January 2004 Sightings

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January 2004 Sightings
Hampshire, Hampden & Franklin Counties of Massachusetts

Jan 1 Thursday Cloudy, Breezy and Cool
VARIOUS LOCATIONS (report from Chris Gentes) Heather and I went in search of "first of the year birds" and saw 44 total species. Here's what we saw: Canada Goose, Mute Swan (Barton's Cove), Black Duck, Mallard, Northern Pintail (1-UMass Pond), Common Goldeneye (Mating Behavoir -Turners Falls Canal/Conn River in Gill), Hooded Merganser (1-Barton's Cove), Common Merganser, Bald Eagle (2 adults Hadley, 1 adult Northfield), Sharp-shinned Hawk (1-Hadley, 1-Northampton), Red-tailed Hawk (10+), Peregrine Falcon (1-Hadley flying up River), Ring-necked Pheasant (East Meadows), Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Great Horned Owl (2 calling Lawrence Swamp), Belted Kingfisher (1-Northfield), Downy Woodpecker, Northern Shrike (2-Hadley, 1-Gill), Blue Jay, American Crow, Horned Lark (10-East Meadows), Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch (South Amherst), White-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet (4-South Amherst), Eastern Bluebird (3-Hadley, 8-Bull Hill Road), American Robin (3-Hadley), Northern Mockingbird, Starling, Cedar Waxwing (10-Hadley), Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Junco, Cardinal, Common Redpoll (1-Turners Falls), House Finch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow.

HADLEY - Janice Jorgensen saw a Brown Creeper.

AGAWAM - Terry & Joe Wojtanowski observed a Cooper's Hawk.

HAYDENVILLE (reported on Massbird by Bob Packard) A Chipping Sparrow has been here since Dec. 26.

NORTH HADLEY (report from Chris Gentes) Two Screech-owls quickly responded to my whistled calls. When the moon emerged from behind some clouds they stopped calling.

Jan 2 Friday Snowy Morning - Cloudy Cool Afternoon
HADLEY (report from Heather McQueen) Stockbridge Road had some good birds this morning. 7 Common Redpolls were getting grit off the road in front of a house near Route 47. Further along a Cooper's Hawk made an attempt at some feeder birds and then landed in a tree. Further still, in the open fields, 172 Horned Larks and 3 Snow Buntings wee seen.

NORTHAMPTON (report from Larry Therrien ) Had a couple Fish Crow's this morning near Stop and Shop.

HADLEY - Pete Yeskie had the following first of the year birds: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, and Carolina Wren

HADLEY (report from Janice Jorgensen) I saw Eastern Bluebirds and the Brown Creeper continues in my yard....going up the tree about once a day.

Jan 3 Saturday Cloudy and Rainy
GRANVILLE (report from Terry and Joe Wojtanowski) It was cloudy with drizzle when we got to Blueberry Hill. Screech-owls and Barred Owls were calling. They stopped when the drizzle turned to rain.

HADLEY - Pete Yeskie had the following first of the year bird: Oregon Junco.

Jan 4 Sunday Rain and Cold
HAYDENVILLE (reported on Massbird by Bob Packard) This morning at my feeder 25 Pine Siskins dropped in for a few minutes.

Jan 5 Monday Ice, Rain and Cold
BELCHERTOWN (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 5) A Black-throated Blue Warbler has been coming to a feeder in the town of Belchertown, and a Northern Harrier was also sighted there.

HADLEY (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 5) A Northern Saw-whet Owl was noted.

CHICOPEE (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 5) A Northern Goshawk has been hanging around the sewage treatment plant.

AGAWAM (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 5) Seen were 4 American Robins, 4 Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Belted Kingfisher.

SOUTHWICK (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 5) A Belted Kingfisher, 65 Common Mergansers,.and 2 Pine Siskins were seen.

WEST SPRINGFIELD (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 5) There was a Sharp-shined Hawk, a Fox Sparrow, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, 2 Brown Creepers, and 8 Golden-crowned Kinglets..

