Smith's Longspur - Hadley Honey Pot, Hampshire Co., MA. December 14th, 2022. A fabulous find for hard working local birder Scott Surner. Fifth state record and the first documented in the Pioneer Valley. Discovered on Dec 12th delighting hundreds throughout its stay and still present on the last day of the year! December, traditionally a month of minimal daylight, falling temperatures and usually lots of snow. Compared to October and November, my expectations for birding in December are generally pretty low, yet over the years the month has produced exciting birding in the Connecticut River V ..read more

  Rufous Hummingbird - Millers Falls, Franklin Co. MA. November 11th, 2022.  Found by Bruce Kanash at his home, ID ultimately verified by Master bander Anthony Hill.  November 10th was warm and breezy. I hadn't been out to the Quabbin for a few weeks and thought I'd give it a try without having any particular species or ornithological event in mind. On arrival at Gate 35 a chance encounter with Jeff Johnstone ultimately led to a chance encounter with a Rufous Hummingbird in Millers Falls that same morning! A Selaphorus hummingbird had been coming into a feeder at a ..read more

  Purple Gallinule (juvenile) - Longmeadow Flats. Hampden Co., MA. October 25th, 2022. Late October often brings a really good, memorable bird to the Pioneer Valley and this year was no exception gifting a Purple Gallinule to the Fannie Stebbins Refuge at Longmeadow Flats. This fascinating record first came to light when Jean Langevin drew attention to it via Facebook on the Western Mass Photographers page. Though aloof at times it lingered for the best part of a week at one of the most heavily used public spots on the refuge allowing dozens of birders to catch up with this genuinely rar ..read more

Nelson's Sparrow - Hadley Pump House, Hampshire Co., MA. October 17th, 2022. A long stayer and super find for Janice Jorgensen on October 11th, 2022.  Long time, no blog feature...indeed it's been a while. A busy period of tour leading in late 2022 through May 2023 followed by a few life changes at home left me with little time for the blog lately. But even so, today I was very appreciative to see a relatively local Nelson's Sparrow, admittedly not my find but a Nelson's Sparrow in the Pioneer Valley is well worth the 40 minute drive from home and looking back at my records, it's a cool ..read more

  Mourning Warbler - Deerfield Meadows, Franklin Co., MA. September 28th, 2021. The Caldwell Road fields were admittedly quiet this morning although Common Yellowthroats were still present in good numbers along with Lincoln's Sparrows and Red-eyed Vireos. In the evening I found myself with enough time to try some birding around Deerfield. I don't normally search for passerine migrants in late afternoon/early evening but the calm, muggy and 'buggy' conditions looked promising and I soon found warblers insect gleaning around the overgrown dirt mounds in Deerfield's meadows. More Common Yel ..read more

  Red-eyed Vireo - Caldwell Road, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. September 19th, 2021. It's late September and the last few days have seen glorious autumnal days and cool, refreshingly comfortable nights. But the mostly stable air has allowed many migrants to pass through our area uninterrupted and this morning in particular there was a small but notable visible migration of southbound warblers along the Connecticut River in Northfield. Most were Blackpoll and Yellow-rumped Warblers but I was also able to pick out a couple of Tennessee Warblers and a single Nashville Warbler. Even better ..read more

  Connecticut Warbler - Caldwell Road, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. September 16th, 2021. A high pressure system currently settled over much of the region brought cooler temperatures with chilly, foggy dawns and delightful fall-like days. September is surely one of the most beautiful months of the year to be out birding! Such conditions generally don't see the larger scale fall-outs associated with more active weather systems but often see a steady turnover of newly arrived migrants along with the departure of the few remaining summer migrants. This particular month I've been engrossed ..read more

  Mourning Warbler - Caldwell Road, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. September 14th, 2021. The last two days have seen a distinct swing towards slightly later season migrants in Northfield with Swainson's Thrush, Northern Waterthrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler and White-throated Sparrow (8) all making their first appearances at Caldwell Road fields. In addition, up to 25 Common Yellowthroats and 5 Lincoln's Sparrows both showed obvious increases over the 13th and 14th. A couple of late migrants also turned up with two Yellow Warblers (together) and a Willow Flycatcher on the 13th.  Lincol ..read more

Connecticut Warbler - Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. September 10th, 2021. Probably first-winter.  September brings many avian riches to Massachusetts and has to be one of the most keenly anticipated months of the year for local birders. Whether it be the mass migration of Broad-winged Hawks at established hawk watch sites, or the ever present chance of finding Buff-breasted Sandpipers and other cool shorebirds among local flocks of Killdeer, every day of the month has something to offer and even just an hour outside can be time well spent. But for me, September in Western ..read more

  Nashville Warbler. Caldwell Road, Northfield, Franklin Co., MA. September 9th, 2021. The first ten days of September saw a welcome drop in the heat and humidity of August but, certainly from a Franklin County perspective, it's been pretty quiet for migration. Even the passage of Hurricane Ida on the 2nd did little to stir things up though did bring a small number of shorebirds to Northfield and an increase in shorebird diversity. The Baird's Sandpiper that had showed so well at Caldwell Road in late August lingered until September 3rd though became increasingly difficult to see spendin ..read more