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| Common Mergansers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 18, 2015 |
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| Mallards, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 18, 2015 |
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| Red necked Grebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 18, 2015 |
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| Kelvin-Helmoltz clouds, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 18, 2015 |
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| Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 18, 2015 |
With the forecast for freezing rain/snow/rain for the day today I headed out early to get in a little birding before the weather turned to shit. I attempted once again to try to track down a screech owl (this time along the Swift River) but once again failed. My owling stops turned up just three Great Horned Owls but I guess that is better than nothing. As the skies brightened up a bit I headed to Winsor Dam where I had a group of about 130 gulls on the water but nothing unusual among them. Waterfowl included four Black Ducks, 26 Mallards, three Common Mergansers and a couple Horned Grebes. I also had some Kelvin-Helmoltz clouds (AKA wave clouds) that appeared briefly on the horizon just before sunrise...the photo just does not do the formation justice...really neat to see. A ride through Quabbin Park found some areas of open water which contained a couple Black Ducks, three Common Mergansers and a Hooded Mergansers. I'm sure there were other species out there but I didn't spend tons of time looking before I headed back to Winsor Dam where I stayed for about an hour before the freezing rain started. The waterfowl species composition had changed a bit with nine Black Ducks, 14 Mallards, ten Common Mergansers, a Horned Grebe and a Red necked Grebe. Other notables around included four Bald Eagles (all adults with a pair at the nest site), a Common Raven and a flyby Common Redpoll (there may have been more than one but I never saw them, heard only). I made it home before the roads got slick and took Wilson for a walk in the rain in the woods near the house where we flushed up a Ruffed Grouse. The redpoll added yet another species to the county list for the month (#83).
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| Bufflehead, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 17, 2015 |
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| Bufflehead, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 17, 2015 |
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| Horned Grebes, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 17, 2015 |
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| Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 17, 2015 |
Another productive morning at Winsor Dam on Saturday as I spent about an hour and a half there. The ice is slowly but surely closing in on the open water but large areas of open water are still available for waterfowl. When I arrived just before nine I immediately noticed some great birds out on the water including two distant Red necked Grebes and two Horned Grebes. I headed out across the dam to try to get a better view (and some photos of the grebes). About half way across the dam I scanned for the birds and then noticed a small dark diving duck that was just too far away to identify. As I was trying to figure this bird out I heard the calls of White winged Crossbills and looked up to see three of them flying rapidly south. As I only had the scope and phone I never got a photo of the birds. I then went back to the diving duck and moved closer to it along the dam and finally got good views and it was a Bufflehead (likely the same individual I found here yesterday). I took a couple iPhone shots and then the phone died (a common problem in cold weather). I decided I wanted some photos of the bird so I walked back to the car and got my good camera and then came back to get some photos. I also noticed some more ducks on the far western shore and started scanning through them when a Bald Eagle flushed the group. The group eventually settled back down on the water and I counted a total of 243 Mallards and a dozen Black Ducks. Overall a very productive stop as once again Quabbin produced some quality birds. The crossbills also added another species for the month in the county bringing me up to 82 so far.
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| Mink, Honey Pot, Hadley, MA, Jan 17, 2015 |
Before stopping at Winsor Dam I once again hit a few spots along the Connecticut River from South Hadley to Hadley. I started out before dawn below the Holyoke Dam and counted a total of 690 Canada Geese, four Mute Swans, 44 Mallards, 41 Common Goldeneyes and five Common Mergansers plus a continued Peregrine Falcon sitting on a street light on the bridge. I headed north hitting the Dinosaur footprints area (some Canada Geese and a few Common Mergansers), the river from the East Meadows (185 Canada Geese, 12 Mallards and four Common Mergansers), and then the Honey Pot (145 Canada Geese, 7 Common Mergansers, 28 Horned Larks and a light Savannah Sparrow among others). The Honey Pot also featured a Mink that would run along the ice and then dive back into the river, repeating the action several times as it worked its way upriver.
After dark I also had some great looks once again of Comet Lovejoy as it is now almost overhead and giving great views.
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