Jan 6 Tuesday Partly Cloudy and Cold
NORTHAMPTON (report from Chris Gentes) This morning at Paradise Pond I saw a Northern Flicker along with some Common Mergansers and Black Ducks. I went out into the meadows at lunch and saw very few birds until I reached the Ibis Pool area where there was approximately 400 Crows out in the field. There I ran into Larry Therrien who mentioned that earlier in the day at Fitzgerald Lake he had observed a Hermit Thrush near the boardwalk. He also noted at least 275 Canada Geese, 80 Mouring Doves, a Flicker, and a large number of the common three gulls in the meadows.

HADLEY (reported on Massbird by Sue Emerson) Just a heads up that an immature female Baltimore Oriole is still comming to our feeder and has been since the middle of November enjoying amoung other things, Irish soda bread and lemon pound cake!

Jan 7 Wednesday Arctic BLAST!
DEERFIELD (reported on Massbird by Rob Ranney) Late morning both Tuesday and today, a flock of 20 or 30 very active Redpolls spent about 10 minutes in some seedy birch tree tops along Sand Gully Road in Deerfield. Then they flew down the ridge toward Stillwater and The Bars areas of the Deerfield River flood plane. They didn't give me a chance to check the whole flock thoroughly, but I did note many Commons.

Jan 8 Thursday Bitter COLD!
HAYDENVILLE (reported on Massbird by Bob Packard) This afternoon I noticed a nice feather imprint of a large bird outside under the feeders. I went out and checked and found some nice feather imprints, a good sized blob of frozen blood, and a couple small body feathers. On one of them was an ugly adult Louse Fly-Family Hippoboscidae, alive but immobile in the icy temperatures. If you have the Audubon Field Guide to N.A. Insects and Spiders, it looks just like picture # 418. These are blood-sucking bird parasites. There has been a Cooper's Hawk in the neighborhood for over a month, and I suspect he was the predator. The Chipping Sparrow is still alive and well, joined by a Song Sparrow, which is unusual at this time of year at my feeder.

EAST LONGMEADOW (reported on Massbird by George Kingston & Jean Delaney) We had 15 Common Redpolls at our feeder yesterday (1/7) and another one this morning (1/8), so they appear to have arrived in the Valley at last.

Jan 9 Friday YIKES!!!
AMHERST (report from Heather McQueen) Along the bike path there is an area with a lot of berries and open running water. Two days in a row there was a Mockingbird trying to defend the spot from about 65 Robins and 40 Cedar Waxwings.

Jan 10 Saturday Zero Degrees in the Sun
HADLEY (report from Chris Gentes) At least one Shrike is still in the fields off Mount Warner Road. There were 30 Horned Larks in the fields off Stockbridge Road and 10 Horned Larks and 1 Snow Bunting in the Honepot. Parts of the river in the Honeypot area are open - with large icebergs in the water. There we saw 10 Common Mergansers. In North Hadley a Cooper's Hawk was perched in a spruce for a half hour. The pigeons would not land as long as the hawk perched there - they flew in circles the whole time.

NORTHAMPTON (report from Chris Gentes) In the area around the airport we saw 15 Juncos, 30 Tree Sparrows and 5 Song Sparrows. In the river there were close to 1500 Canada Geese, 10 Black Ducks and 20 Mallards.

NORTHFIELD (reported on Massbird by Mark Taylor) It goes without saying that this is a big winter finch year, with reports of Common Redpolls and Pine Siskins widespread throughout the state. So much in fact that it would be redundant for me report all of my feeder sightings in the area of these species ( my own feeders included). Today though, a virtual blizzard of Pine Siskin, Common Redpoll, and American Goldfinch have been, and are now, at my feeders. 40+ Pine Siskin, 50+Common Redpoll, and 70+ American Goldfinch. Really quite an impressive sight. I've yet to separate out a Hoary Redpoll from the bunch after an hour watching. Go Pats!

Jan 11 Sunday Cloudy and Very Cold
AMHERST (reported on Massbird by David Norton) No Repolls or Siskins around here today, but we have had another very hardy Carolina Wren pulling rank amidst the Juncos, Titmice and Chickadees at the feeders yesterday and today-- not a common visitor. We did have one lonely Siskin on Thursday.

