Keith Carver Hadley birds

Here are some springtime birds in our neighborhood of Hadley. Hadley is a small town in western Massachusetts, bounded on the

west by the Connecticut River, transected east-west by Route 9 with its strip malls and constant traffic, flanked on the north and south

by farmland, and dotted throughout with houses, fields, woodlots, wetlands and a few small ponds.

The diversity of birds that make their home here is remarkable. And in the spring mating season they are at their most colorful. There's

lots of action. Red-winged blackbirds puff up and screech in mating displays, a green heron perches and preens over a small pond

near a large office building, an osprey swoops down to grab a fish from the small lake in North Hadley. Tree swallows put on

astonishing swooping acrobatic displays, partly to defend their chosen nest box. But some birds are just passing through, Hadley

visitors. The gaudy male wood duck stays near the river for a few weeks in April, then heads north. A greater yellowlegs spends a

few days poking for food in a vernal pool near the river. It has been quite a show this early spring. And it will soon be followed by

warblers and vireos passing through during the May migration, then settle down to summer avian residents.

These photos were all taken in Hadley during the last half of April, 2007.

Gear: Canon EOS 5D, 500 mm IS with 1.4 TC, Gitzo 1325 tripod.

May 1, 2007