After a nice summer like spell the reality of fall came crashing down starting yesterday with rain through midday with an increasing northwest wind and dropping temps. The winds continued overnight into today and the temps were even colder with highs only in the 50's resulting in the biggest night of migration of the fall by far with an estimated 4.5 million birds crossing Hampshire County last night (per the estimate of Birdcast) I made a few stops at Winsor Dam yesterday in between bouts of rain and the most noteworthy sighting was a group of ten American Wigeon swimming steadily north into the wind and tough to see among the waves. A couple of return trips this morning to the dam produced some very windy conditions but little in the way of waterfowl. The multiple Bald Eagles did seem to be enjoying the wind. These same conditions in a couple weeks would likely have produced some epic waterfowl numbers. There was a large turnover of species thanks to great migration conditions with a big influx of Yellow rumped Warblers as well as Dark eyed Juncos and White throated Sparrows. Overall diversity dropped quite a bit as loads of birds moved out. Tonight will feature a hard freeze with temps in the 20's so the birds were smart to leave!
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