A record breaking December and the Quabbin CBC on New Year's Eve

Hooded Mergansers, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 31, 2022

Looking north from Hank's Meadow, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 31, 2022

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 31, 2022

To end 2022 I took part in the Quabbin Christmas Bird Count this morning.  I helped cover some areas of Quabbin Park including Winsor Dam.  The weather was very unusual for the Quabbin count with temps that started off above freezing and rose to near 50!  Usually this count is brutal cold with snow and ice so it was a nice change for sure.  I got out listening for owls early and turned up several Great Horned Owls.  The rest of my time was spent mainly trying to track down waterfowl and although it was overall fairly slow compared to previous days I still managed eight species of waterfowl with the highlights being all three merganser species including a single Red breasted Merganser in a flock of Common Mergansers, a couple Horned Grebes and a Red necked Grebe.  In the bit under two and a half hours I was out helping on the count I found 27 species.

Red necked Grebe, Quabbin Gate 5, Belchertown, MA, Dec 28, 2022

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 30, 2022

I also did some scouting for count week (three days to either side of the count day) and turned up some waterfowl and other stuff too.

Sunrise, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Dec 29, 2022

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Dec 29, 2022

Horned Larks, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Dec 29, 2022

Northern Harrier, East Meadows, Northampton, MA, Dec 29, 2022

Greater Scaup, Hadley Falls Canal Park, South Hadley, MA, Dec 29, 2022

Black Vultures, Hadley, MA, Dec 30, 2022

Pale Canada Goose, UMASS, Amherst, MA, Dec 30, 2022

Barred Owl, Home, Belchertown, MA, Dec 30, 2022

Although I did not set out to break my December record for the county this year I did indeed do so with a large number of rarities for the month, lingering species and some irruptives.  My previous best December was back in 2018.  I broke the record on the 29th when I spent some time in the East Meadows and then down to South Hadley to an area above the Holyoke Dam where I had species #101 (a female Greater Scaup) that broke my old record.  Other rarities around for that morning included a Short eared Owl, Lapland Longspur, Eastern Meadowlark and a Yellow rumped Warbler plus high counts of a number of species.  I headed out again on the 30th and hit a variety of areas and found species #102 for the month with an American Kestrel.  Other notables for the next to last day of the year included four Black Vultures continuing in Hadley, a returning pale Canada Goose at UMASS (this appears to be the third year for this unique individual as I fist had it in January 2021), the continued Smith's Longspur plus a cooperative Barred Owl at the house.  Today brought me to #103 with the above mentioned Red breasted Merganser at Quabbin.

Waterfowl today including Brant, Red throated Loon and scoters and other stuff from the past week

Brant, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2015

Brant, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2015

White winged Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2015

Black Ducks, White winged Scoter and Black Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2015

Black Scoters, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2015

Common Raven, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2015

Red throated Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2015

Red throated Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 18, 2015

Wilson with snowflakes on him (too damn early for this!), Belchertown, MA, Oct 18, 2015

A very cold morning (20's) didn't warm up much as the day went on but the northwest winds brought in a nice selection of waterfowl (16 species) with the highlights including 72 Brant, all three species of scoters (including my first Black Scoters of the year) and a Red throated Loon.  I spent about two and a half hours at Winsor Dam before making a quick swing through Quabbin Park and then back briefly to Winsor Dam.  It was cold but sunny early on and felt more like the end of November.  By late morning while we were out walking Wilson it actually snowed a little...a very winter like day in mid October!  I managed to add two new species to my Hampshire County total today...Black Scoter (#233) and Red throated Loon (#234)...a tough feat so late in the year.  The loon had me wondering for awhile on the exact species as it looked a bit different then other Red throated Loons I have seen with a darker face but in the end it was a Red throated Loon.

Horned Grebe, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 17, 2015

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 17, 2015

I had just an hour or so on Saturday morning to check on arriving waterfowl before I had to go to class for the rest of the day.  I stopped first at Winsor Dam before dawn where I had three Double crested Cormorants but nothing else.  I then made a quick swing through Quabbin Park with stops at Hank's Meadow, Goodnough Dike and the Route 9 marsh.  My totals included 45 Canada Geese (all at the marsh), 48 Wood Ducks (marsh), 32 Black Ducks (most at marsh), 8 Mallards (marsh), ten Common Loons and half a dozen each of Horned Grebe and Double crested Cormorants.  I then went back over to Winsor Dam for about a half hour where I had just a few Canada Geese on the water but did have some waterfowl moving south including nearly a hundred more Canada Geese, a couple Common Mergansers ad two more Common Loons.  Also some raptors moving past as well as a few pipits and Yellow rumped Warblers flying by.  I was surprised there was not more activity but perhaps a longer stay would have turned up more.

