Weekend birding in the valley and Quabbin



Cackling Goose, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Nov 9, 2014

Cackling Goose, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Nov 9, 2014

Cackling Goose, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Nov 9, 2014

Cackling Goose, Lake Warner, Hadley, MA, Nov 9, 2014

Black Scoter, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Nov 9, 2014

Long tailed Ducks, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Nov 9, 2014

Bufflehead, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 9, 2014

Lapland Longspur, Aqua Vitae Road, Hadley, MA, Nov 9, 2014

I headed out this morning with the original goal of trying to find some waterfowl around Quabbin despite less than optimal migration conditions last night.  I was running a little ahead of the sun and the opening of the gates so I made a brief detour to Beaver Lake in Ware but the lake was devoid of birds.  After that quick stop I headed back over to Quabbin stopping at the marsh on Route 9 where I had typical stuff.  The gates were still closed at 6:15 so I headed over to Winsor Dam instead and had a single loon as well as four distant dark ducks.  With less than a stellar showing of waterfowl at Quabbin I decided to try my luck in catching up with rare geese along the river.  I made numerous stops and had some good stuff.  I have included the stops and highlights below:

UMASS- the pond was quiet but I had 272 Ring billed Gulls on the athletic fields (sadly nothing else unusual)

Fields around Russelville Road and Stockbridge Road- only a few scattered Canada Geese

Lake Warner- the best goose of the day with a Cackling Goose in among 232 Canada Geese.  Also had a Great Blue Heron there.

North Lane and the Honey Pot- quiet for geese and I didn't stay long enough to turn up other stuff.

Aqua Vitae Road- a flyover Killdeer, 235+ Horned Larks, a Lapland Longspur, a couple Snow Buntings and 32 American Pipits....the birds were really enjoying the freshly plowed fields.

Quabbin Gate 5- a Black Scoter, two Long tailed Ducks, two Common Loons and two Horned Grebes.

Winsor Dam- a Bufflehead male


I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on lots of yard work and when I finally came back inside around 3:30 I promptly got a phone call from Jacob about a Yellow headed Blackbird that was seen earlier (2PM) in Hadley along Route 47 in among a group of 5000 blackbirds.  Jacob couldn't go looking for it and I was dead tired and figured it was getting late in the day to catch up with it.  Nevertheless after a few minutes of procrastinating I decided to give it a try to find the bird.  When I arrived there around 4:15 there were no blackbirds at all.  I had driving by this exact spot early this morning and noticed a few blackbirds in the trees bit didn't stop to look...I guess I should have!  Oh well..hopefully it sticks around.

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 8, 2014

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 8, 2014

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 8, 2014

Mallard, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 8, 2014

Ring necked Ducks, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 8, 2014

Long tailed Ducks, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 8, 2014

Hooded Mergansers, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 8, 2014

Yesterday I spent my time around Quabbin with the vast majority of my time at Winsor Dam.  Full list from the dam below:

Winsor Dam (700-845)

Canada Goose 5
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 1
Ring-necked Duck 25
White-winged Scoter 2
Black Scoter 3
Long-tailed Duck 3
Common Goldeneye 2
Hooded Merganser 3
Common Loon 4
Horned Grebe 1
Red-necked Grebe 1
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 7
Ring-billed Gull 13
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 611 Almost all moving southwest in large groups
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Brown Creeper 1
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 7
Cedar Waxwing 3
Snow Bunting 8 Flyover
Eastern Towhee 1 Late, occasionally giving 'towhee' call
Song Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 2
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 19
Northern Cardinal 1
Purple Finch 1
Pine Siskin 53
American Goldfinch 5
House Sparrow 3
Before my stationary count at Winsor Dam I made a quick trip through Quabbin Park stopping at Hanks Meadow, Goodnough Dike and the marsh.  Total waterfowl numbers included 18 Canada Geese, 21 Black Ducks, 3 Mallards, 13 Hooded Mergansers, and half a dozen each of Common Loon and Horned Grebe.