A warm start to November

Black Ducks, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 3, 2016

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 3, 2016

Dawn in the Honey pot, Hadley, MA, Nov 3, 2016

I spent the last three days enjoying some warm early November weather with highs that reached near 70 yesterday and today.  The honeymoon is over come tomorrow when the temperatures will probably not make it out of the 40's and there will be a strong northerly wind.  Hopefully the winds will bring in some good late season migrants...we shall see.  Today I started in Hadley dodging the occasional rain shower and checking the various fields along the river up through North Hadley and then into Amherst.  Overall very quiet with much reduced sparrow numbers at the Honey Pot and almost no geese in any of the fields (but lots of hunters).  I also made a brief stop at Quabbin Park on my way home and it was equally as quiet save for the Rt 9 marsh that held a smattering of waterfowl including 22 Black Ducks.

Fox Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 2, 2016

Eastern Phoebe, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 2, 2016

Canada Goose with extensive white on neck and head, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 2, 2016

Canada Goose with extensive white on neck and head, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 2, 2016

Canada Goose with extensive white on neck, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 2, 2016

Common Mergansers, Holyoke Dam, South Hadley, MA, Nov 2, 2016

Red headed Woodpecker, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Nov 2, 2016

Painted Turtles, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Nov 2, 2016

Yesterday I headed over to Arcadia before dawn to check the flocks of geese to try to find something unusual among all the Canada Geese. I didn't have any luck in finding any unusual species but did find a couple of unique individuals with extensive white on the neck and/or head. Lots of Mallards and Black Ducks around as well as some Green winged Teal (no sign of the pintail that was there the day before). Besides the waterfowl at the marsh I had a somewhat late Eastern Phoebe working the shoreline. After my check of the marsh I spent a couple hours exploring the meadows and added some more species for the day including my first American Tree Sparrows for the fall. Overall sparrow numbers were way down and oddly some of the best sparrow spots were mowed down since my last visit...not quite sure why. After Arcadia I headed down to the Holyoke Dam where I had half a dozen each of Mute Swans and Double crested Cormorants. A large flock of Common Mergansers (123 individuals) were below the dam along with a single Hooded Merganser. I then headed for home but not before a quick stop at Lake Wallace where the Red headed Woodpecker continued to show well as did at least a few Rusty Blackbird.  There were even some Painted Turtles out enjoying the warm weather there too.

Brant, UMASS campus pond, Amherst, MA, Nov 1, 2016

Lapland Longspur, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Nov 1, 2016

Lapland Longspur, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Nov 1, 2016

Brown headed Cowbirds and European Starlings, Hadley, MA, Nov 1, 2016

Green winged Teal, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 1, 2016

On the first day of November I visited a variety of spots trying to catch up with lingering rarities as well as many species as I could find for the day (ended up with 56 species). I started at dawn at the waterfowl roost at Quabbin Park and then headed west to Northampton before retracing my way back to home by late morning. Lots of highlights including the continued Brant and Red headed Woodpecker.

Quabbin park- 34 Black Ducks, 235 Mallards, an American Woodcock, Eastern screech Owl and Winter Wren
UMASS- Brant
Honey Pot- 110+ House Finches
Arcadia-26 Black Ducks, 290 Mallards, a Northern Pintail, 13 Green winged Teal
east meadows- 170 Horned Larks, 2 Lapland Longspurs and 13 Snow Buntings
East Hadley Rd in Hadley- 260 Brown headed Cowbirds
Lake Wallace- Red headed Woodpecker and 16 Rusty Blackbirds