food.  In all, there were 22 species noted and lots of delicious food to go around while we enjoyed the view before us.