Quabbin Park, Lake Wallace and Lake Metacomet looking for birds brought down by the storms

Blue winged Teal, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 29, 2012

Pied billed Grebe, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 29, 2012

Large group of Mallards, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 29, 2012

Black Ducks and Mallards, Quabbin Park, MA, Sep 29, 2012

The low clouds, cool temps and occasional drizzle continued today so I decided to stay in the local area trying to catch up with any birds that may have been grounded by the rain.  I stopped at Winsor Dam as well as other locations in Quabbin Park as well as Lake Wallace and Lake Metacomet in Belchertown.  Nothing way out of the ordinary but there were certainly some new birds around.  Waterfowl is starting to move in and I had a total of nine species of waterfowl today including three Green winged Teal, 214 Mallards (with 148 of them in a small flock feeding along shore and 66 heading south at dawn at Winsor Dam), eleven Black Ducks, eleven Wood Ducks and 61 Canada Geese plus a couple of Common Loons all at Quabbin and five Blue winged Teal, Hooded Merganser, two Pied billed Grebe's and 21 Wood Ducks at Lake Wallace.    Lake Metacomet had no waterfowl but did have a immature Green Heron working a small mudflat. 

American Kestrel, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 29, 2012

Rusty Blackbirds, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, Sep 29, 2012

Warbler variety has dropped off a bit with only five species seen this morning. There certainly has been an influx of Yellow rumped Warblers with dozens seen today. I also had a handful of Pine Warblers with a few still singing, a few Palm Warblers with a mix of 'western' and 'yellow' types plus singles of Magnolia and Black throated Green Warblers. More and more sparrows have arrived with White throated Sparrow being the most common. In addition more junco's, Ruby crowned Kinglets and Golden crowned Kinglets have moved down from the north.  Lake Wallace also had an Osprey sitting in the tallest tree near the reeds, a very wet looking American Kestrel and a handful of Rusty Blackbirds to round out the birds of note.