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| Snow Goose (blue morph), UMASS campus pond, Amherst, MA, Nov 26, 2012 |
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| Snow Goose (blue morph), UMASS campus pond, Amherst, MA, Nov 26, 2012 |
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| Snow Goose (blue morph), UMASS campus pond, Amherst, MA, Nov 26, 2012 |
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| Snow Goose (blue morph), UMASS campus pond, Amherst, MA, Nov 26, 2012 |
I reached the
225 species mark today for my county year list when I finally caught up with a Snow Goose. I totally missed the species in the spring and had missed them this fall until today. It was a blue morph bird and could indeed be the same individual that I have tried to catch up with a few other times over the last couple weeks in the valley. It (or a) blue morph Snow Goose was seen briefly at Arcadia and again at Fitzgerald Lake several days ago. I was successful this time thanks to a timely message from Ian Davies who knew I was looking for this species. I made the trip over to the UMASS campus pond and the bird was in among several hundred Canada Geese. It allowed for some great photographs as it swam around the pond and then eventually came up onto the grass to feed. It was still there just before midday when I left.
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| Pine Grosbeak, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 26, 2012 |
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| Pine Grosbeak, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 26, 2012 |
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| Pine Grosbeak, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 26, 2012 |
Prior to my encounter with the Snow Goose I spent a few hours this morning at Quabbin Park and returned there late in the morning for a short time before getting the message about the Snow Goose. In the morning the water was quite calm and the winds light so viewing was great. Highlights for waterfowl included Lesser Scaup, three Common Goldeneyes (two males), 36 Hooded Mergansers, six Ring Necked Ducks (all males), five Black Ducks, Mallards, a Canada Goose, 8 Common Loons and 9 Horned Grebes. Other highlights included a flyby Barred Owl, two calling Great Horned Owls, 6 Pine Grosbeaks (five at HQ and one flyby at Hanks Meadow), two Red Crossbills (one a type 10, other likely type 10 too) and three White winged Crossbills. My short return trip in the late morning didn't turn up anything new of note.
I also took a walk along the Jabish Canal with Wilson and we had at least 332 American Crows moving southeast and three separate Winter Wrens.
Interesting post. We don't usually see Pine Grosbeaks and WW Crossbills this far south in Minnesota but there are signs of an irruption so maybe this is the year....:)
ReplyDeleteWe are certainly in the midst of a large irruption of numerous northern species out here. One of the best years by far.
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