Sunday, December 17, 2023

SAY'S PHOEBE continues at Quabbin for me today

Say's Phoebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 17, 2023
Say's Phoebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 17, 2023
Say's Phoebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 17, 2023
Say's Phoebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 17, 2023
Say's Phoebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 17, 2023
Say's Phoebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 17, 2023
Say's Phoebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 17, 2023

After a long trip home yesterday from Panama via Miami with an excessively long layover made worse by not being able to get out of the airport in Miami for several hours as the weather there was rainy the entire time, I finally made it home again. Lots more to come regarding my recent trip to Brazil and Panama with a shit ton of photos in the near future. This post is instead about a mega rarity, a Say's Phoebe, that was found by Mary at Winsor Dam on December 10th while I was in Brazil. This was only the second record ever for Hampshire County and a species that I have never seen before. I saw reports day after day as loads of people from near and far saw the bird at one of my favorite birding spots. I really did not expect the bird to stick around but milder than normal weather provided it with conditions that kept bugs around and the bird fed and stayed. I hoped to find the bird still present when I rolled out of bed after a few hours sleep and headed over to the dam.  I arrived to find Mary already there scanning the water without too much of note to be seen.  We then started walking around the administration building and the dam itself, joined by a few other birders.  A little after eight the bird showed up in trees near the admin building along the water and then moved out along the dam. Given the overcast conditions I didn't get any great photos.  It is unusual for me to add new Hampshire County species so it was nice to see the bird still around and it became Hampshire County species #306 for me.  It also became the 256th species I have seen at Quabbin and the 219th species at Winsor Dam.  This was only the second new species I added to my Hampshire County this year, with the other being a Long billed Dowitcher back in early August.  It will be interesting to see how long it stays in the area.

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