 |
| Bufflehead, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 14, 2015 |
 |
| Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 14, 2015 |
 |
| Long tailed Ducks, Black Scoter and Bufflehead, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 14, 2015 |
 |
| Northern Pintail, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 14, 2015 |
 |
| Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Nov 14, 2015 |
The invasion of Franklin's Gulls continued today as I found yet another one at
Winsor Dam at first light. It appeared to be an adult (or near adult) in flight
along with a number of Ring billed Gulls. Even with the anti gull boat patrols
in place last night there were still a couple hundred gulls around although most
were well to the north and could not be easily identified but most were likely
Ring billed Gulls. The Franklin's Gull stuck out among the closer group of Ring
billed Gulls by its size, flight style, partially visible hood and wing markings. I last had it in view moving to the west along with a large group of
gulls. I then spent the next couple hours hoping that the strong westerly winds
would bring something else rare past the dam but it was not to be. There was a
decent movement of both waterfowl and raptors but nothing really unexpected.
The winds were strong and occasionally would come out of the northwest but
mainly the winds stayed west. It certainly felt like the middle of November
with temperatures around 40 and winds up to 30+ MPH. I have included the full
list from the morning below with additional photos embedded here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25824724 With no gull
patrol on the reservoir tonight hopefully a Franklin's Gull or two will make it
into the roost there and will be visible a first light tomorrow. I'll be there
for just a little while in the morning before heading out but hopefully it will
be a productive brief stop.
A link from eBird regarding this
major incursion of Franklin's Gulls can be found here:
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/frgu2015/
No comments:
Post a Comment