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| Black Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2016 |
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| Black Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2016 |
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| White winged Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2016 |
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| Ruddy Duck, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2016 |
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| Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2016 |
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| Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2016 |
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| Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2016 |
As expected the strong north winds brought in some great stuff this morning at
Winsor Dam including four new species for the county this year...White winged
Scoter (#
228), Black Scoter (#
229), Surf Scoter (#
230) and Long tailed Duck
(#
231). I arrived at the dam before sunrise and there were already a few
cormorants and loons around flying south. The winds were around 20 MPH
sustained with gusts at least to 35 MPH giving the look and feel of later fall
at the ocean with lots of whitecaps on the reservoir. Almost all the waterfowl
were picked up in flight as picking anything out on the water was tough although
I did manage to find a Ruddy Duck on the water. The first scoters were a couple
White winged Scoters which were then joined by the first flock of Black Scoters
(29 birds). A small group of Surf Scoters showed up a little while later as
well as additional White winged and flocks of Black Scoters. I'm sure my total
for Black Scoters is low as they were up and off the water a lot and at times
additional birds seemed to join the flocks and then disappear. I only counted
birds that flew off to the south and the largest flock I had flying around and
landing out in front of the HQ building. One of the bigger surprises of the
morning was a flock of four Long tailed Ducks (two adult males) that flew around
before settling on the water way out toward the boat launch area...certainly
early for this species but the conditions were perfect to get waterfowl moving.
Aidan and Devin showed up a little later in the morning and they got to see some
of the scoter action as well as other waterfowl and great looks at gulls and
eagles enjoying the windy weather. Overall for the morning I had ten species of
waterfowl and five species of raptors with Bald Eagles putting on the best
show. It was a very pleasurable day to be at Winsor Dam despite the cold
conditions. Full lists with additional photos at following link:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31974259
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