Quabbin Park

Ruffed Grouse, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2014

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2014

Horned Grebes, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2014

Horned Grebes, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2014

Wood Ducks, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2014

River Otter, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2014

River Otter, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2014

I spent a few hours exploring around a few spots at Quabbin Park (Hank's Meadow, Goodnough Dike, route 9 marsh and Winsor Dam).  A decent showing of waterfowl but not much change from the previous days.  Despite the southerly winds I had groups of Pine Siskins moving south (over a hundred individuals)...makes me wonder what tomorrow will bring with strong northwest winds?  I also had a close encounter with a Ruffed Grouse that came right down to my car and stayed right near me as I started my walk into the woods.  Not completely unheard of behavior for this species but always cool to see.  Link to video of the Ruffed Grouse here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/15539826406/in/photostream/

Besides the birds (full list below) I had some great looks at a couple River Otters, one of which hauled itself up onto some rocks right in front of me at Hank's Meadow and proceeded to devour a fish...gotta love otters!  Link to video of the otter here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/14942725364/

Tomorrow will hopefully feature some migrants as the winds shift around to the northwest and get gusty.  The hope is for some waterfowl to move as well as other stuff, such as more siskins (and who knows what else?).  It will certainly feel more like November with temperatures topping out around 50...it will be quite a change from the previous several days!

Quabbin Park

Canada Goose       23

Wood Duck 11

American Black Duck 74          69 at hanks meadow, 5 rt 9 marsh

Mallard 64

Hooded Merganser 3

Common Merganser 3

Ruffed Grouse 1 Walked right up to me

Wild Turkey 2

Common Loon 4

Pied-billed Grebe 1

Horned Grebe 11 Minimum

Sharp-shinned Hawk 1

Herring Gull 3

Belted Kingfisher 1

Red-bellied Woodpecker 4

Downy Woodpecker 2

Hairy Woodpecker 1

Pileated Woodpecker 1

Eastern Phoebe 1

Blue Jay 18

American Crow 5

Common Raven 1

Black-capped Chickadee 10

Tufted Titmouse 2

Red-breasted Nuthatch 4

White-breasted Nuthatch 3

Brown Creeper 1

Carolina Wren 2

Golden-crowned Kinglet 2

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8

Eastern Bluebird 2

Hermit Thrush 5

American Robin 27

American Pipit 2

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 14

Eastern Towhee 4

Song Sparrow 3

White-throated Sparrow 10

Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 2

Northern Cardinal 2

Red-winged Blackbird 6

Pine Siskin 105 Groups moving south

American Goldfinch 3