A windy, cold day at Quabbin

Common Raven, Winsor Dam, Quabbin park, Nov 19, 2013

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin park, Nov 19, 2013

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin park, Nov 19, 2013

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin park, Nov 19, 2013

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin park, Nov 19, 2013

Goodnough Dike at dawn, Quabbin park, Nov 19, 2013

Winsor Dam early morning, Quabbin park, Nov 19, 2013

Well...just some cool clouds, Winsor Dam, Quabbin park, Nov 19, 2013

Winsor Dam sometime between early and late morning, Quabbin park, Nov 19, 2013

Winsor Dam late morning, Quabbin park, Nov 19, 2013

Despite my thoughts that the strong northwest winds would bring in some good numbers and variety of waterfowl or perhaps some oddity, it was not to be today despite some effort on my part.  I did manage to get quite cold a few times as the temperatures never got out of the mid 40's and the wind stayed up all day with a near constant 15-20 MPH wind with gusts over 30 MPH.  Certainly a winter like feel as I made a quick run through Quabbin Park and then did a few stationary counts at Winsor Dam.  Winsor Dam had almost no waterfowl at all with just a handful of flyby species.  My totals for waterfowl included 74 Canada Geese (in two groups moving southwest), four Black Ducks, two Mallards, 7 Hooded Mergansers, two Common Mergansers, half a dozen Common Loon and a couple Horned Grebes.  There may have been other species but the waves made viewing distant areas nearly impossible.  Other highlights included at least nine Bald Eagles (some appeared to be migrating), several Red tailed Hawks, nearly 200 Ring billed Gulls and a flock of 29 Snow Buntings.  Although I didn't find anything too unusual it was still worth looking.

Cooper's Hawk (photo through binoculars), Jabish Canal trail, Belchertown, MA, Nov 19, 2013

Wilson back out for a walk, Jabish Canal, Nov 19, 2013

Now that Wilson's was feeling better we went on a well deserved walk along the Jabish Canal.  The strong winds kept the numbers and variety quite low but a couple Winter Wrens, a few sparrows and a Cooper's Hawk provided something to look at.

Near sunset at home I had a good showing of gulls as they headed to roost at Quabbin.  The gulls were passing by very low as they fought hard against the northerly winds and allowed some great looks.  I had 363 Ring billed Gulls and half a dozen Herring Gulls.  I couldn't pick out anything more unusual than those two species.  This is just the number that passed over the house so the total number headed to Quabbin was likely many times my totals.