Thursday, October 27, 2022

A little waterfowl but not too much

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 27, 2022
Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 27, 2022
Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle' with white splotches on face, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Oct 27, 2022
Dark eyed Junco, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Oct 27, 2022
Black capped Chickadee, Belchertown State School, Belchertown, MA, Oct 27, 2022

The forecast for the day called for strong northwest winds throughout the day which certainly held the promise for an influx of waterfowl and I was over at Winsor Dam before the sun came up.  Given the date, forecast conditions and lack of a large influx of waterfowl so far for the season I thought for sure it would be a great morning at Winsor Dam.  I arrived to a find the conditions nearly calm and Ted just having just arrived also.  Eventually the winds started picking up but they were mainly west to start and not too strong.  We had a few birds around but certainly nothing unusual.  We had a bit of excitement early on when we had a cormorant fly in that seemed very long tailed and had us contemplating Neotropic Cormorant but eventually we were able to get decent enough looks at it to determine it was just a Double crested Cormorant.  More people arrived a bit later but overall a slow day at the dam that I really thought would be more active.  I hit a few other nearby spots and turned up some passerines including an oddly plumaged Yellow rumped Warbler.

White winged Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 26, 2022 
Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 26, 2022 
White winged Scoters and Long tailed Duck, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 26, 2022 
Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 26, 2022 

Tuesday had an almost tropical feel to it with a few downpours in the morning and temps that started around 58 (the typical high temp this time of year) and then climbed up through the 60's before topping off in then low 70's by the afternoon with very humid conditions (dew points in the upper 60's).  I made a few stops at Winsor Dam over the course of the morning and turned up some waterfowl with the highlights including a Red throated Loon, a dozen Common Loons, a Long tailed Duck and five White winged Scoters.  

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands and White throated Sparrow, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 25, 2022
Black capped Chickadees with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 25, 2022
Red breasted Nuthatch, Home, Belchertown, MA, Oct 24, 2022

A check of the camera on the water feature continues to show birds coming in so my initial plan to button it up for the year was changed and instead I just power washed the rock and kept the water flowing and the camera checking.  Among the latest captures were more of my banded Black capped Chickadees.  

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