Quabbin Park and Lake Wallace

Common Loon, Quabbin Park, Nov 9, 2013

Common Loon, Quabbin Park, Nov 9, 2013

Hooded Merganser, Quabbin Park, Nov 9, 2013

Horned Grebe and Common Merganser, Quabbin Park, Nov 9, 2013

Horned Grebe (with fish) and Common Merganser, Quabbin Park, Nov 9, 2013

 

Double crested Cormorant, Quabbin Park, Nov 9, 2013

Looking north from area west of Goodnough Dike, Quabbin Park, Nov 9, 2013

A morning trip through Quabbin Park looking for waterfowl didn't produce anything unusual.  Waterfowl seen this morning included 17 Black Ducks, four Hooded Mergansers, a Common Merganser, 7 Common Loons, 7 Horned Grebes, a Double crested Cormorant, half a dozen Mallards and a single Canada Geese.  Other notable included a hooting Great Horned Owl, a Yellow bellied Sapsucker, a couple Winter Wrens, my first of the season American Tree Sparrow and at least four Snow Buntings.  A fairly quiet morning overall and very little movement noted with only a few crows moving as well as a handful of raptors. 

I also tried my luck at Lake Wallace but only turned up four Hooded Mergansers, five Wood Ducks a single Canada Goose and a kingfisher.  Another stop back at Winsor Dam a little later in the morning didn't add anything new for the day.

There have been a few notable geese species seen lately around the local area and in nearby states and provinces.  In the immediate area Cackling Geese, Greater White fronted Geese and Snow Geese have been seen and further afield Pink footed Geese, Barnacle Geese, Ross's Geese and even a Bean Goose have also been sighted.  It would certainly be worth trying to catch up with the various flocks of Canada Geese around to see if any other unusual geese can be found among them.

As a follow up to the possibility of Cave Swallows moving through a handful have been seen in New York, Connecticut as well as coastal Massachusetts.  Not huge numbers but at least a few have been moved north.


Yesterday featured the first snow flurries of the year here when a quick snow shower moved through right around dawn and dusted the ground in a few places (luckily it was not predicted so it didn't really occur!)  I made a quick stop at Winsor Dam but found only a Mallard.  Hadley Cove produced 122 Mallards and a handful of Canada Geese in the morning and 138 Mallards and single Black Duck in the evening.  One of the local residents mentioned that she saw a Snow Goose in among a large group of geese there a few days before.