More waterfowl at Quabbin Park

 

Ruddy Duck, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Ruddy Duck, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Gadwall, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Gadwall, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Gadwall, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Surf Scoter, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Surf Scoter, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Surf Scoter, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Red necked Grebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Route 9 Marsh, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Common Loons, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Common Loons, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Common Loons, Quabbin Park, Oct 20, 2013

Despite a cold that has really started to make me feel under the weather I felt well enough to head over to Quabbin Park for awhile and got rewarded with some decent waterfowl although the park itself produced less than yesterday with most of the best stuff showing up at Winsor Dam.  The predicted rain of last night did not amount to much so no big groups of birds being forced down.   Within Quabbin Park I had the following waterfowl: 8 Wood Ducks, 4 Black Ducks (big drop off but I did get to the typical roost area a bit late), a single Long tailed Duck (flew in from the north near Goodnough Dike and circled around before heading back north), 8 Common Loons, 3 Horned Grebes, a Double crested Cormorant and 4 Mallards and a dozen Canada Geese. Other birds within Quabbin Park included a couple Rusty Blackbirds, good numbers of Yellow rumped Warblers and other typical migrants for mid October. 

Although I was starting to fade I decided to make a stop at Winsor Dam to quick check to see what might be hanging around. Almost as soon as I arrived Bob Z. walked over and said he was just leaving when he saw me so he headed back over. He said he and Scott had not had much on the water. I quickly scanned the water and almost immediately turned up a male Surf Scoter. The bird must have come in after those guys had scanned the water. I then turned up a couple Common Loons, a group of three dark birds way out that defied identification and a group of 7-8 that also remained unknown. We then turned up a couple birds flying in that turned out to be a pair Gadwall (unusual here) that disappeared into the cove out of our view. Several minutes later seven Gadwall flew out of the cove and landed out in front of our view point. As we continued to scan we turned up another bird that flew in from the north that turned out to be a Ruddy Duck (another unusual species of waterfowl here). A bit later a Red necked Grebe flew in and hung around for a time fishing before heading back north. I started feeling worse so decided to call it a morning. A very productive stop that I almost didn't make but was glad I did. It is always amazing what the view point from Winsor Dam will produce with a little luck and a little bit of time put in watching.

Near sunset I made another quick stop at Winsor Dam and turned up a couple Common Loons, seven Black Ducks and a Ring necked Duck.  Also robins heading north to roost...I counted about 45 in just a few minutes so a dedicated count would probably find hundreds or more.

Another morning at Quabbin Park

Red necked Grebe and Horned Grebe, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Red necked Grebe and Horned Grebe, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Red necked Grebe and Horned Grebe, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Red necked Grebe, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Horned Grebe, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Common Merganser, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Common Merganser, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Common Merganser playing with a piece of wood, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Common Mergansers flying by, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Common Loons in the fog, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Hanks Meadow looking toward Gate 52, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Looking north east of Gate 52, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Wood Ducks, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

Belted Kingfisher, Quabbin Park, Oct 14, 2013

I spent yet another morning at Quabbin Park in search of waterfowl with a main focus this morning being a search for the reported Western Grebe. No luck finding the grebe in question but still had some good stuff. The morning fog made viewing difficult at times but most he of the thickest fog burned off within a few hours of the sun coming up. It actually turned out to be a sunny, warm day (at least by mid October standards). I stopped at various locations in the park including Winsor Dam, route 9 marsh and various overlooks from Hanks Meadow to Goodnough Dike.  Waterfowl this morning included 21 Wood Ducks, 34 Black Ducks, 2 Green winged Teal, 5 Hooded Mergansers, 37 Common Mergansers (35 in one flock), 11 Common Loons, a Horned Grebe, a Red necked Grebe, 11 Mallards and a dozen Canada Geese. Other notable birds included Great Horned Owl calling, 7 Hermit Thrushes together, a couple Eastern Towhees, loads of both kinglets and Yellow rumped Warblers, flyover American Pipits plus other expected species. 

The flock of 35 Common Mergansers put on quite a show within just feet of me at Gate 52. The entire group stayed just off shore for several minutes as I observed them. One individual kept diving and coming up with a stick and then would drop it and then dive down and grab it again.  Once the fog lifted enough to view previously socked in areas I made additional stops to areas visited earlier in the morning. Luckily I did this as it produced my only grebes of the morning when I found a Red necked Grebe and Horned Grebe swimming and fishing right next to each other. I had not seen this behavior before but the birds always surprise.

Finding a Western Grebe here would be a great sighting as the only western Massachusetts sighting of this species occurred in 1934 and 1936 during an incursion of this species into New England.  All previous reports of this grebe in Massachusetts have occurred between November and April.  This species has been found in the Finger Lakes area of New York within the last few years but not inland in Massachusetts in over 75 years so needless to say finding one here would be extremely unusual and a spectacular find indeed!  Certainly worth keeping your eyes out for it.

