Dunlin and other stuff

Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012



Common Loon, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2012

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2012

Wood Duck, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2012

White-tailed Deer, Quabbin Park, Oct 13, 2012

A truly cold morning today with temperatures starting in the mid 20's with a breeze at times.  The morning felt more like early winter and forced me to break out a lot of warm clothes.  I had my sights set on waterfowl coming in last night and putting down on Quabbin.  The weather made it hard to see many areas until later in the morning due to fog.  I did manage to make my way to the usual spots within Quabbin Park first thing this morning and managed a total of half a dozen species of waterfowl with Canada Geese (flocks moving all morning), Black Ducks (a few flocks moving), Mallard, Wood Duck, Common Merganser and Common Loon.  Other good birds around such as calling Great Horned and Eastern Screech Owl (calling spontaneously from island across from gate 52), lots of Northern Flickers migrating, both Swainson's and Hermit Thrush and many others.  Full list here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11787821  (quabbin park)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11787939   (stationary count Winsor Dam)

After Quabbin Park I stopped at Winsor Dam for a little stationary count as I waited for the fog to lift.  More migrant waterfowl in the air as well as raptors moving by. 

Bald Eagle, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012

Bald Eagle, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012



Bald Eagle, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012

Distant view of Black Scoters, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012

Red breasted Nuthatch, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012

Hermit Thrush, Quabbin Gate 5, Oct 13, 2012

Quabbin Tower viewed from Gate 5, Quabbin, Oct 13, 2012

While viewed from Winsor Dam I noticed some waterfowl way out that I could not ID due to distance and heat distortion caused by the great variation in temperature between the air and water.  I decided the birds appeared to be in the vicinity of gate 5 so I headed in there.  I was able to find the birds fairly quickly and they turned out to be six Black Scoters (county bird #210 for the year).  Other waterfowl here included Common Loon, flocks of Canada Geese moving west and a handful of Common Mergansers, Black Ducks and Mallards.  Other birds of note included a drumming Ruffed Grouse, Winter Wren (many around today at different spots), flyover Pine Siskins and a number of raptors migrating.  Here is the list from gate 5:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11788214

Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012

Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012

Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012

Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012



Dunlin, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Oct 13, 2012

As I was working in the yard I got a message from Jacob Drucker that he and Jaime Bishop had a Dunlin in the East Meadows of Northampton.  I decided to ditch the yard work for a bit and head over to see if I could find the bird.  I didn't see it on my initial scans through and then I ran into Tom Gagnon and he was able to find it again.  The bird seemed unconcerned with all the activity going by near it as it fed in one of the few pools remaining.  Oddly there were no other shorebirds with it.  An unusual sandpiper inland at any time but especially good given the late date.  My last Dunlin in the county was back in may of 2005 when two stayed in the area of the Ibis Pool in the Arcadia Meadows for at least three days.    This species put me up to #211 for the county so far.

Radar image from last evening at 8:30

As can be seen from the image above the birds were really moving last night with the light northerly winds.  Certainly an influx of some species such as Winter Wren, Northern Flicker, Dark eyed Junco and others.