GREENFIELD (report from Heather Boersma) Had the pleasure of observing a male Pileated Woodpecker hammering away on my front-yard Willow tree this morning!

QUABBIN (reported on Massbird by Dennis Peacock) Seven rugged members of the South Shore Bird Club met Saturday morning in Athol for a Royalston-to-Quabbin sweep. At the time of our meeting, 7:00 A.M., the thermometer in my truck read -11 degrees and didn't soar to the toasty comfort of 0 degrees until 1:00 P.M. Enfield Lookout: Black Duck 2, Bald Eagle 5; (2 2nd year, 3 adults), GOLDEN EAGLE 1 juvenile, Common Raven 3. Three of the Bald Eagles and the Golden Eagle were perched in trees on Mt. Ram, at the southern end of the Prescott Peninsula, best observed by scoping north from the Enfield Lookout.

QUABBIN (report from Chris Gentes) Heather and I took a drive through Quabbin Park today and saw the following: Downy Woodpecker (2), Blue Jay (2), Crow (3), WB Nuthatch (1), Junco (1), Common Redpoll (100+). The redpolls were seen at Quabbin Lookout flying around from tree to tree in a little swarm.

Jan 12 Monday Snow, Cloudy and "Mild" (only just freezing)
NORTHAMPTON (reported on Massbird by Bob Bieda) This morning there was a large flock of Horned Larks in the Northampton East Meadows between the red barn and the airport. This flock of more than 500 birds contained at least 50 Snow Buntings and four Lapland Longspurs. Later there was a beautiful, adult, dark phase Rough-legged Hawk between the west bank of the Connecticut River and the airport. It was particularly interesting to see this bird perched as it was a completely black hawk with just a bit of white showing at the base of its tail.

NORTHAMPTON (reported on Massbird by Mark Taylor) Checked out the fields surrounding the airport this morning looking for winter birds. I found a hugh flock of Horned Larks in the field just past the end of the runway in the corn stubble. Among them were a good number of Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs. A large flock American Tree Sparrows were flying back and forth from the field just after the last house on Riverbank Rd., to the trees along the river. This is a conservative count: Horned Lark (300) Lapland Longspur (20+) Snow Bunting (75) American Tree Sparrow (50) *Note: On my way back north on Rt. 47 I had what was perhaps the largest flock of winter finches I've ever seen flying over the road. I couldn't stop to pull over to track them down and ascertain what species, but am certain they were either Redpolls or Pine Siskins. The flock was absolutely massive with 3 to 4 hundred birds. I can't think of any species that size other than American Goldfinch that would be congregating around here this time of year. At the very least it was a mixed flock of all three. Something to look out for if in the area of the large farm on the left (heading North) near Gunn Cross Rd. in Sunderland.

SPRINGFIELD (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 12) Two Red-winged Blackbirds were seen at a feeder in Springfield.

AMHERST (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 12) A White-crowned Sparrow was reported at a feeder.

INTERSTATE 91 (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 12) A total of 19 Red-tailed Hawks were counted from West Springfield to Hadley over the weekend

Jan 13 Tuesday Arctic Cold Returns
NORTHAMPTON (report from Larry Therrien) Took a quick trip down through the meadow near the airport in Northampton this morning. The mixed flocks of Snow Buntings, Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs were impressive. There were at least two seperate flocks,each with hundreds of individuals. There were probably 400+ horned larks, well over 100 Snow Buntings and dozens of longspurs. Also had a flock of 600+ Starlings. All these numbers are conservative. Also had a couple Red-tails and one very close looks at a Sharpie that buzzed by my truck and landed in the fields and then flew back across the road and landed on a corn stalk! A few hundred Canada Geese coming off the river and heading toward Hadley too.

Jan 14 Wednesday Mostly Sunny, Extreme Cold
ROUTE 116 (reported on Massbird by Steve Sauter) I had an adult Bald Eagle on the Sunderland side of the Connecticut River, a large flock of Cedar Waxwings by the softie ice cream stand south of Sunderland and an even larger flock, (60+ birds), of Cedar Waxwings on the North side of the Lord Jeff in Amherst. With a -52° wind chill it was good to get off the hill in Ashfield!

