Lots of Mergansers

I made a trip through Quabbin Park starting before dawn and had a good number of Common Mergansers. The total for the morning made it to 377 with the largest group of 318 together. I also had a nice looking pair of Red Breasted Mergansers and a handful of Hooded Mergansers. Among the other waterfowl were 67 Ring Necked Ducks and a handful of Wood Ducks, Black Ducks, Bufflehead, Green Winged Teal, Mallards and Canada Geese.

At home I had a half dozen Tree Swallows and a few migrant Cooper's Hawks.

Rail Trail and Quabbin Park

Got out a bit today and had some nice birds around. I spent over an hour on the rail trail in Amherst and had a few first of the season birds for me. I had a calling Field Sparrow and Eastern Phoebe as well as a couple Tree Swallows. Other birds of interest included a calling Great Horned Owl at dawn, a displaying American Woodcock and a nice flyby group of Green Winged Teal.

I then took an hour long trip through Quabbin Park. The big highlight here were the large number of Common Mergansers. I had at least 263 individuals and this is conservative. I can only imagine the total number on the whole reservoir this morning. Other waterfowl included Hooded Merganser, Ring Necked Duck, Wood Duck and a pair of Bufflehead.

A big loss

Although I usually only post about my bird sightings here I felt a need to post something a bit different today. I have not had alot of free time lately as I dealt with the declining health of my best buddy and frequent birding companion, my dog Kody. We had to put him down yesterday which was a very tough thing to do. We saw alot of birds together in our journeys around the area. He will be missed greatly.