Our first nor'easter of the season arrived Sunday night and the effects continued through today with slowly diminishing winds out of the northeast and occasional showers and drizzle. I had high hopes the winds would bring in something unusual (think odd gulls or perhaps some unusual waterfowl) but despite lots of checking over the last two days at Winsor Dam and a few other nearby areas I failed to find anything storm related at all. You never know with storms like these so you have to go and try...its the only way to know for sure if something unusual is indeed around. The most interesting sighting at the dam over the couple days was a mixed flock of passerines made up mainly of various sparrow species plus a group of Eastern Bluebirds and a Pine Warbler...with any luck this group will overwinter again. Waterfowl was nearly non existent with just some Common Loons, a couple each of Mallards and American Black Ducks and a flock of up to 78 Canada Geese that would occasionally make an appearance. The only gulls around were Ring billed Gulls and a single young American Herring Gull. Proving that the storm did bring some great birds nearby Ted found a group of four Common Eider at Gate 35 at Quabbin (on the Franklin County/Worcester County border). Common Eider is abundant on the coast but extremely unusual inland. I have just one Common Eider in the county and that was one I found at Winsor Dam on November 9, 2022 and that was only the third county record ever. Another cold front coming in Wednesday will bring in colder air and strong winds out of the north and northwest for a couple of days so that may result in some waterfowl showing up.
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