SUNDERLAND (report from Larry Therrien) Tried for the Shrikes (Hadley) today, but the cold cut the trip short without any results. I did have a flock of 110+ Cedar Waxwings feeding on berries almost in the center of Sunderland on Rt116....wasn't able to come up with any Bohemian Waxwings.

AMHERST (report from Heather McQueen) I saw a dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk today over some fields behind Amherst College.

Jan 15 Thursday Record Cold
AMHERST (report from Heather McQueen) I heard a Kingfisher along the Fort River.

NORTHAMPTON (report from Jonathan Gottsche) I went out to the meadows today just after noon. When I got there the wind went from 5 to 30 in a snap. Quickly the view from the airport runway went from clear to a cloud that was a creamy brown. I waited for a few minutes but I thought that it wouldn't slow down. A poor little Mocker that I saw was puffed as big as a big grapefruit. Poor fellow. With all that wind I bag it and took my gear home.

Jan 16 Friday Big Freeze Shuts Down Valley
NORTH HADLEY (report from Heather McQueen) The Cooper's Hawk returned to its perch on the tall Norway Spruce on Route 47 just opposite the Fire Station.

NORTHAMPTON (reported on Massbird by Bill Lafley) Braved the cold winds today at lunchhour to check out the meadows. The large flock of Horned Larks, Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs was more dispersed into groups of 20 -40. Without much snow cover there were many areas to forage. I found 4 Lapland Longspurs-1 in the corn stubble and 3 in the more open fields east of the airport. Great views (from the car) of the birds in the dirt fields. I know I bought that window scope mount for some reason. P.S. I had a reading of 13 below zero this morning with a wind chill reading on my weather station [New Salem] of 61 degrees below zero.

Jan 17 Saturday Sunny - Arctic Cold Moves On
SHUTESBURY (report from Kevin Weir) We have a small flock of American Tree Sparrows, juncos, goldfinch, red bellied woodpecker, one Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, downeys, hairys, mourning doves, bluejays, one fox sparrow, one white breasted nuthatch, chicadees, titmouse at our feeders

HADLEY (report from Janice Jorgensen ) On Honey Pot Road: 1 Adult Bald Eagle and 2 Common Mergansers in the Connecticut River. The Cooper's Hawk still hanging around near Fire Dept. There was an OSPREY along the river near Huntington Road.

GOLDEN EAGLE AT QUABBIN
***** Jan 17 (reported on Massbird by John Hoye) At Enfield Lookout at 2:30 we had the immature Golden Eagle [first reported on Jan 11 by Dennis Peacock] in a long glide from area near Pomeroy to south end of Prescott wher the bird went into the woods to the right of Mt. Ram. The same or another Golden cruised by going from left to right in front of us: it was dark without any white gliding in a modified diehedral that may have been a different bird.adult. Weather suprisingly balmy at 28 with light northwest 10 to15 knots. Also seen further away 4 adult and one imm. Bald Eagle.
******Jan 19 (reported on Massbird by Alan Strauss) I was at Enfield Lookout today between 12:30 and 4:00. Between about 12:30 and 2:00 I saw one adult and one immature Bald Eagle. These birds were at a distance in the clouds. I came back to the spot around 3:30 and saw three immature Balds (one directly over head over the parking area) and one full adult over Mt. Ram. I saw no other birds except a few crows and juncos. I checked the fruit trees near the headquarters. There was no sign, that I saw, of the Golden Eagle. The park ranger/manager said people report Golden Eagles all the time and he thinks many of these sightings are of imm. Balds. People also in the Spring report kettles of many eagles which are usually Turkey Vultures. Since the birds are often at a distance, please be careful to check all of the appropriate field marks for both adult and immature birds when trying to determine Bald versus Golden. A nearly all dark bird does not automatically make it a Golden. Also watch for how the wings are held as well as other key pointers in your books. The distance and lighting can make things tricky when trying to make a positive id.
***** Jan 20 (reported on Massbird by John Hoye) Despite Alan Strauss' lack of success today at finding Golden Eagles at Enfield lookout they do occur annually at Quabbin. The bird we saw on Saturday last was seen at a distance south of Mt..Pomeroy and had a medium diehedral, a small head and a long tail. The tail was greater than twice the length of the head. When the bird banked there were two white wing patches in the area of the primary flight feathers underneath. It glided toward us in a modified diehedral. There was some white at the base of the tail and the bird had a golden shawl or hackles. When it disappeared into area near Mt. Ram on the Prescott it was quite close. Despite their presence at Quabbin I believe they are infrequently seen but can be found in the East Quabbin gates, near little Quabbin or at the Enfield lookout with luck under the right conditions.
***** Jan 20 (reported on Massbird by Alan Strauss) Just to clarify, I did not in anyway mean to cast doubt on the recent Golden Eagle reports from Quabbin. Indeed, Golden Eagles, can be found at this location. Dana Commons is a good place to look as well as other spots with views of Prescott Penninsula. Goldens have been reported in the eagle counts taken by the state as well as by birders in the area. My cautionary notes were intended for new or beginning birders.

