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November 19th and 20th-I have been lucky enough to spend a couple of hours with an AMAZINGLY rare bird in Hampden, Mass this weekend. I am fairly certain that this bird is a Rufos Hummingbird! He (I think) would be crazy rare ANYTIME of the year, but in late November?! I think he must be lost. I am hoping he can still survive the journey south at this point. I would truly like to thank Nancy Dibiaso Willoughby for letting me share this beautiful encounter with her! Experts want to band this beauty to help our bird conservation efforts so stay tuned! I posted videos to my social media sites so you can see him in action! See Find Me for the info on my pages.
Hampden is a neat town. I actually lived in Wilbraham as a child, Hampden as a teenager, and Monson as an adult, before I moved back to Wilbraham. Hampden has some great spots to see birds. I have scoped out my friend’s yard on the mountain, Peaked Mountain, Miller Conservation Area, and Laughing Brook. Laughing Brook has beautiful scenery and lots of trails to get lost in if you don’t watch the signs! I really like the little field on Main Street that is across from the stream and Scantic River, right near the entrance to Laughing Brook. I have seen beautiful birds, flowers and butterflies in the warmer weather. I saw some beautiful Cedar Waxwings in the big trees in the field and a Great Blue Heron in the stream. I also saw a Belted Kingfisher using the house in Miller Pond. My friend’s yard has similar birds to mine in the winter, such as woodpeckers and Eastern Bluebirds. Where do you go in Hampden? Can you subscribe and comment below!?
April 20th-Laughing Brook-Lots of birds! https://ebird.org/checklist/S107561713Couldn’t catch a picture of the Northern or Louisiana Waterthrush or Pine Warbler-maybe next visit!
Breeding Male
March 9th-These precious Eastern Bluebirds were checking out the real estate on this snowy day in Laughing Brook while 2 Blue Jays chased off this Red-tailed Hawk and a sweet Song Sparrow serenaded me!!
March 1st-Laughing Brook pays off again! I was able to hear a Great Horned Owl that I couldn’t find sadly. But, I DID find this charming Hermit Thrush-actually saw 2! These birds migrate so an early spring arrival likely. Though, I did see 2 in Forest Park back in January. You can see those pictures in my ebird report for January 23rd on Springfield’s Birds page. The other treasure today was watching a juvenile Bald Eagle soar right over my head. It was late and drizzly, so I had to lighten the image so you could see the markings!
February 22nd-I went to Laughing Brook today and got to see a Belted Kingfisher. No one has submitted an eBird report from Laughing Brook in a long time so I was curious as to what I would see. Check out what else I saw and heard. The picture is iffy. They don’t like to sit still and it was VERY murky. I apologize in advance for the crazy bird lady excitement you hear in the audio LOL! 🙂
https://ebird.org/checklist/S103531319
February 19th-I went back to Miller Conservation to do an eBird report today. Not too much action, though I did get an audio on a Red-tailed Hawk that I can add to the hawk blog. I will attach the report so you can see what birds were there!https://ebird.org/checklist/S103050325
Robin's Birds 