First snow of the season and my 15,000th eBird list

Long tailed Ducks, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Nov 14, 2014

Long tailed Ducks, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Nov 14, 2014

Long tailed Ducks, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 14, 2014

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 14, 2014

Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 14, 2014

Road to Quabbin Tower, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 14, 2014

We got our first little taste of snow overnight and it certainly looked winter like early in the day.  Thankfully most of it melted during the day (and of course Wilson helped by eating as much of it as possible!).  I started my day at Winsor Dam, a quick stop by Beaver Lake and then through Quabbin Park and another stop at Winsor Dam before I headed over to South Hadley near the Holyoke Dam and then back to Quabbin to Gate 5.  Overall a fairly slow day as far as birds were concerned but still some decent stuff around.  Perhaps tomorrow will turn up more waterfowl?  At Winsor Dam I had a Black Scoter, seven Long tailed Ducks (four together and a group of three with the Black Scoter), four Common Loons (three in flight together) and 11 Horned Larks flying by together plus other expected species.  I also had a possible flyover redpoll but I only heard it once and it was breezy so couldn't confirm it.  Quabbin Park held just a Horned Grebe and Common Loon between Hank's Meadow and Goodnough Dike...very slow.  The marsh on Route 9 had the usual waterfowl although slightly more Canada Geese then have been there lately.  The Holyoke Dam area featured the typical fare for waterfowl with 190 Canada Geese, three Mute Swans, 25 Mallards and a Common Merganser plus 72 Ring billed Gulls and a few Herring Gulls (no unusual gulls unfortunately).  My final stop of the morning before an appointment was over to gate 5 which featured four Long tailed Ducks and a Common Loon.  Pine Siskins were once again present at several stops this morning with small groups flying past. 

This morning also featured the logging in of my 15,000th eBird list with the list taking me to this plateau occurring at Quabbin (appropriately I guess as I enter more list from Quabbin then any other area).  I once again encourage everyone to enter their birding lists to eBird...a great day to add scientific value to your birding outings and a great way to keep track of your sightings.