Jan 18 Sunday Snow Moves In
HADLEY (report from Chris Gentes) Heather and I went for a hike up Mount Warner in the snow. The best birds were a Ruffed Grouse and a Northern Flicker. Also seen were many Titmice and Cardinals, a Brown Creeper, and a Red-tailed Hawk. Below the dam in some open water were 10 Black Ducks and 4 Mallards.

Jan 19 Monday Sunny, Windy, Very Cold
SPRINGFIELD (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 19) A Ruby-crowned Kinglet was eating suet at a feeder.

WEST SPRINGFIELD (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 19) Observed were a Pileated Woodpecker, A Fish Crow, 2 Godlen-crowned Kinglet, and a Gray Catbird.

HADLEY (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 19) Three Hooded Mergansers, a Northern Harrier and a Sharp-shinned Hawk were found. A Baltimore Oriole continues at a feeder.

NORTHFIELD (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 19) Two Common Redpolls were seen.

WESTFIELD (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 19) Three Hooded Mergansers were observed.

SOUTWICK (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 19) A Field Sparrow still comes to a feeder. A Cooper's Hawk was also seen.

Jan 20 Tuesday Sunny, Windy, and Cold
NORTHAMPTON (reported on Massbird by Bill Lafley ) I cruised through the East Meadows today and while I was parked on the road to the "red barn" a light-phase Rough-legged Hawk soared over the airport and moved southeast (almost overhead) toward the river.

Jan 21 Wednesday Sunny, Breezy, and Less Cold
NORTHAMPTON (reported on Massbird by Mark Taylor) Birded most of the morning in the East Meadows of Northampton, then over the river in the Honey Pot section of Hadley. The highlight was a beautiful adult dark morph Rough-legged Hawk teed up near the river and near the runway of Northampton Airport. The Buteo then took flight, catching a thermal and rising up and away to the north out over the river. Spotted a large flock of Horned Larks put up by a Merlin but could not relocate them after. At the Honey Pot we found several large flocks of restless Snow Buntings( 70+ total) with lesser numbers of Horned Larks. No Lapland Longspurs which was somewhat of a surprise. We relocated the Rough-legged Hawk over the fields and on the ground, just north of the "End of Town Rd." turnaround. The bird was feeding on, what appeared to be, a Wild Turkey carcass, which was at a distance away near the tree line.

NORTH AMHERST (reported on Massbird by Merry Cushing) This afternoon about 1:45 pm, we saw two adult Bald Eagles fly over the Cherry Hill Golf. They circled around the area for a while and gave us great views of them.

Jan 22 Thursday Sunny, Calm, and Not Too Cold
HADLEY (report from Heather McQueen) I saw a Peregrine Falcon eating a pigeon near the farm behind the malls.

EASTHAMPTON (reported on Massbird by Bob Bieda) I just looked through a flock of about one hundred Cedar Waxwings on Pomeroy St. in Easthampton. The flock contained one BOHEMIAN WAXWING. I live on Pomeroy St. and have not seen this flock in the area in the past several months and I am not aware of any food sources on this end of the street. I would guess they are passing through. There were in a red maple tree and were not feeding. Based on other reports on this and other area list-serves we may be at the beginning of an influx of Bohemian Waxwings.

