Around south Quabbin again

Eastern Towhee, Quabbin Park, May 10, 2014

White crowned Sparrow, Quabbin Park, May 10, 2014

Bufflehead, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, May 10, 2014

Least Sandpipers feeding along road, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, May 10, 2014

Domestic Pigeon (The 'mystery bird'), Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, May 10, 2014

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, May 10, 2014

Bay breasted Warbler, home, Belchertown, MA, May 10, 2014

Today started off cloudy and a bit foggy but warm and then the rain moved in and lasted for about 45 minutes. Yet again lots of good stuff around (20 species of warbler among just over 90 species total) For those interested in overall numbers and variety at my stops I have included the eBird lists from my longer stops today (I have spared you ever list from the day). I spent the majority of the morning at Quabbin Park but did make an early run over to Lake Wallace which produced a Pied billed Grebe (possibly two but never saw them together) among other expected species. Early on in the morning Winsor Dam produced a couple late waterfowl species including a female Red breasted Merganser and a couple female Bufflehead (which stayed around all day). Another bit of excitement at the dam occurred when I saw a small, chicken size all white bird along the wall at the far end of the dam. I had to make my way out there in the rain to try to figure out what the bird was. I had some thoughts of some rarity but instead it turned out to be an all white pigeon! No ptarmigan for me today! (I can wish with one seen in New York several days ago and one in Vermont in the last few days). I then spent some time in Quabbin Park and managed to find a nice selection of warblers including the continued Cerulean Warbler plus a couple new ones including Wilson's Warbler (#190) and Blackpoll Warbler (#191). There were several other organized birding trips at the park today so inevitably a good bird was found when Scott Surners group came across a Hooded Warbler. I tried for the bird a few times but no luck...lots of good habitat for it here but it may have been just passing through. I also had another good warbler for the yard late this afternoon when I had a Bay breasted Warbler (#192) which is only my third spring record in the yard and my earliest by ten days.

Elsewhere around the region some more waterfowl was kept down my the less than ideal (at least for migration) weather including some White winged Scoters, Ruddy Ducks and Red necked Grebes among others plus some shorebirds. It will be interesting to see how the upcoming week plays out with decent weather for migration interspersed with rain and storms which could ground some migrants such as terns and shorebirds....time will tell how it plays out but I will be out looking for rarities when I can.
Lake Wallace
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18312249

Quabbin Park (longest stop there)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18314131

Winsor Dam (a couple of several stops)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18312367
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18312959