Friday started off rainy and cold with temps in the upper 30's with a bit of wind. I tried Winsor Dam early but hardly got out of the car due to the rain and wind and finally gave up to run some errands. Once I was done with errands I returned to the dam and was soon joined by Jack. Initially there was nothing moving and the weather featured some sprinkles and low clouds. We were both about to leave and then the birds started moving with almost all moving to the southwest fairly rapidly with few birds stopping to land on the water. The viewing conditions were not great and we certainly missed birds as some flocks would disappear into the clouds. Nonetheless it was fast and furious for awhile with some great birds including 81 Brant in two flocks, hundreds of Canada Geese, at least 169 American Black Ducks, 17 scoters that were likely Black Scoters, a Red throated Loon plus over a hundred ducks that remained unidentified as well as other ducks and loads of Ring billed Gulls. Some stuff was still moving when I left to give my foot a rest and to warm up. I made another brief stop at the dam a little after lunch and although there was little in the way of waterfowl there was a 1st winter Bonaparte's Gull in fairly close.
Saturday was cold and calm to start the day and I made a stop at Winsor Dam early in the hopes multiple species of waterfowl would be roosting on the water. Unfortunately that was not the case with very little on the water beyond Common Loons. At least there was one Red throated Loon to add something unusual. The only other waterfowl were three flyby Common Mergansers. I tried Beaver Lake and the Route 9 marsh and added a few species with nothing unexpected. I returned to the dam and found all but one Common Loon had left the area. There were a few each of Bufflehead and Horned Grebes with little else. The only unusual species were at least two Red Crossbills flying over.
Today I started the day once again at Winsor Dam and found little there and some low fog over the water steadily increasing so I decided to head west to check a few spots before eventually returning to the dam. I tried to find a Cackling Goose that was previously reported at the UMASS campus pond without any luck. In fact there were just a few Canada Geese and Mallards there. I checked a few fields in Amherst and Hadley and found no geese at all. I then made a short visit to Silvio Conte NWR in Hadley in the hopes of relocating the Nashville Warbler and Orange crowned Warbler I saw there on the 11th (again without any luck). A return to the dam found a few more species but overall it continued to be slow there. At the mid point of November I have now had 112 species in the county, which puts me at my third highest total ever for November...not too bad considering my inability to walk around.
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