OTHER BOHEMIAN WAXWING SIGHTINGS
Jan 18, 11, Deer Isle ME, J. Chip Moseley
Jan 21, 100, North Conway NH, Tom Murray
Jan 21, 20, Warren Village VT, Jim Groom
Jan 21, 35, Woodstock VT, Steve Faccio
Jan 24, 3, Gloucester, Linda Ferraresso
Jan 25, 60+, Truro, Blair Nikula
Jan 26, 1, Nashua NH, Mike Resch
Jan 26, 3, Gloucester, Fay Vale
Jan 30, 1 Groton, Tom Pirro

Jan 23 Friday Return of the Arctic Cold

Jan 24 Saturday Arctic Cold, Wind Continues
NORTHAMPTON (report from Jonathan Gottsche) A MERLIN was observed in the area of Stop and Shop on King Street.

Jan 25 Sunday Sunny and Very Cold, Windy
AMHERST (report from Heather McQueen) Near the parking lot to the UMass Stadium there was a Red-tailed Hawk, a Northern Flicker and a Hermit Thrush.

PELHAM OVERLOOK (reported on Massbird by Mark Lynch) on Rt. 202. Despite the cold temps (minus 3 at that point) we stood outside and scoped the Prescott. Here we had good views of an adult GOLDEN EAGLE and a Common Raven. The Golden eagle may very well be the same well documented bird that was seen sequentially by 4 different teams (including mine) on the Quabbin CBC. Interestingly, NO Bald Eagles were seen.

TUNERS FALLS CANAL (reported on Massbird by Bill Lafley) This morning there was a pair of Wood Ducks mixed in with a large flock of Canada Geese, Mallards and Blacks huddling from the cold.

QUABBIN TOWER (reported on Massbird by Mark Lynch) While birding Quabbin Park (South Quabbin) this morning, we were surprised to find an adult VARIED THRUSH feeding ON the north end of the road that circles the parking lot (one way) at the tower at about 10:30AM. While watching this bird the first time, it flew up into the trees for some minutes, then came back down and was searching for food along the edge of the road, in the presence of a Blue Jay. A Red-bellied Woodpecker was also seen feeding on the ground at the edge of the road, also in the presence of a Blue Jay. The bird offered great views and we set up a scope and enjoyed the bird to the fullest.

Jan 26 Monday Frigid Cold Continues
AMHERST (report from Heather McQueen) Today I was starteled by a Red-tailed Hawk that swooped down and grabbed e a mouse which was getting some bird seed I put out for the Juncos. The hawk put the mouse in its bill, at which point the mouse started squealing. Then the hawk flew off to parts unknown.

CHICOPEE FALLS (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 26) A Barrow's Goldeneye was reported on the river downstream from the Route 141 bridge.

WEST SPRINGFIELD (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 26) In West Springfield were 2 Common Ravens, a Brown Creeper, 15 Red-breasted Nuthatches, and 12 Golden-crowned Kinglets.

SOUTHWICK (Western Voice of Audubon for Monday, January 26) There was a Snow Goose, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, a Field Sparrow, 9 Pine Siskins, and 2 Great Horned Owls.

Jan 27 Tuesday Cloudy and Very Cold

Jan 28 Wednesday Snow (1/2 foot) Overnight - Flurries During Day
ASHFIELD (reported on Massbird by Steve Sauter) This mornings snow has sent more than 60 Common Redpolls to my feeders. They are so aggressive that the A. Goldfinches, BC Chickadees, RB Nuthatches, WB Nuthatches, Hairy and Woodpeckers that normally hold court are forced to watch from the trees.

SHUTESBURY (reported by Kevin Weir) The male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker reappeared at suet feeder this morning during snow storm. One Fox Sparrow continues at other feeder.

I-91 (reported on Massbird by Daniel Schell ) A reliable birder reports that on returning north from Connecticut yesterday, before the storm, there were 14 Red-tailed hawks along I-91 in the 20 mile stretch between exits 15 and 24 (Holyoke Mall to Deerfield). Most of the birds were concentrated at the meadows and north with many of them on the ground in the median.

