Quabbin Park and Lake Wallace

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

Looking north from Hanks Meadow, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

Winsor Dam at dawn, Quabbin Park, June 10, 2013

With rain forecast to arrive by midday I got out early to check out Quabbin Park and nearby Lake Wallace. There was a bit of fog in a few spots at Quabbin near dawn but other areas were fairly clear. I concentrated my time at Hanks Meadow and Gate 52 with brief stops at Winsor Dam and Goodnough Dike. Hanks Meadow featured at least two Black billed Cuckoos (a good year for cuckoos it seems) as well other expected species. The clouds were low here and started getting lower as I was there but it seemed to be clearer toward gate 52 so I headed there next. When I arrived at gate 52 I had an adult Common Merganser across the water on the shore of one of the island with seven small ducklings. Although there may be a few baby birds that are as cute, not many can compete with baby Common Mergansers. I believe they rate at least a nine out of ten on the cute scale but I have not actually done the math. It was fun to watch them all gathered around the mother merganser and then all hit the water when a couple of crows came by. As they swam along they would all try to climb up onto the back of the mom (with some success). At other times they had some luck picking insects off near the water surface as well as diving down and catching some small fish. It was very interesting to watch the ducklings interacting with their surroundings and learning to become successful mergansers. Other birds of note included several Bald Eagles of various ages.

Here is a link to a short video of the mergansers:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/9007005821/

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Great Blue Heron juvenile, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Great Blue Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Wood Duck with ducklings, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

Belted Kingfisher, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, June 10, 2013

At Lake Wallace I ran across a late male Blackpoll Warbler calling along the tree line not long after I  arrived there. Waterfowl on the water included Wood Duck, Hooded Merganser and Canada Geese with some having young birds in tow. The Great Blue Herons were still in attendance at the one nest at the lake plus there were a couple more Great Blue Herons (including a juvenile) fishing in the lake. A couple Green Herons were also seen and at least two Virginia Rails were sounding off.

I then headed home to get Wilson and take a walk along the land trust trail before the arrival of the rain. Not much out of the ordinary here but we did manage to get the walk in before the rain started. The rest of the day featured rain on and off.