July 27th, 2005. East Meadows, Northampton, MA.
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Willow Flycatcher Empidonax traillii and
Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna.
| Images taken using Canon Powershot A-95 through Swarovski HD telescope.
| Spent
some time today scouting out potential birding areas for later in the
autumn. It was really hot (again!) with temperatures reaching 92 deg.F
at noon - not the best time to be out birding.
Using the excellent “Birdfinding Guide to Western Massachusetts”, I
wandered down to the famous East Meadows at Northampton. It was quite
interesting with a steady southerly movement of Bank Swallows (72) and
Tree Swallows (25) during the two hours that I spent there. A couple of
Northern Rough-winged Swallows also passed over the fields. The only
shorebird that I saw, other than Killdeer, was a single ‘fly-over’
Least Sandpiper, with no obvious signs of good shorebird habitat in the
fields just yet.
The hedgerows held 6+ Brown Thrashers, and several each of Yellow
Warbler and Indigo Bunting, with a Willow Flycatcher actively feeding a
fledged youngster near the airstrip. An Eastern Meadowlark was present at this spot as well.
Later, I had a look at the Honey Pot area in Hadley but found only
Red-winged Blackbirds (600+) with smaller numbers of Common Grackles
and Starlings. Ring-billed Gull and Spotted Sandpiper were on the
Connecticut River close by.
A further 9 Bank Swallows also passed over the fields here.
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