After finding a Barrow's Goldeneye yesterday at Winsor Dam that brought me to 102 species for the month and tied my highest ever species total for me in Hampshire County, I broke the record today with an impressive Snowy Owl that showed up in Hadley. This is the first Snowy Owl I have had in the county since January 2018 so a big rarity for sure. The Snowy Owl also added a new species for the year for me in the county and I have now tied my second best year ever with a total 245 species (only 2021 had more when I had 249 species). We had a bit of snow overnight and then a cold wind out of the northwest so I stayed local before coming home to clean up the snow. Early in the afternoon I got a text from Mary letting me know someone reported a Snowy Owl at the Honey Pot in Hadley. I immediately headed out the door and made it over to the farm fields and the bird was sitting among the corn stubble and was only perhaps 30 feet off the road. Loads of other people were present already and I stayed only long enough to get some good looks and photos and then headed out. Snowy Owls are always impressive and I sincerely hope people do not harass it to try to get photos but that always seems to happen sadly.
The Barrow's Goldeneye was a lucky find yesterday during a bit of snow in the morning. I stayed close to home and tried my luck at Winsor Dam and the stop paid off with the Barrow's Goldeneye with a couple Common Goldeneye in fairly close (for Quabbin anyway!). Not the best conditions for photos but at least some came out well enough to see the field marks of a blocky head, steep forehead and small bill. This is my second Barrow's Goldeneye with the first at Holyoke Dam in mid November. Subsequent stops at the dam when the snow slowed down did not turn up the bird again so I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
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