A little more snow today, some unusual waterfowl yesterday and other 'stuff'

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 9, 2015

Mallards and Black Ducks, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 9, 2015

In order to keep an otherwise cold and miserable month a bit more tolerable and interesting (at least to me) I decided yesterday to try to see more species in January in Hampshire County then I have before and I'm off to a decent start despite the cold. I have looked at the last three years in the county for what I have managed to see in the first month of the year and the totals may be tough to beat.  Below are the last three years with number of species seen in the first ten days, the first twenty days and then by the end of January (thanks to eBird for making it easy to find this data).  As of today I'm at 72 so well on my way to making a run at my January Hampshire County record.

Year                 Jan 10                   Jan 20                       Jan31
2014                 71                         75                              81
2013                 75                         82                              85
2012                 50                         52                              60

The snow this morning certainly slowed down the birding a bit but I still managed to get out around the house as the snow fell and then over to a few spots later once the snow stop including Winsor Dam and Covey WMA.  Winsor Dam had up to 74 Mallards, 11 Black Ducks and three Hooded Mergansers while the nearby Covey WMA held 16 Hooded Mergansers and a Great Blue Heron along the Swift River and a flyby Pileated Woodpecker (first one for the year).

Wilson out in the snow, Belchertown, MA, Jan 9, 2015

Wilson seemed to enjoy the snow much more than I did this morning.

Long tailed Duck, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 8, 2015

Long tailed Duck, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 8, 2015

Long tailed Duck, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 8, 2015

White winged Scoter, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 8, 2015

Great Black backed Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 8, 2015

Ring billed Gulls and Herring Gulls, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 8, 2015

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 8, 2015

Yesterday I managed to catch up with a few nice birds for January with a Northern Shrike in North Hadley along route 47 near the Sunderland town line plus a Long tailed Duck and White winged Scoter at Winsor Dam. Other new species I added for the day included a Red winged Blackbird on Aqua Vitae Road, a adult male Northern Harrier flying over some fields in Hadley and a couple Great Black backed Gull at Winsor Dam (oddly a quite unusual species there). 

Also got a look at Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) last evening before the clouds moved in.  It is now somewhat visible with the naked eye and easily seen with binoculars.  The next several days should provide nice views of the comet before it moves back out of the local area, not to return for 8000 years.