The end of October finished rainy and then snowy but nonetheless was very productive for birds for me with a number of rarities showing up and a new high count for me for the month in Hampshire County (more on all that at the bottom of the post). The last few days have featured rainy days (including the remnants of Hurricane Zeta coming through Thursday) which grounded a number of species (mainly waterfowl and shorebirds). On Wednesday I stayed mainly around the south Quabbin area (primarily Winsor Dam with multiple visits) and over the course of the day found eleven species of waterfowl including all three scoter species, a group of 11 Long tailed Ducks, lots of Bufflehead and two Red breasted Mergansers. With a brief lull in the rain early on Thursday I headed over to Arcadia, the East Meadows, the Holyoke Dam and then back to Winsor Dam. The rain started back up by 9am and continued for the rest of the day. I was lucky to catch up with a Short eared Owl before dawn at the Honey Pot on my way to the locations mentioned above. Other notable species for the morning on Thursday included at least three American Woodcocks I flushed at Arcadia, an American Coot at Arcadia, a lone Long tailed Duck in the river at Mitch's Marina, the continued Brant and two Gadwall as well as a 100+ Common Mergansers at the Holyoke Dam. Winsor Dam featured a number of loons including a small individual that was something other than a Common Loon but it was just too far out and the fog too thick to definitively identify. On Friday I woke up to rain that quickly turned to snow and got heavy for a time resulting in us getting a couple inches of wet snow. As soon as it was light I was over at Winsor Dam trying to find something interesting before the rain changed to snow and knocked down visibility too much. Unfortunately the change over to snow occurred just as it was getting light so there was a very small window of any visibility at a very windy Winsor Dam. Nonetheless I still managed to find a good bird when I had a Lesser Black backed Gull in with a single Herring Gull and multiple Ring billed Gulls. I got a few marginal shots through the scope showing the darker mantle and size but little else. Would have loved to get some better shots but I was lucky to get any at all. I also had two very intriguing shorebirds whip by before I could ID them. As the snow became heavier and heavier and the wind continued to roar out of the northeast I left the dam and tried the Route 9 marsh before heading for home as the roads started to get slushy. I made it back to the dam midday but the snow and wind were still keeping visibility way down but I did have some birds including a Greater Scaup that made a brief stop and small groups of Mallards, Black Ducks and Double crested Cormorants. I planned on a return to Winsor Dam as soon as the snow let up but the text from Ted regarding the Purple Sandpiper changed all that! I eventually made it back to the dam with the most interesting sighting for that stop being a high count of 66 Long tailed Ducks. I suspect tomorrow will turn up more waterfowl as winds continue out of the north and the temperatures drop to record low levels.
I finished the month with 163 species which blew away my previous high for the month of 152 set in 2018. As mentioned above there were a number of rarities around for the month and I managed to catch up with a few but not all of them. Notable species in addition to those mentioned above included Barnacle Goose (species #299 in Hampshire County for me), Cackling Goose, Franklin's Gull, Cattle Egret and Lark Sparrow as well as irruptives including Evening Grosbeak, Purple Finch, Common Redpoll, Red Crossbill and Pine Siskin.
With the snow and cold temperatures I decided to put out a feeder and some suet to help the birds survive the early arrival of winter like conditions. As I watched the birds come and go I noticed first one, then two and finally three different banded Black capped Chickadees with the biggest surprise being one banded in 2017 that I have not seen around in years...wonder where he has been hiding!
