Waterfowl over the last week

Greater White fronted Goose, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 8, 2020

Bufflehead, Beaver Lake, Ware, MA, Mar 10, 2020

Ring necked Ducks, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Mar 11, 2020

Ring necked Ducks, Great Pond, Hatfield, MA, Mar 11, 2020

Common Goldeneye, Beaver Lake, Ware, MA, Mar 12, 2020

Green winged Teal with Canada Geese, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 12, 2020

Northern Pintail, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 14, 2020

Northern Shoveler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 14, 2020

Northern Shoveler, Arcadia, Northampton, MA, Mar 14, 2020

Hooded Merganser, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Mar 14, 2020

Canada Goose, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Mar 14, 2020

Common Merganser, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Mar 14, 2020

Since my return from a recent trip down to Antigua and Barbuda and Grand Cayman I have made it out several times around here over the last week mainly looking for waterfowl as the above normal temperatures and southerly winds on a few days have started to move birds in. As covered in a brief earlier post I had a Greater White fronted Goose at Arcadia the day after I got back. Over the course of the week I had a total of 20 species of waterfowl with the highlights including a Snow Goose at UMASS, a noticeable increase in Wood Ducks and Green winged Teal, a male Northern Shoveler at Arcadia, large numbers of Ring necked Ducks at multiple locations, Greater Scaup and White winged Scoter at Winsor Dam, Pied billed Grebe in Hadley and Horned Grebe at Quabbin Park. Besides the waterfowl other highlights included a very early Eastern Phoebe at Great Pond (an early date for me for the species in the county, excluding the one that successfully overwintered in Hadley this winter) and multiple Fox Sparrows, Swamps Sparrows and Rusty Blackbirds at multiple locations.

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Mar 12, 2020

Black capped Chickadee with leg bands, Home, Belchertown, MA, Mar 12, 2020

After having a visit from a Black Bear a few days ago I have limited the feeders to just a suet feeder that I bring in every night.  Without the other feeders all the birds have concentrated at the remaining feeder which has allowed me to capture a few of my banded birds on the camera.