Quabbin Park waterfowl and others



Northern Pintails, Quabbin Park, Oct 10, 2011

Northern Pintails (I cannot explain the apparent dark heads on three of the lower birds, perhaps shadows?  I didn't notice it until I looked at the photos), Quabbin Park, Oct 10, 2011

Quabbin Park looking toward the area of Goodnough Dike, Oct 10, 2011

Winter Wren, Quabbin Park, Oct 10, 2011

I spent another beautiful day out and about around the local area as our stretch of warm weather continued for another day.  Today the temps started in the 50's but quickly rose into the low 80's.  The morning fog made for some impressive sights as the sun rose and shined through it.  Today I stayed a bit closer to home visiting Quabbin Park, Quabbin Gate 5 and a trail along Jabish Canal with Wilson.  I was surprised by the number of interesting waterfowl sightings.  The sightings started with a group of nine Common Loons all together in one group at Quabbin Park and continued with an assortment of waterfowl viewed from Winsor Dam.  These included a flyby group of 10 Northern Pintails (which can be tough to come by here), an amazing group of twelve Red-necked Grebe together in a group (plus one single elsewhere) along with three White-winged Scoters.  In addition there were Wood Ducks, Mallards, Black Ducks, Common Mergansers and Canada Geese to round out the waterfowl.  I next went to gate 5 to get a better look at the grebes but they were still too far out for photos.  I tried to photograph through the scope with my iphone but they are not identifiable.  I had three White-winged Scoters here as well as four Northern Pintails.  A couple of juvenile Bald Eagles added some excitement as they made a low flight past me and then the assorted waterfowl while I watched from gate 5.  I wish I had it in me to make the hike down the gate 4 road as the birds were probably directly out from there but I was barely able to make the short walk down the gate 5 road so I figured I better not push my luck.   Beyond the waterfowl I had the expected assortment of later migrants with three warblers species (including a Black-throated Green that I oddly didn't see any of yesterday).  The small stump dump at Quabbin Park again produced some nice migrant groups with a bunch of sparrows and two Winter Wrens.  The trip to Jabish canal produced nothing out of the ordinary but was fun nonetheless as Wilson found lots of bugs, sticks, etc to keep him happy.