A record cold morning...Short eared Owls at the Honeypot and waterfowl at Winsor Dam

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Jan 4, 2013

Although the record setting cold of this morning (-14 or so) had me thinking of staying in I decided to throw caution to the wind and venture out to see what I could find.  I didn't spend a lot of time away from the car during the first part of the morning!

Dawn at the Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Jan 4, 2013

Dawn at the Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Jan 4, 2013

Snow Buntings, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Jan 4, 2013

Snow Buntings, Honeypot, Hadley, MA, Jan 4, 2013

I decided to try for a Short eared Owl at the Honeypot. I arrived just as it was getting light and had at least two Short eared Owls working the fields. There may have been even more but I had at least two in view at once (something I have never had in western mass before. Other birds of note during the hour and fifteen minutes I spent there included a Merlin, 65+ Horned Larks, 180+ Snow Buntings, 72 American Tree Sparrows and a Savannah Sparrow. The nearby Connecticut River was almost completely frozen and devoid of life. A brief stop along Aqua Vitae Road and a few fields in Hadley didn't produce too much else. I then decided to head toward Quabbin trying to catch up with some waterfowl that got displaced by all the cold weather (with associated frozen bodies of water).

Common Goldeneyes, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Jan 4, 2013

Common Goldeneyes, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Jan 4, 2013

Common Goldeneyes with Lesser Scaup (yes, believe it or not), Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Jan 4, 2013

Hooded Mergansers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Jan 4, 2013

Mallards and Black Duck, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Jan 4, 2013

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Jan 4, 2013

I arrived at Winsor Dam to find the reservoir mostly obscured by low fog caused by the very cold moving across the warmer waters.  I decided to try Quabbin Park itself as many times other areas in the park can be clear of fog when it is fogged in at Winsor Dam.  However those plans didn't work out as the park remained clear due to snow (or perhaps some other reason...who knows?)  I then headed back to Winsor Dam where I spent about eighty minutes watching for waterfowl and had some good luck.  Here are the totals:  16 Black Ducks, 51 Mallards, a Ring necked Duck (male with Black Ducks..too far to photograph), a Lesser Scaup (female with Common Goldeneyes...attempted photos but didn't have much luck), four Common Goldeneyes, 21 Hooded Mergansers, seven Common Mergansers and three other distant duck species plus at least four Bald Eagles.  The temperature had warmed up to about 2 degrees by about 10am and it actually didn't feel too bad standing in the sun and with no winds.

I made a stop by Winsor Dam in the afternoon and noticed some waterfowl way out toward Gate 5 so I dropped off Wilson and headed there only to find DCR just starting to plow the road so back to Winsor Dam I went.  After a lot of looking and having the group of waterfowl work itself closer I found the following totals:three Black Ducks, 35 Mallards, 22 Hooded Mergansers and 52 Common Mergansers.