Quabbin Park early AM

I spent a couple hours checking various points within Quabbin Park for waterfowl. I managed some decent sightings including a Red throated Loon, 12 Common Loons with quite a variety of plummages, nine Horned Grebes, two pairs of Common Goldeneyes, a male Black Scoter, five Hooded Mergansers plus a few Black Ducks and Canada Geese. Beyond the waterfowl I had a calling Great Horned Owl,an adult Bald Eagle,a group of eight Common Ravens, a Winter Wren and a few each of Belted Kingfisher and Pileated Woodpecker plus other, more expected species. I also had a pair of River Otter at Pepper Mill Pond.

Quabbin Park and Loon survey north Quabbin

I finally got a nice day off to spend out looking for some good stuff. Good stuff was certainly out there to be found. Although the bird song has dropped off quite a bit there are still some vocal birds out there and alot of birds to be found with a little looking. A nice traveling group of a dozen Baltimore Orioles together at Quabbin park was nice as were the several juvenile warblers of a few species feeding with them. Although I only spent a short time at Quabbin Park it was nice to get back in there.

The highlights of the day spent with a DCR biologist surveying for loons included a total of 13 adult loons and three chicks as well as an adult still on an active nest. Also had two large groups of Common Merganser ducklings with a total of 33 little guys (and girls). Another great bird for the day was a Merlin that shot past us being pursued by Eastern Kingbirds. The Merlin took a swipe at something on a sandbar and then continued south. An early migrant? Another possible breeder in the area? Who knows?

Loon nesting count and scrubland research continued

Yesterday I spent the better part of a beautiful day assisting DCR biologists with Common Loon nesting counts at Quabbin Reservoir and scrubland research. We began the day around 6 doing point counts we started last week. A similar cast of characters were seen and heard today. The main addition was at the end of our first counts we passed by a large marshy area which contained both Hooded Merganser and Wood Duck fledglings. The Hooded Merg's were almost as big as the adult female but the Wood Ducks were tiny, very recently fledged. One additional trip this season will have to be made to this plot to wrap up the research for the season. We then went to a new survey plot area which is in a proposed site for a clear cut. Following the completion of this survey we returned to the DCR HQ building to pick up our boat to begin the loon count.

We launched out of the boat area in New Salem and went as far south as Boat Launch area 3. We were on the water for approximately four hours. We found a total of 10 different loons with two definite nests found. Another couple areas were highly suspicious of nesting but nothing could be found. According to the biologist the loons have not had much luck nesting this season with several nest failures noted. We also had two Bald Eagle nests each containing two large nestlings that looked about ready to leave the nest. There were also several Common Mergansers with a least three young. A very productive and enjoyable day at Quabbin on one of the nicest days in weeks.