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| Sooty Tern, heavily cropped shot, Winsor Dam at Quabbin, August 28, 2011 |
Sooty Tern, heavily cropped shot, Winsor Dam at Quabbin, August 28, 2011
I spent yesterday at Winsor Dam at Quabbin and had some amazing sightings of storm related birds. The list is amazing and includes the following:White-tailed Tropicbird 1 adult, first seen heading from hills of Quabbin park toward main reservoir, rest of group got on bird that then settled into water (a first county record and one of only a few live individuals ever seen inland in the northeast...my find of the day!)
Black-bellied Plover 1 one bird in with group of eleven Hudsonian Godwits
Whimbrel 1 bird heard calling several times
Hudsonian Godwit 11 One group moving down the reservoir with one Black bellied Plover
Ruddy Turnstone 4 group together with one Baird's Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper 1 w/Ruddy Turnstones
Sooty Tern 1 One adult seen well, possibly another far in reservoir
Black Tern 3 together in one group, far out
Common Tern 2
Sterna sp. 2 possibly common, unknown
Parasitic Jaeger 1 one seen by itself early in watch
jaeger sp. 2 far out, probably parasitic
Here is a link to an eBird list with all the amazing birds for the day and more details on all of them: Hurricane Irene birds at Winsor Dam.
The storm had heavy rain and some wind but not as much as predicted for here. The worst of the rain was just to our west and the winds were worse on the coast and to the east. The storm hit the area as a tropical storm with the remnants of the eye passing west of us through Berkshire county. The heavy rain lasted until midday to be followed by occasional showers and mist through early afternoon. The birds came in fits and starts. All the shorebirds were moving south and passed over the dam. Additional shorebirds were unidentified and may have included additional godwits. In addition other birds seen while I was not present included Leach's Storm Petrel, Bonaparte's Gull, American Golden Plover and a few more Common Terns and Black-bellied Plovers. I was joined at Winsor Dam by Marshall Iliff and Scott Surner for the entire time I was there. Other birders arrived after news of some of our sightings made it out. I managed to add two life birds, four state birds and seven birds to my Hampshire county list. It was a truly spectacular birding day that I will remember for a long time. Unfortunately I managed very few photos for the day due to weather conditions and the distance of many of the birds.
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| Looking out from the administration building during heavy part of storm in AM |
The storm had heavy rain and some wind but not as much as predicted for here. The worst of the rain was just to our west and the winds were worse on the coast and to the east. The storm hit the area as a tropical storm with the remnants of the eye passing west of us through Berkshire county. The heavy rain lasted until midday to be followed by occasional showers and mist through early afternoon. The birds came in fits and starts. All the shorebirds were moving south and passed over the dam. Additional shorebirds were unidentified and may have included additional godwits. In addition other birds seen while I was not present included Leach's Storm Petrel, Bonaparte's Gull, American Golden Plover and a few more Common Terns and Black-bellied Plovers. I was joined at Winsor Dam by Marshall Iliff and Scott Surner for the entire time I was there. Other birders arrived after news of some of our sightings made it out. I managed to add two life birds, four state birds and seven birds to my Hampshire county list. It was a truly spectacular birding day that I will remember for a long time. Unfortunately I managed very few photos for the day due to weather conditions and the distance of many of the birds.
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