A couple cold days with some sparrows and waterfowl (and others)

Northern Harrier, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

Northern Harrier, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

Northern Harrier, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

Northern Harrier, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

Fox Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

Fox Sparrow,  Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

Horned Larks,  Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

American Tree Sparrows, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

American Goldfinch, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

American Tree Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

American Tree Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

American Tree Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

 

White crowned Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

White crowned Sparrows, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

White crowned Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

Clay colored Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

Clay colored Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

Clay colored Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

Swamp Sparrow, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 25, 2013

I spent a bit of time today in search of a Snowy Owl in the fields along the Connecticut River.  I didn't really intend to make a run over that way today but it is how it worked out.  Despite a lot of effort to turn up an owl I had no luck while covering the fields on the east side of the river from south of the Coolidge Bridge up to Sunderland and then over to UMASS.  Given all the reports of Snowy Owls in the last week or so in the east I really think there may be one around here somewhere but lots of potential spots for it to be hiding out.  It was another cold day but not as bad as yesterday which was a welcome change.  I made a brief stop at Hadley Cove before checking the various fields but the cove was froze over with no waterfowl around.  I then headed through the Honeypot and intended to just scan through but as I drove past 'that's a plenty farm' I had several sparrows flush up including a Clay colored and Swamp Sparrow so I figured I would walk a little to see what else I could find and hopefully get a photo of the Clay colored Sparrow.  As I was stepping out of the car I had a low flyover by a Northern Harrier (one of at least two around).  The sparrow show was quite impressive with the following species tallied: a Clay colored, at least three White crowned, six Fox, a Savannah, two Swamp, at least 66 American Tree (likely well under counted), 23 Song and a dozen White throated Sparrows plus 64 juncos.  I also had a flock of 21 Horned Larks and three flyby Snow Buntings.  I really only covered a small portion of the area there so the total number of sparrows around in the Honeypot is likely many times larger then the species I found. 

After the Honeypot I cruised up through North Hadley checking various fields along the way.  I was going to stop at Lake Warner for waterfowl but the lake appeared to be frozen over.  I crisscrossed back between Hadley and Amherst checking fields for any sign of a white blob but no luck.  I then headed over to UMASS before running some errands in Amherst.  Between the campus pond and the fields near the Mullin Center I found over 800 Canada Geese (most were on fields but then flew up as I was parking and they all flew over to the campus pond), over 100 Mallards and a few Black Ducks.

Red breasted Merganser, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 25, 2013

Hooded Mergansers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 25, 2013

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 25, 2013

Canada Geese, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 25, 2013

Before heading to areas along the Connecticut River I made a quick stop at Winsor Dam and Quabbin Park to see if any odd waterfowl might be around.  I figured with the north winds and the freeze up of smaller bodies of water perhaps something of note would get pushed to Quabbin.  A first light I found three Hooded Mergansers and a Red breasted Merganser at Winsor Dam.  Quabbin Park produced five Horned Grebes, a Common Loon, 25 Black Ducks, a Mallard and a hybrid MallardxBlack Duck.  A couple other quick stops at Winsor Dam throughout the day produced a couple more Black Ducks and 62 Canada Geese moving southwest.  Not much else of note there except hundreds of gulls but I could not find anything interesting in among them.

A walk along the Jabish Canal with Wilson produced a flyover flock of 22 Common Mergansers and at least four Winter Wrens.  At home I also had at least one Winter Wren, which was singing at 4:30 as the sun set.  I wonder the total number of Winter Wrens along the length of Jabish Brook?

Mallards, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Mallards, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Mallards, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Ring billed Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Ring billed Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Common Mergansers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Mallards, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Common Mergansers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Common Mergansers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 24, 2013

Ruddy Duck, Beaver Lake, Ware, MA, Nov 24, 2013

Yesterday felt like the middle of winter with a strong 15-25 MPH sustained wind with gusts above 40 MPH with temperatures starting off in the high teens and never getting out of the mid 20's with wind chills near zero. Hardly a nice day to be outside. However, it is November, the winds were out of the northwest, there are still migrants to be pushed and I'm crazy, so I was out looking at first light hoping for a Tundra Swan, Snowy Owl or another Golden Eagle for the year (spoiler alert...I found none of these). I made a brief stop at Winsor Dam and then Goodnough Dike but spent little time outside the car. A few loons and hundreds of gulls were about all I saw on these quick stops. I then made a swing over to Beaver Lake in Ware which produced a Ruddy Duck in among 34 Hooded Mergansers, a dozen Common Mergansers and a few Mallards. Ruddy Ducks can be tough to find in Hampshire County but I have had some good luck with them this year. I then headed back to Winsor Dam to do a stationary watch and see if I could get totally frozen and give myself a true arctic experience. After just about an hour and three quarters of watching I managed some decent birds including the following waterfowl (all flybys moving southwest, nothing on the water): Greater Scaup (male), a Red breasted Mergansers flying along with a Common Merganser, 21 Common Mergansers, 51 Mallards, a couple Black Ducks, 21 Canada Geese and a Common Loon. Lots of gulls around fighting the wind but no other species beyond the abundant Ring billed Gulls and a handful of Herring Gulls. The usual group of 13 Wild Turkeys were feeding under the crab apple trees and several Bald Eagles were soaring around plus at least five Snow Buntings flitting along the dam.