The last several days produce a Golden Eagle, waterfowl and the continued presence of some rarities

Dark eyed Junco, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 19, 2016

American Tree Sparrow, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Nov 19, 2016

Hooded Merganser, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 19, 2016

Brant, Hadley, MA, Nov 19, 2016

On the last warmish day for the foreseeable future I headed over to the areas along the river with stops at Arcadia, various fields in Amherst and Hadley and then over to Quabbin Park.  It was a nice day to be outside with temps that eventually made it to the mid to upper 50's.  Nothing too unusual but I did have some good stuff including a few hundred geese at Arcadia, a Brant with nearly six hundred Canada Geese in Hadley and nine species of waterfowl at Quabbin Park.

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 20, 2016

The windy weather brought in some decent birds on Sunday at Winsor Dam including a Golden Eagle moving rapidly southeast being pursued by a Bald Eagle.  The Golden Eagle became species #236 for Hampshire County this year.  I also had a couple flyby Greater Scaup at the dam that also moved rapidly past.  We were lucky to have just gotten some rain with occasional snow mixed in when nearby areas in the hills got upwards of a foot of snow.

I felt under the weather yesterday so couldn't get out much but given the cold and windy conditions it was probably not a good idea to be outside anyway.

Brown headed Cowbird and European Starlings, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Nov 22, 2016

Red headed Woodpecker, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Nov 22, 2016

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 22, 2016

Brant, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Nov 22, 2016

Brant, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Nov 22, 2016

I was feeling better this morning and checked a few areas while I ran some errands with the highlights being the continued Brant at UMASS and the Red headed Woodpecker and 220+ Brown headed Cowbirds at Lake Wallace.


Meanwhile the tropics have not gone completely to sleep for the season just yet with the formation of Tropical Storm Otto off the coast of Nicaragua yesterday.  The storm is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall in Costa Rica just over the border with Nicaragua.  If it indeed does landfall in Costa Rica it will be the first time this has happened since records began there (way back in 1851).  The main threat will be heavy rain resulting in flooding and landslides.  Hopefully it won't cause too many problems down that way.