A very cold morning along the Connecticut River

Common Goldeneye, below Holyoke Dam, Chicopee/S. Hadley line, MA, Jan 24, 2014

Common Goldeneyes, below Holyoke Dam, Chicopee/S. Hadley line, MA, Jan 24, 2014

I spent a very cold (near zero with a breeze) morning with Jacob exploring a few areas along the Connecticut River.  We started at dawn at the Holyoke Dam trying to find some waterfowl or gulls.  With all the recent cold temperatures few areas of open water exist so with that in mind we had hopes of finding some good stuff.  No gulls at all here and we only had one gull the entire morning!  Waterfowl were a bit more active with at least 46 Common Goldeneyes, a couple Hooded Mergansers, a half dozen or so Common Mergansers, a dozen plus Mallards and 140+ Canada Geese.

Rough legged Hawk, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jan 24, 2014

Rough legged Hawk, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jan 24, 2014

Rough legged Hawk, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jan 24, 2014

After the Holyoke Dam we headed north and checked out the area below the Coolidge Bridge and had just a couple Common Mergansers.  A quick run through Aqua Vitae Road was unproductive so we headed over to the Honey Pot.  We had some decent birds there including a Rough legged Hawk, at least two Lapland Longspurs in among the larks, at least 125 Horned Larks, several Snow Buntings and at least 55 American Tree Sparrows.  A couple other spots along the river and fields along South Maple St proved to be unproductive.

Winsor Dam with the reservoir nearly frozen over, Jan 24, 2014

Wilson at Covey WMA, Jan 24, 2014

I dropped off Jacob a bit before 9 and then headed back toward home to pick up the Wilson.  I made a brief stop at Winsor Dam and had just a couple species.  The reservoir was nearly completely frozen over with just a few small open spots of water.  I did have a River Otter playing on the edge of the ice near one of the open channels of water...always fun to watch!

Once I picked up Wilson we headed to Covey WMA and had just a handful birds with almost all concentrated around the feeder at the Fish and Wildlife HQ.  The Swift River was totally frozen with no open water at all.