Last day of winter/first day of spring features cold weather and snow

Wild Turkeys (part of flock of 63), Mill Valley Road, Hadley, MA, Mar 20, 2015

Wild Turkeys (part of flock of 63), Mill Valley Road, Hadley, MA, Mar 20, 2015

Waterfowl and gulls, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 20, 2015

Ring necked Duck, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 20, 2015

Iceland Gull, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 20, 2015

Eastern Coyotes and Common Ravens at distant kill, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 20, 2015

The last day of winter/first day of spring certainly felt a lot more like the middle of winter with temperatures this morning a toasty ten degrees and some late day snow.  One final big f*!# you from winter I guess.  At least this morning was snow free and relatively calm.  I spent most of the morning out and about and found some decent birds including lingering birds as well as early migrants.  Today featured my biggest groups of geese so far this season...just the beginning of what is to come hopefully.  Nothing too unusual overall but still good stuff with just over fifty species and nine species of waterfowl.   Here are the highlights:

Coolidge Bridge-858 Canada Geese, 8 Wood Ducks, 9 Black Ducks, 21 Mallards, a Ring necked Duck, 7 Common Mergansers, a Peregrine Falcon, a Iceland Gulls, a Glaucous Gull plus another 200 or so other gulls of the three expected species.

Aqua Vitae Road- a flyby Snow Bunting

North Lane, Hadley- Rusty Blackbird with Red winged Blackbirds

Mill Valley Road fields- 720 Canada Geese, 63 Wild Turkeys (all in one flock with lots of displaying), 105 American Crows and a single Fish Crow

Silvio Conte NWR-Fort River- Eastern Meadowlark

Holyoke Dam- Four Canada Geese, 3 Mute Swans, 4 Ring necked Ducks, 36 Common Goldeneyes, two Hooded Mergansers and four Common Mergansers

Winsor Dam- American Kestrel hunting along dam

Swift River - 3 Black Ducks, 26 Mallards, 17 Hooded Mergansers and two Common Mergansers

Lots of Red winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles at several locations.

Iceland Gull, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 19, 2015

Iceland Gull, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 19, 2015

Ring necked Ducks, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 19, 2015

Yesterday was another damn cold morning with a temperature around ten but thankfully a light wind early on.  I had a limited amount of time so I stopped briefly at the Coolidge Bridge and found a decent selection of gulls and waterfowl including 559 Canada Geese, two Black Ducks, 9 Mallards, four Ringed necked Ducks, three Hooded Mergansers plus just over 200 of the typical three species of gulls plus three Iceland Gulls.