Quabbin CBC

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Blue Meadow Rd, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 28, 2019

Red Squirrel, Blue Meadow Rd, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 28, 2019

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 28, 2019

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 28, 2019

I took part in the Quabbin Christmas Bird Count (CBC) this morning with quite comfortable conditions for the count with mostly sunny skies and low temperatures around freezing (the weather is usually very cold and/or snowy for this count).  I helped David Spector in the area around the Administration Building and Winsor Dam.  I arrived before dawn and stayed at the dam until I met up with Dave a little after 8AM.  No luck finding anything too unusual at the dam (no repeat of the Great Black backed Gull I had there yesterday morning) but a flyover calling Purple Finch was a nice addition.  Once I met up with David we made the walk down Blue Meadow Road plus a couple other side roads.  We ran into a couple of pockets of birds on the walk in with several robins feeding on winterberry and a single Song Sparrow with a group of juncos plus at least three Red breasted Nuthatches.  The best bird of the entire morning waited until the very end of my time there when I heard a flyover Yellow rumped Warbler that briefly settled into the top of a tree along the road (thankfully allowing a photo) before it continued off to the west.  A very rare bird for the Quabbin area in late December!  It is only the third record ever for the species on the Quabbin CBC.  More on the warbler sighting can be found at the following link. Total number of species for the time I was there came up to 31...I'm sure David added some others later.  Lots of mammal tracks but I didn't see anything bigger than a squirrel for the morning.

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Quabbin cemetery wetland, Ware, MA, Dec 26, 2019

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Quabbin cemetery wetland, Ware, MA, Dec 26, 2019

Golden crowned Kinglet, Quabbin cemetery wetland, Ware, MA, Dec 26, 2019

Eastern Bluebird, Quabbin cemetery wetland, Ware, MA, Dec 26, 2019

Great Black backed Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 27, 2019 (crap photo with phone through scope)

Before the count I scouted a number of areas to try to find some rarities before the count (which will become count week species if no one finds them on the day of the count).  On Thursday the 26th I started off in Quabbin Park where I made it to Hank's Meadow before dawn and found a decent selection of waterfowl including 176 Common Mergansers and a Red breasted Merganser plus four Horned Grebes and four other species of waterfowl.  I then went over to the large wetland near the Quabbin cemetery where I had a Ruby crowned Kinglet as well as at least four Winter Wrens.

Posts from my previous Quabbin CBC's can be found here:

2017
2015
2012
2011
2009

Here is the summary from Scott regarding the count at Quabbin:

Here are the totals for this year’s Quabbin Count, which of course was held on December 28^th.

Forty five observers and two feeder watchers had really nice weather for this year’s count, Temperature range 31-44, wind direction was W-NW and wind speed ranged anywhere from 0-15 with a few gusts near 20 mph.  It was generally cloudy throughout the day but some breaks in the clouds in the afternoon.  Snow cover was basically non-existent which is incredible since we had over 20”on the ground on December 3^rd! The main body of the Quabbin was open, but smaller bodies of water (coves/Beaver Ponds etc) were frozen and most streams were open. We didn’t add any new species to the count, but we had 4 new high counts, but the overall numbers were generally down.

 

Many thanks to everyone for helping out, and if you like to plan ahead…….Next year’s Quabbin count will be on January 2, 2021.

 

Cheers,

 

Scott

Quabbin Count.   Dec 28, 2019

 

Mallard- 117

American Black Duck-89

Greater Scaup-  CW

Common Goldeneye-16

Hooded Merganser- 35

Common Merganser- 275

Ring-necked Pheasant -1

Ruffed Grouse – 11

Wild Turkey -89

Horned Grebe- 4

Red-Necked Grebe -1 (6^th record)

Rock Pigeon – 140

Mourning Dove -150

Ring-billed Gull – 288 HC

Herring Gull – 18

Great Black-backed Gull –CW

Common Loon -5

Great Blue Heron – 1

Sharp-shinned Hawk -1

Bald Eagle- (29) Adults -17  Imm. -12

Red-shouldered Hawk -1

Red-tailed Hawk – 30

Great Horned Owl – 6

Barred Owl – 2

Northern Saw-whet Owl – 5

Belted Kingfisher – 5

Red-bellied Woodpecker- 39

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 4

Downy Woodpecker – 96

Hairy Woodpecker – 23

Northern Flicker – 9

Pileated Woodpecker -17

Eastern Phoebe- CW

Blue Jay – 216

American Crow – 162

Common Raven – 23

Black-capped Chickadee – 660

Tufted Titmouse – 271

Red-breasted Nuthatch – 44

White-breasted Nuthatch – 163

Brown Creeper – 25

Winter Wren -5

Carolina Wren- 20 HC

Golden-Crowned Kinglet -97

Ruby-crowned Kinglet CW

Eastern Bluebird -119 HC

American Robin - 114

Hermit Thrush – 1

Gray Catbird -2 HC

Northern Mockingbird -8

European Starling - 248

Cedar Waxwing – 164

House Sparrow – 625

House Finch – 33

Purple Finch – 3

American Goldfinch – 210

American Tree Sparrow – 15 (all time low)

Dark-eyed Junco – 375

White-throated Sparrow – 71

Song Sparrow –  30

Red-winged Blackbird- 6

Brown-headed Cowbird – 1

Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1 (3^rd record)

Northern Cardinal – 96

 

60 Species -  Individuals -5201.

 

Mammals

 

Eastern Cottontail -1

Gray Squirrel -50

Red Squirrel- 10

Eastern Chipmunk-2

Porcupine-1

Beaver-2

River Otter-1

Red Fox-1

White-tailed Deer-1

Moose-1