Fantastic morning in Quabbin area with Bonaparte's Gull, Iceland Gull, Barrow's Goldeneye, Red breasted Merganser, Pied billed Grebe and others

Iceland Gull (middle) with Ring billed Gulls and Herring Gulls, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 20, 2021

Iceland Gull (middle) with Ring billed Gulls and Herring Gulls, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 20, 2021

I headed out this morning without too much expectation but one never knows and this morning was a nice surprise.  I decided to stick close to home this morning as the forecast called for early snow showers and windy conditions and I began right at first light at Winsor Dam and immediately noticed a large raft of gulls relatively close in (at least for Quabbin!).  I started scanning the flock and came up with over four hundred Ring billed Gulls and a smattering of Herring Gulls and then the first surprise...a Bonaparte's Gull (quite rare in winter around here).  It was tough to keep track of the little guy among the tightly packed group of gulls and as I was watching the group waiting for it to get a lighter I noticed another unusual gull with the arrival of an Iceland Gull.  After getting some photos of the Iceland Gull I tried to relocate the Bonaparte's Gull without success...I assumed it left with some of the Ring billed Gulls heading off to the southwest.  Greg arrived and he was able to get looks at the Iceland Gull (a first for the county for him).  

Barrow's Goldeneye, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 20, 2021

Barrow's Goldeneye, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 20, 2021

Red breasted Merganser, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 20, 2021

Horned Grebes, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 20, 2021

Ring necked Ducks, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 20, 2021

Common Loon, Quabbin Park, MA, Jan 20, 2021

After many of the gulls took off I decided to try my luck in Quabbin Park with my first stop being to Hank's Meadow where I had several species of waterfowl including my first Ring necked Ducks of the year, 14 Common Goldeneyes (including a continued individual with a nearly all yellow bill), half a dozen Horned Grebes and two Common Loons plus a few other species.  I also had at least a couple Red Crossbills fly over but they were gone before I could get a recording to determine the exact type.  I then headed a bit further east and stopped briefly at Goodnough Dike when I noticed a few ducks out on the water.  I quickly scanned them and found two Common Goldeneyes and a female Barrow's Goldeneye with them!  I got a few digiscoped photos through the trees before the Barrow's Goldeneye and one of the Common Goldeneyes flushed and headed back west toward Gate 52.  I scanned around a bit more and found a male Red breasted Merganser fairly close into the dike.  I sent out a message about all these birds and a few were able to follow up and see at least some of them.  I then headed out to run some errands and then pick up Wilson for a walk.

Pied billed Grebe, Swift River, Ware, MA, Jan 20, 2021

Hooded Mergansers, Swift River, Ware, MA, Jan 20, 2021

A walk with the Wilson along the Swift River in Ware turned up even more unusual waterfowl with a Pied billed Grebe and 30+ Hooded Mergansers plus my first Fox Sparrow of the year.  The grebe and sparrow became my 100th and 101st species for the year in Hampshire County.  This is by far the largest number of species I have had in the month of January in the county and the quickest I have ever made it to 100 species for the year.  It is a small consolation prize for being stuck here in the north during the ongoing pandemic when I normally would be in the tropics.  I typically don't reach the 100 species mark until March so this January is exceptional...a combination of warmer than average weather, lots of irruptives around and being around more for the month I guess.

As many of you know I'm a reviewer for eBird covering the three counties of the valley (Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden) and I just got the year end stats from eBird regarding how many records needed to be reviewed.  The total for 2020 came to a staggering 11,161 records and December alone had 1,118 records (that's 36+ a day!).  So just keep these numbers in mind if you eBird and don't see your records appear right away in the eBird database.