Quabbin Park waterfowl

Red necked Grebes, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

Red necked Grebes, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

Red necked Grebes, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

Common Loons, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

Black Ducks, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

Green winged Teal, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

Hanks Meadow looking toward Gate 52, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

Went out at first light this morning to check for waterfowl at Quabbin Park before the hordes of 'leafers' arrived and turned the place into a mob scene. Lots of good stuff around with a little looking. Nothing extreme but a little variety nonetheless. I started and ended at Winsor Dam and also hit a variety of areas in the park itself. I spent just over an hour in Quabbin Park and over an hour and a half at Winsor Dam. My totals for waterfowl in Quabbin Park included the following: 23 Wood Ducks, 26 Black Ducks, a Green Winged Teal, a Common Mergansers, six Common Loons together and two Red necked Grebes plus 37 Canada Geese and half a dozen Mallards. Other birds in the park included a Great Blue Heron, a phoebe, a thrush that flew in front of the car that I didn't get an ID on and other expected birds plus a family of three River Otters.

White winged Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

White winged Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

White winged Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

Red breasted Mergansers (yes really), Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

Canada Geese migrating, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

Horned Grebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, Oct 12, 2013

At Winsor Dam I had the following waterfowl: 11 Black Ducks, two White winged Scoters, a Common Merganser, two Red breasted Mergansers, two Common Loons, two Horned Grebes, four Mallards, 154 Canada Geese heading south and four dark ducks in flight too distant to ID plus a Double crested Cormorant. Also had some raptor migration that included all three species of falcon, a few Red tailed Hawks, Turkey Vulture, Cooper's Hawks and Bald Eagles. In addition I had a couple flyover American Pipits and ten Wild Turkeys among other species. Overall some nice diversity which should continue to pick up as the days go by and waterfowl migration peaks. Warbler variety continues to drop as the vast majority have cleared out the area as they head for the tropics for the winter.

Canada Geese and Black Duck, Quabbin Park, Oct 11, 2013

Yesterday I stopped at a few spots before heading to work including Quabbin Park (Winsor Dam, Hanks Meadow and the Route 9 marsh) plus a stop along the Connecticut River in Hadley.  The breeze out of the northeast kept the water a bit choppy so birds far out on the reservoir were probably missed.  Waterfowl at Quabbin Park included 31 Canada Geese, 33 Wood Ducks, 18 Black Ducks, 12 Mallards and a Common Loon.  All the geese and Wood Ducks were at the marsh with most Black Ducks and a few Mallards at Hanks Meadow with the loon the only waterfowl species at Winsor Dam.  Other notable birds included a hooting Great Horned Owl  and numbers of juncos, White throated Sparrows and Yellow rumped Warblers.  The only waterfowl along the Connecticut River was a group of 30+ Mallards. 

Quabbin Park again

Wood Ducks, Quabbin Park, Oct 7, 2013

 

Mallards, Quabbin Park, Oct 7, 2013

Common Loons, Quabbin Park, Oct 7, 2013

White winged Scoters, Quabbin Park, Oct 7, 2013

Ring billed Gull, Quabbin Park, Oct 7, 2013

Horned Grebe, Quabbin Park, Oct 7, 2013

Gate 52, Quabbin Park, Oct 7, 2013

White tailed Deer, Quabbin Park, Oct 7, 2013

Peregrine Falcon, Quabbin Park, Oct 7, 2013

Peregrine Falcon, Quabbin Park, Oct 7, 2013

Spent another morning at Quabbin Park trying to catch up with some early waterfowl. Luckily the predicted thick fog didn't materialize so viewing was decent but not great. The day eventually became windy with a southerly wind in front of a cold front and the temperatures responded nicely topping off in the mid 70's. I covered the same general areas as yesterday morning but today was a little more active. I found the following waterfowl: 33 Canada Geese, 26 Wood Ducks (rt 9 marsh), 31 Black Ducks (Hanks Meadow, goodnough dike and rt 9 marsh), 51 Mallards (Hanks Meadow and rt 9 marsh), 10 White winged Scoters (Hanks Meadow), six Common Mergansers (Winsor Dam), 9 Common Loons (mainly Hanks Meadow but also Goodnough Dike and Winsor Dam) and a Horned Grebe (Gate 52). Other notable birds included a Peregrine Falcon I watched cruise in from the north just off the surface of the water and disappeared into a hidden cove at Winsor Dam and scared up a previously unseen Greater Yellowlegs...always impressive to see a peregrine on the hunt. A Spotted Sandpiper continued at Gate 52. Lots of Ruby crowned and Golden crowned Kinglets as well as a few thrushes including Swainson's and Hermit. Managed a total of five species of warbler including a Magnolia Warbler and also found a singing Blue Headed Vireo.

Took Wilson for a walk a bit later in the morning along the land trust trail and although I was unable to find the Green Heron that has been hanging around I did find at least two Winter Wrens as well as a group of three Hermit Thrush together.

White winged Scoters (plus a Black Scoter and Mallard), Winsor Dam, Oct 7, 2013

White winged Scoters (plus a Black Scoter and Mallard), Winsor Dam, Oct 7, 2013

Just as the heavy storms with wind and heavy rain moved through just after 6pm I headed over to Winsor Dam again to see if anything unusual got forced down.  Despite the continued rain, wind and fading light I found a group of 14 White winged Scoters plus a Black Scoter and a Mallard.  Now I just need to find a Surf Scoter.