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| Horned Grebes, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2012 |
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| Ring necked Ducks, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2012 |
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| Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2012 |
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| View of reservoir from Hanks Meadow, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2012 |
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| Horned Grebe, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2012 |
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| Horned Grebe, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2012 |
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| Horned Grebes, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2012 |
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| Doube crested Cormorant, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2012 |
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| White winged Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 27, 2012 |
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| View from Winsor Dam, Oct 27, 2012 |
Although the forecast called for some sun today it never materialized until just before sunset. Nonetheless it was still a pleasant day with light winds and temperatures in the 60's. I spent from dawn until mid morning at Quabbin Park and found some groups of waterfowl which included the following: 6 White winged Scoter, a Bufflehead (with scoters most of time), at least seven Gadwall (three on water early and flyby group of seven later), a flyby group of 7 Long tailed Ducks, 23 Ring necked Ducks, two Hooded Merganser, 6 Common Merganser, 10 Wood Ducks, two Black Ducks, 9 Mallards and Canada Goose plus 7 Common Loons, 8 Horned Grebes, and four Double crested Cormorant. Also had at least two Red Crossbills flying past, a single Rusty Blackbird and many other species.
I spent the remainder of the morning and afternoon doing work around the house to get ready for the storm (best bird was a Winter Wren that stayed around the house most of the day). Late in the afternoon I decided to make a brief return trip to Winsor Dam and the half dozen White winged Scoters and the Bufflehead were still there. Also present was a Black Scoter and a few Mallards plus many more flyby Pine Siskins. I can only imagine the total number of siskins going by the dam over the course of the day
Projected path of Hurricane Sandy, 2pm, Oct 27, 2012
The latest update on Hurricane Sandy is that it will make landfall on the southern part of New Jersey late on Monday or Tuesday morning. Although this puts up fairly far from the center of the storm the strong winds are projected to cover a wide area. The likelihood of storm birds is somewhat diminished for western Massachusetts but given the projected large size of the storm anything is possible. Although the storm had dropped in intensity a bit overnight it went back to a hurricane again today and is projected to stay at category 1 status for the next few days.
Additional discussion regarding Sandy and birds can be found on eBird:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/hurricane-sandy
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