Birding in the Konkopot River in Stockbridge

Yesterday, I joined a Berkshire Audubon outing into the large swamp in Stockbridge on Rte 7 just south of the village. The Konkapot River flows through it and then under Rte 7 and into the Housatonic River. We met at 5:30pm and explored it in canoe and kayaks for a total of about 4 miles. The current is slow and we only had to go over two squishy beaver dams to get into the river.

The area is full of life in the water, reeds and grasses. We saw a total of 33 kinds of birds as reported by Jonathan Pierce, President of the Hoffman Bird Club on eBird. You can see his list here.  I did not see or hear that many, but it was wonderful to be with the experts, Jonathan along with Dale Abrams from Berkshire Audubon. To have the all birds and bird songs identified was so much fun!

The bitterns and rails were new to me. The bittern has a low gulping croak. It sounded to me as if it might be coming from a frog!

The swamp wrens were plentiful and very loud for such a small bird. One of them showed us its nest in the edge of the reeds.

We also saw a beaver and several muskrats, a bullhead and heard lots of frogs. It was a beautiful evening!