Labor
Day Weekend is upon us and by some accounts it’s the end of Summer? Warblers
are on the move, Common Nighthawks can be found at dusk hawking insects and now
that the Connecticut River has returned to normal summertime levels…. shorebirds
are starting to show up in the valley. Below are some photos from the past
couple of months.
Enjoy,
Scott
Giant Swallow-tailed Butterfly |
Barn Swallow- one of about many that nested in the neighborhood. |
Eastern Phoebe- Two successful broods from our front porch this summer. They seem to look better in fall! |
One of many Sunflowers in Val's garden. |
Chipping Sparrows- Adult & Juv. On several occasions I would flood a small area of my niece's horse pasture and wait for the birds to come in for their evening bath. |
Chipping Sparrow |
Grey Tree Frog- out in the yard |
Super moon |
Grey Tree Frog...at the Frog Pond. |
Green Frog- Val's Frog Pond |
Ruby-throated Hummingbird-Falmouth, |
Ruby-Throat-Falmouth |
Eastern Chipmunk-"Mastering the art of Face Stuffing" |
Norway Rat-Falmouth |
Laughing Gull-Juv. One of two birds at the Longmeadow Sandbar. Laughing Gulls inland are on the rare side. |
Great Egret at the Umass Campus Pond. The water level is a little low, because of maintainance going on at the pond. |
Merlin-Wilson Rd. 1st of the fall |
Very young Killdeer at the horse pasture this summer. |
Weeks later- all grown up |
Valerie at the Old Amherst Landfill- We conducted a survey for New England Environmental this summer for Grassland birds at this site. |
Bobolink female-could have been at least 14 pairs at the old landfill |
Bobolink-male |
Our prize bird was the Grasshopper Sparrows. There were three males singing on territory, but we could not confirm nesting this year. |
Ruby-throated Hummingbird-one of six birds. The big battle we had this year was with the Bumblebees. They absolutely fell in love with the sugar water this year. |
R.T. Hummer |
Ruby-throated Hummingbird-male. This year as in the last few years....friends of mine have opened their home to a number of birders to watch a one day hummingbird banding operation. This year they banded 66 in seven hours. |
RT Hummingbird |