Sunday, October 19, 2014





Spent the last couple of days birding the West & East Meadows of Northampton. My goal was to try and track down the elusive Nelsen's Sparrow....at least elusive to me. This particular bird was hanging out hanging out at an area known as the Ibis Pool. I figured I might have one last day before the next weather front came through and possibly moving this bird on. Surprisingly or amazingly, it only took me 15 minutes to relocated the bird.

The entire area around the Ibis pool was just busting with sparrows. The most common were Song, Savannah and Swamp, mixed in were a few Lincoln's, White-crowned, White-throated and a Field Sparrow. Also present was a nice flock of Pine Siskins and a couple Red-shouldered Hawks.

In the East Meadows the main highlight was the number of American Pipits. I had a couple groups that totaled over 160!
 


Nelsen's Sparrow-The Drought is over! This is my first Nelsen's Sparrow in the state. It's only taken 35+ years.
This bird hung in for almost a week at the Ibis Pool in the West Meadows. (Northampton)

Swamp Sparrow- Excellent numbers coming through the valley. 

Yellow-rumped Warbler- Love that Butter color!

Palm Warbler-Eastern Race.

Purple Finch- Good numbers the last few weeks. Up to 11 at our feeders.

Purple Finch-male.






Sunday, October 12, 2014

Acadia to Monhegan Island

Valerie and I spent a week in mid-September vacationing in Maine. We visited Acadia National Park for the first three days of our trip, and the remaining days were spent on Monhegan Island. The weather was fantastic for the entire week, in fact we got a early taste of October like temps on Thursday morning when the temperature got down into the mid thirties. The birding was pretty slow up around Acadia, but we were there primarily to take in the awesome sights of Acadia. Monhegan was a different story....birding was the main objective. We ended our stay with about 85 species, but I must confess I was a little disappointed with the number of birds.  We had a lot of ones and two's of this, and a few threes and four's of that.... no huge numbers of Warblers, Vireo's, Sparrows or even raptors. However, it's still Monhegan and it remains one of my favorite places to bird in New England.

American Golden-Plover. Juv

Acadia National Park-view from Cadillac  Mt.

Jordon Pond-Acadia

Bass Harbor Lighthouse

Sunset on Cadillac Mt


Black Guillemot - Port Clyde 

Harbor Porpoise-
Bald Eagle

Lark Sparrow

Blue-winged Teal- Ice Pond.

Sunset at Trailing Yew

Lobster Cove

Spotted Sandpiper-Lobster Cove

Monhegan Island celebrated 400 years this past July.

Valerie at Blackhead

Our first Rainbows on the Island

Prairie Warbler-one of two...put on a great show.

 One of the highlights of the trip were the dozens and dozens of Monarch Butterfly's migrating through Monhegan.
Certainly not the numbers I used to encounter, but it's a nice start considering the really low numbers back home.

Warbling Vireo

Philadelphia Vireo
Certainly a great addition to the late afternoon activities. 

Red-eyed Vireo- Surprisingly, very few for mid-September.

Rusty Blackbird-Ice Pond

Merlin-Ice Pond


Imm Red-headed Woodpecker. I've only had a few of these guys over the years.

Cape May Warbler- about 6 birds put on a nice show for a couple of days in the large spruce trees on the way to the Dock.

Yellow Warbler

Northern Parula

Thankfully just a Pirate Flag...No Pirates!

Overlooking the village


Baltimore Oriole

Wilson's Warbler

We will return!