Waterfowl before and after work including a neck tagged Canada Goose and a group of six Red breasted Mergansers

Canada Goose with neck tag, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 31, 2015

Canada Goose with neck tag, Connecticut River, Hadley, MA, Mar 31, 2015

East Meadows at dawn, Northampton, MA, Mar 31, 2015

I was up early so took the extra time this morning to try to catch up with some unusual waterfowl in the Connecticut River. I hoped the Greater White fronted Geese and the Cackling Goose seen yesterday around UMASS would turn up roosting on the river. I checked the river from a few locations and turned up a total of 1600+ Canada Geese (including one necked tagged individual), 11 Wood Ducks, 9 Black Ducks, 116 Mallards, 4 Ring necked Ducks, 3 Hooded Mergansers and half a dozen Common Mergansers plus a few others just too far away to ID. The odd geese may have been in the strung out bunch in the river but the morning lighting and distance made it impossible to see everything well. Other highlights included a Fish Crow and flyby Killdeers.
****update on tagged goose**** The necked tagged individual "Y1X9" ws tagged on 6/29/2010 in Varennes, Quebec as a young bird in the nest.

Red breasted Mergansers, North Lane, Hadley, MA, Mar 31, 2015

Red breasted Mergansers, North Lane, Hadley, MA, Mar 31, 2015

Red breasted Mergansers, North Lane, Hadley, MA, Mar 31, 2015

Canada Geese flock, Mill Valley Rd, Hadley, MA, Mar 31, 2015

On my way home I also made a few stops for waterfowl.  The Connecticut River in Hadley was fairly quiet with just a few Canada Geese and Mallards, 8 Green winged Teal and a couple Common Mergansers.  I then headed over to Mill Valley Road in Hadley where I found a large group of geese scattered through the cornfields and around the solar farm.  I worked through the flock but didn't come up with anything unusual but many birds were hidden from view.  They only became visible when the entire group lifted off together heading out in various directions.  A rough count at that point turned up a minimum 1950 Canada Geese...likely more.  A handful of mallards rounded out the waterfowl.  A few minutes before the geese lifted off Jacob and Keenan stopped and mentioned they had a group of half a dozen Red breasted Mergansers in the Connecticut River off of North Lane in Hadley.  Although I hate to drive back through Hadley at this time of day I figured I would work my way over, checking a few fields on the way for geese (only found a few hundred Canada Geese off Farm Lane).  Once I arrived at North Lane the six Red breasted Mergansers were easy to find as they fished right along the river bank.  An unusual species inland here, especially in such a large number.  This group beat my previous high count of this species for the county by a couple individuals (previous high of four at Quabbin in October several years ago).  Other waterfowl here included 8 Mallards, 5 Ring necked Ducks, two Common Mergansers and at least 92 distant ducks that were just too far away to identify.