Quabbin Park in the rain

White winged Scoters, Quabbin Park, Oct 6, 2013

White winged Scoters, Quabbin Park, Oct 6, 2013

Horned Grebe and Greater Yellowlegs, Quabbin Park, Oct 6, 2013

 

Greater Yellowlegs, Quabbin Park, Oct 6, 2013

The morning certainly had a fall like feel with temperatures in the high 50's with rain showers and drizzle with a little breezy out of the east.  With the occasional rain overnight I had high hopes of finding some downed waterfowl at Quabbin. I started predawn at Winsor Dam viewing through the low light and rain and found a pair of White winged Scoters but little else there so I headed into Quabbin Park with stops at Hanks Meadow, Gate 52, Goodnough Dike and the Route 9 marsh. These various stops produced the following waterfowl: nine Canada Geese (goodnough), 21 Wood Ducks (marsh), 5 Black Ducks (marsh), 37 Mallards (most Hanks Meadow with a few at the marsh), two Horned Grebes and a Double crested Cormorant. Other birds of note within the park included a couple Greater Yellowlegs at Gate 52 (fun to watch the yellowlegs and a horned grebe in the same scope view), Spotted Sandpiper and various other expected species including my first groups of juncos for the season. I then returned to Winsor Dam where I spent the next hour and a half watching the water and sky for any birds coming by. Highlights during this stop included a couple Black Ducks, a Common Loon, a couple Double crested Cormorants, a couple ravens and groups of Ring billed Gulls that I spent a lot of time trying to find something different in among them.  The weather conditions also allowed me to finally test out an addition to the scope that will allow viewing in rain and wind.  This same weather a couple weeks from now would almost certainly have produced some big numbers and or/variety of waterfowl but just a little early in the season I guess.

Green Heron, Belchertown Land Trust trail, Oct 6, 2013

A walk along the land trust trail produced a somewhat late Green Heron, a Winter Wren and a variety of other expected species in a somewhat constant rain.

After seeing more reports of unusual waterfowl likely downed by the weather out in the Berkshires (including both White winged and Surf Scoter, Red throated Loon, Northern Shoveler,etc) I headed back over to Winsor Dam a couple times to see if I could find anything new. No luck with finding anything else new but always worth the effort.

Morning around Belchertown before the rain

Green Heron, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 29, 2012



Great Blue Herons, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 29, 2012

Great Egret, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 29, 2012

Green Heron (juvenile) 'hunting' feathers, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 29, 2012

Green Heron (juvenile) 'hunting' feathers, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 29, 2012

Green Heron (juvenile) 'hunting' feathers, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 29, 2012

River Otter eating fish, Lake Wallace, Belchertown, MA, July 29, 2012

Today dawned cloudy with occasional drops of rain.  It looked like it would pour any minute but the rain held off until late morning allowing me to visit several locations around Belchertown.  I started at Lake Wallace then over to Quabbin, Covey WMA and then along the Belchertown Land Trust trail.  I was looking to see if I could find any new species either dispersing after breeding or brought down by all the heavy rain yesterday and overnight.   Lake Wallace held three species of waders including Great Egret-1, Great Blue Heron-6 and Green Heron-7(one of the juvenile Green Herons repeatedly picked at goose feathers on the water surface as if practicing for hunting fish in the same manner).  There was yet again a fair number of waterfowl here with 59 Wood Ducks and 113 Mallards.  There was along a River Otter that was working the pond and finding some food to chew on.  Given the threat of rain I left my camera at home and had to be content to get photos with the phone again.  Not great quality but still fun to use to try to capture behaviors or interesting sightings.

Field with Ring-billed Gulls and Killdeer, Belchertown, MA, July 29, 2012

Upon leaving Lake Wallace I noticed a large gathering of gulls on the soccer fields nearby and stopped to check for anything unusual.  All the 71 gulls present were Ring-billed Gulls with no odd gulls  but in among them were 37 Killdeer. 

My stops at Quabbin Park and Covey WMA were uneventful with nothing beyond the usual birds present.  My final stop of the morning along the land trust trail turned up an American Woodcock that flushed right from the side of the trail and flew within a few feet of us before disappearing into the woods.  A rather thin looking Raccoon lumbered across the trail moving toward a small swamp.  A calling Broad-winged Hawk that flew low overhead ended the morning stops.