Jan 29 Thursday Cold and Very Windy
HADLEY (report from Pete Yeskie ) There are a few Canvasbacks here. [On Connecticut River just south of the Coolidge Bridge in Hadley in some open water].

HADLEY (report from Larry Therrien) I saw the Canvasback this morning. As of about 12:30 it had left, but it was present this morning from at least 9:30 am. It was a great looking bird. Also about a dozen mallards, 10 common goldeneyes, 7 common mergansers, a few Red-tail flybys, several hundred Canada Geese and about 30 of the common gulls...plus some usual feeder type birds in the brush near the river.

AMHERST (report from Heather McQueen) Mixed in with the regular feeder birds at work there was a Field Sparrow.

GRANBY (reported on MAssbird by Lori Rogers) I’ve seen Common Redpolls and Pine Siskins at my feeders several times in the last 1 ½ weeks. Last Saturday I had 2 Redpolls and a Siskin. A Carolina Wren has been visiting my feeders pretty regularly in the last several weeks, but I haven’t seen it since last Wednesday (although there are a lot of days when I am not home at all during daylight, so perhaps it continues to visit). I hope it didn’t succumb to the extreme cold.

DEERFIELD (reported on Massbird by Rob Ranney) Common Redpolls have been visiting my feeders daily for almost three weeks. Usually it's just one or four, but a full flock of 40 shows up for a little while some days. They eat both black oil sunflower and niger seed. It's been an incredible opportunity to really watch them up close. The red spot on the head is iridescent. The flock flies in tighter formation than Goldfinches, with zippier motions. There is lots of individual variation to their markings. Fluffing up can be misleading, as it somewhat obscures the flank streaking. Also this winter, my feeder regulars include one Pine Siskin, one Song Sparrow, one first-year White-throated Sparrow, four American Tree Sparrows, a male Cowbird, a female Sharpie, and the standard assortment. A male Robin visits my crabapple trees regularly, and a flock of about 20 Cedar Waxwings fed on them two days last weekend. I haven't seen a Hairy Woodpecker all winter. Mallards, Black Ducks, and Common Mergansers can be found on the open parts of the Deerfield River in Deerfield. Canada Geese and the same ducks often gather on the Connecticut River at the Sunderland Bridge. Ravens are around.

Jan 30 Friday Cold and Not Too Windy
HADLEY (report from Larry Therrien) I went over there [below Coolidge Bridge] again around 10:30-11 this morning to see what was there.. NO Canvasbacks and only one Common Goldeneye. Only other bird of note was a 2nd or 3rd year Bald Eagle flying over the river. The usual number of Canada Geese and Mallards were also present. When I saw the Canvasback [Jan 29], there was only one and it was a male. There is even less open water there today it seems.

HADLEY (report from Chris Gentes) There were about thirty Snow Buntings flying in the Honeypot this morning. No sign of the Canvasback, but still a few Common Coldeneye and Common Mergansers just below Collidge Dam as of dusk.

Jan 31 Saturday Sunny and Cold
HADLEY (report from Janice Jorgensen) Today I was looking for the laplands..and snow buntings....still haven't seen them But I saw a Northern Harrier down in the Honey Pot section.

NORTH HADLEY (report from Chris Gentes) We finally got a Common Redpoll at our feeder this morning! The only problem is he couldn't figure out how to hang upside down to get the thistle seed so he was only around for a few minutes.

QUABBIN (reported on Massbird by Steve Moore) Highlights in the Quabbin area today included: VARIED THRUSH - Quabbin Park in the parking lot in front of the restrooms with Blue Jays at 9:30am. Bald Eagles - 7 Winsor Monument and Enfield Lookout. Common Ravens - 14 Twelve were on a deer carcass seen from the last pulloff on left on Administration Road before the rotary circle along with Eagles and a coyote. Golden-crowned Kinglet - Winsor Monument. Common Redpolls - 13 Royalston at house with all the feeders at the north end of town. No Evening Grosbeaks between 2 and 3pm. Northern Shrike - 1 Royalston Center near the Library.