 |
| Black Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 13, 2013 |
 |
| Black Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 13, 2013 |
 |
| Black Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 13, 2013 |
 |
| Black Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 13, 2013 |
 |
| Black Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Nov 13, 2013 |
It appears that mid winter made an appearance today with record setting lows
in the teens and a high in the 30's with a wind out of the northwest giving us
wind chills in the teens at times. These type of conditions are more like what
we would expect for averages in the middle of winter. Thankfully the weather is
forecast to warm up as the week goes on and the southwest winds kick back
in. A stop at Winsor Dam in the afternoon produced a few notable birds that were probably moved in by the northwest winds
including five Long tailed Ducks and a flock of 97 Black Scoters that were
flying around for several minutes before finally settling on the water way out
toward the boat launch area. The scoters disappeared from view once they landed
as the waves hid them from view. Another interesting duck defied my attempts to
identify it. It was medium brown on the body with the head slightly
lighter. It appeared too big to be a Black Duck or a female Black Scoter. It
kept its head tucked into its body the entire time and the waves and wind made
picking out details difficult.
 |
| Snow Buntings, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 13, 2013 |
 |
| Snow Buntings, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 13, 2013 |
 |
| Snow Buntings, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Nov 13, 2013 |
Given the cold weather this morning I made just a few short stops on my way to work and kept my time outside to a minimum. A stop at Winsor Dam was unproductive as the wind whipped waves made finding anything interesting impossible. I next stopped briefly at the partially frozen Hadley Cove which contained just a few Canada Geese. A quick run through the Honeypot in Hadley was a bit more productive with a variety of sparrows and a single flock of 76 Snow Buntings that kept flushing up, flying around and then settling back down into a grassy field past 'that's a plenty farm'. When the buntings would settle down in the field all but a few disappeared from view and you would never know the flock was as big as it was.
No comments:
Post a Comment