Dark-eyed Junco
Horned Lark Spent this overcast, mild November morning birding from Hadley to Turners falls. This was not one of the better photographic mornings I've encountered in recent weeks, but it was nice to be out. First stop was on East Hadley Road in Hadley- The first thing a observed was a dark object in the corn? a few seconds later a hunter popped out with 2-3 Canada Geese in tow. Needless to say, there were very few Geese to scan through. I did find a nice flock of Horned Larks (120) with about (25) American Pipits mixed in. A Cooper's Hawk was seen in the distance, with fly over Killdeer (2) and a single Snow Bunting.
I then headed towards Sunderland- a few stops produced- (131) Canada Geese, Bald Eagle, Pileated Woodpecker, White-crowned Sparrow,(145+) Dark-eyed Juncos, (42) Red-winged Blackbirds and (15) Pine Siskins.
I kept heading north and made my way to the Turners Falls Rod/Gun Club, Bartons Cove and the Power Canal, waterfowl was thin- (31) Mute Swans at the Rod/Gun club was a new high count for me, Barton's Cove only offered up a female Hooded Merganser and a handful of Canada Geese. The power Canal had a large number of Canada's (450) but could not find anything else in with them. The best birds of the day winged their way down the canal around 10:30am- (2) Dunlin's. This is not a species one tends to get every year in western Massachusetts- so a nice, and completely unexpected surprise.
I finished the day in Northampton out in the East Meadows...Pretty quite out there-
(65) Horned Larks and (2) Snow Buntings ended the day.
Scott
