Birding Western Mass: Meadows in Summer
Thoughts on Birding from the Quabbin to the Berkshires
Study Up
Grasslands birds and sandpipers tend to move this time of year. Sandpipers are turning to pour south from their breeding grounds in the flyways. Birds of fields and others — woodpeckers, too — move into a post-breeding dispersal. My feeders are full of juvenile birds.
(If you’re looking for the audio edition, I hope to record it Monday or Tuesday.)
If there’s a set of birds to look at in your field guides as prep, it’s the peeps. I spent a lot of time birding in the summer of 1987 when I lived on the Outer Banks. The peeps baffled me; I couldn’t see that anyone could tell them apart (with the exception of the white-rumped sandpiper, which, well, has a white rump).
But a friend coached me to look at the page in my National Geographic field guide that grouped all the peeps together. The size differences are useful; the behavioral differences are useful. If telling birds apart is your thing, it’s not hopeless.
Here is an epic document for telling sandpipers apart.
And remember, no one’s checking your life list. What you think you saw is what you saw. Ain’t nobody going to tell you your standards are wrong. Or, at least, I hope they won’t. I won’t.
Overflight
Last weekend I took a bike to the East Meadows and the Arcadia Meadows. They’re quiet now — the occasional truck passed and left a cloud of dust behind. Most of the traffic seemed oriented toward fishing trips — rods swung in the truck beds and when I saw people parked it was in the weeds by the river’s beaches.
I went looking for least sandpipers, the first of the peeps that breed in the northernmost habitats to turn and head south. I’m neither clairvoyant nor born knowing things like this; I checked eBird for sightings of the Leasts from the recent past and chose a place that would let me explore by bicycle. Both meadows in Northampton and Easthampton fit that.
First, Arcadia Meadows is not good for looping on a bike this time of year. The trail by the Oxbow is partially passable by bike or on foot, but it’s neither mowed nor worn down by foot near the marina. You don’t want to walk there if you’re concerned about ticks, and all of us are concerned about ticks. On the bike, I had trouble forcing my way through because the grass was so tall. So, don’t expect for Curtis Nook Road to be a good walk. Instead, you can expect to drive or ride Pynchon Meadows Road, but be aware that it does support a small amount of traffic, so there will be times when ‘t’s dusty or you have to be ready to get off the road and let someone else pass.
Here are three points in Arcadia Meadows — where I park (when the bridge to it is open) and those two roads.
Second, I love the East Meadows in Northampton. That said, we need to talk about this place.
If you are uncomfortable driving dirt roads, you must not go to the East Meadows in your car. And I don’t drive my AWD in most of the time, either, although I have a few times, and never have I done so and been glad I did. The roads are uneven, sometimes muddy, occasionally flooded, and never pleasant. If you have a 4x4, and you are comfortable on muddy roads and with the real risk that even your 4x4 may not prevail, then fine. But be aware that this is a working farm. If you get in the farmer’s way you are costing him or her or them money. This is not a place to mess around.
On my bike, no matter what time of year, I love the Meadows. Topography and weather become destiny here.
My trip on July 13 was perfect. The fields of crops yielded flocks of blackbirds who flushed in criss-cross launches accompanied by the chuck-chuck of their alarm calls. There was a savannah sparrow sitting on a wild bit of some cereal crop and staring me down for minutes while it sussed me out. In the curly trash willows along the river were song sparrows; in the dank woodsy spot where I parked there were warblers still singing.
I approached a Least Sandpiper in a puddle on King’s Highway. (Even if you drove in, don’t drive King’s Highway. It’s either ironically named or it’s a pretty awful king they were expecting. Any time of year, there’s more grass than dirt, and the puddles grow mighty.) My reading on the species tells me they are more likely to work solo than other peeps and that they are inclined to use that solitude in sheltered, safe places (which aren’t mudflats but are dirt roads with tall corn on either side).
This Least allowed me to get pretty close before it boosted. It was in among killdeer. I have surely sound hundreds, maybe thousands, but as I had gone looking for this Least, it was as precious as any novelty. The sun on my neck was hot and the road was wet with rain. The puddle was maybe 1/100th of the size it might be in springtime, just a wet spot in the road, but I took such pleasure in the small bird, probably bound for South America soon in a single burst of energy.
Birdscape
The East Meadows in Northampton offers profoundly various species at all times of year. It is especially good for waterfowl and sandpipers, but also for warblers, sparrows, and oddball species.
I cannot say this with enough conviction: It is not always safe to drive the East Meadows. There are farmers here and they farm. The roads are more for farm equipment than for cars. You must approach the Meadows with caution. Having said that, I have sometimes found the roads to be wet enough to making biking work, but never dangerous in terms of getting quagmired in — but on the other hand, I avoid the Meadows after hard rains. It is wonderful to be in a place with so much sun and so much life. It makes me happy. But it’s fine to go with a fellow birder or not at all, or even to do like me and walk or bike it.
Here is my living map on the topic. I am indebted to Jesse Sterling Harrison, who gave me a starter map on the place a year ago, which I printed out and carried until it disintegrated.