South Quabbin waterfowl, a Golden Eagle and a fruitless search for a Cattle Egret

Ruddy Duck, Hanks Meadow, Quabbin Park, Oct 22, 2012

Ruddy Duck, Hanks Meadow, Quabbin Park, Oct 22, 2012

Common Loons (three), Hanks Meadow, Quabbin Park, Oct 22, 2012

Common Loon, Hanks Meadow, Quabbin Park, Oct 22, 2012

Horned Grebes, Hanks Meadow, Quabbin Park, Oct 22, 2012

Long tailed Duck, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 22, 2012

Dawn at Hanks Meadow, Quabbin Park, Oct 22, 2012

Another nice fall day found me checking out areas of south Quabbin.  I started at dawn at Quabbin Park and stayed there for a few hours and finally caught up with some waterfowl.  I stopped at Winsor Dam, Hank's Meadow, Route 9 marsh and Goodnough Dike.  Although the wind was gusty at times in the morning it was from the west and did not kick up the water too much at my typical viewing points.  Hank's Meadow produced some great birds including a Ruddy Duck which is quite rare at Quabbin (only have had this species at Quabbin on five other occasions).  The Ruddy Duck became #215 for my county year.  Other waterfowl here included four Horned Grebe, a Common Merganser, and half a dozen Common Loons.  At Goodnough I added three more Common Loons and a stop at the marsh added Wood Ducks and Mallards.  My final stop at Winsor Dam produced a Long tailed Duck, eight Horned Grebes, another loon and a flyby group of Mallards.

My plans were to take a quick walk down to Gate 5 to get a better look at the Horned Grebes that I could see from Winsor Dam but as I was heading over there I got a call from Ian Davies about a Cattle Egret located on the fields at UMASS which flew up with some gulls just before he called me.  I immediately changed plans and headed that way.  I arrived there and found a few hundred gulls but no egret.  I checked all the fields at UMASS and then the UMASS Horse Farm a couple of times as well as fields around Mill Valley Road but I could not relocate the bird.  Ian Davies and Evan Dalton also attempted to relocate the bird without any luck.  There is so much good habitat for the bird in the general area it could be tough to find again or the bird could have moved on not to be seen again.  Hopefully it turns back up.  I then headed for home to get Wilson to go for a walk at the Jabish Canal.  The walk there produced a late Gray Catbird and a Winter Wren that came within a couple feet of me.

Red necked Grebe, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Oct 22, 2012

Red necked Grebe, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Oct 22, 2012

Red necked Grebe, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Oct 22, 2012

Horned Grebe, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Oct 22, 2012

Horned Grebe, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Oct 22, 2012



View of Quabbin tower from Gate 5, Oct 22, 2012



Canada Geese, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Oct 22, 2012

Golden Eagle, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Oct 22, 2012

With my luck with waterfowl earlier and some strong winds out of the west and northwest I decided to take a quick walk down to the waters edge at gate 5 and scan around a bit.  I was hopeful I would find some Snow Geese migrating through.  I had another nice representation of waterfowl here (no Snow Geese this time) with a Red necked Grebe, Horned Grebe and four Common Loons as well as groups of Canada Geese and a single Double crested Cormorant moving past.  The best bird of my time there was an adult Golden Eagle (species #216) that moved past quite high heading south.  Some great scope views of the bird but very tough to get any decent photos.  Amazing how brightly the gold showed on the nape when the light hit it right.  Almost all the photos from today were taken through the scope with my phone so no great pictures today.

There was certainly a noticeable movement of raptors (especially Red tailed and Sharp shinned hawks), Pine Siskins, American Crows and Yellow rumped Warblers as I had numbers of these species at most every stop today.

Atlantic tropical systems as of evening of Oct 22, 2012

A brief mention of the tropics is also in order as there appears to be a bit more activity lately that could potential have an impact on the United States.  A tropical storm has recently formed in the southern Caribbean (TS Sandy) and it could threaten parts of the US by the end of the week.  In addition a tropical depression (TD #19) has also formed out in the open Atlantic.  What, if any, impact either storm has the US remains to be seen but I thought it worth mentioning.

Couldn't resist a photo of Wilson looking all dressed up for Halloween.