Cackling Goose, Barton's Cove, Gill, MA, Oct 13, 2015

Greater White fronted Goose, Barton's Cove, Gill, MA, Oct 13, 2015

American Coots and Greater White fronted Goose, Barton's Cove, Gill, MA, Oct 13, 2015

Green winged Teal, Barton's Cove, Gill, MA, Oct 15, 2015

Early morning rainbow, Hank's Meadow, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 16, 2015

I managed to make very brief stops this week with the highlights being a continued Greater White fronted Goose, Cackling Goose (which actually called a few times as it flew out with a group of Canada Geese) and three coots at Barton's Cove and a mix of expected waterfowl at the refilled power canal including both Common and Hooded Mergansers on Tuesday.  Thursday didn't produce any usual geese at Barton's Cove but there were a pair of cooperative Green winged Teal in close.  I made it over to Quabbin on Friday morning before some rain moved in but it was fairly quiet.

Morning visits to Quabbin Park the last couple mornings

American Coots, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 28, 2014

American Coots, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 28, 2014

American Coots, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 28, 2014

Black Ducks and Common Mergansers, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 28, 2014

Dawn, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 28, 2014

As the anti gull patrols at Quabbin started yesterday I didn’t have much hope of finding anything at Winsor Dam this morning but thought I would try anyway. I stopped just as it was getting light and had a couple flyover Killdeer plus a Great Horned Owl hooting. I set up the scope to scan the partially fogged in waters and then had three American Woodcocks fly past very low heading southwest followed by one more a minute later headed in the same direction. As expected no waterfowl at Winsor Dam so I decided to take advantage of the calm conditions and make a quick run over to Hank’s Meadow to try my luck there. Although limited on time I still managed to find a nice assortment of birds including four American Coots that initially were swimming around and occasionally diving before they came up on shore (quite unusual in the county and not a species I see every year). Video link here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/15468156468/Other waterfowl included 22 Black Ducks, two Hooded Mergansers, 11 Common Mergansers, four Common Loons and ten Horned Grebes.

Surf Scoter (L), Bufflehead (R) and Common Loons (rear), Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 27, 2014

I made a brief stop by Winsor Dam on Monday before dawn and found a Surf Scoter, a group of nine Bufflehead that flew in and settled on the water near the scoter, eight Black Ducks flying southwest and five Common Loons. Also a large group of gulls numbering 120+ that all appeared to be Ring billed Gulls. A stop at the dam on the weekend turned up well over 300 gulls but they were too distant to identify. The anti gull patrols started on Monday evening which makes finding unusual stuff on the water at Winsor Dam a lot more difficult.

Areas around Quabbin Park after the storm

Common Loon, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 24, 2014

Northern Harrier, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 24, 2014

Spotted Sandpiper, Gate 52, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 24, 2014

Red necked Grebe, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 24, 2014

Spotted Sandpiper, Hank's Meadow, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 24, 2014

Spent the morning checking out south Quabbin in search of left over birds from the nor'easter that continues to move away.  I awoke to some fairly decent rain and a continued north wind.  I started at Winsor Dam where I found nothing at all in almost twenty minutes of watching in a driving rain at first light.  I then headed into the park to try my luck and find some areas a little more sheltered from the wind.  I made stops at Hank's Meadow, Goodnough Dike and the Route 9 marsh.  The only bird I had out on the water on the reservoir was a Common Loon at Goodnough. ...strange to have only one bird on the water in late October.  The marsh was much more active with seven species of waterfowl including 30+ Canada Geese, half a dozen Wood Ducks, four Black Ducks, six Mallards, two Green winged Teal, three Hooded Mergansers and a Pied billed Grebe.  The best bird I found during this stop at Quabbin Park was a somewhat late Spotted Sandpiper at Hank's Meadow that I managed to get a few photos of.  The rain let up a bit around 7:30 so I decided to head back to Winsor Dam again where I stayed for about an hour and had some birds moving despite the continued drizzle.  The only bird out on the water was a single Red necked Grebe that flew in from the north and settled in to feed to the west of the dam.  A couple Common Loons never set down but just flew around the area before disappearing to the north.  Also had several raptors including three Northern Harriers (two together plus a single a little later). Other migrants included about 30 Blue Jays and a dozen Pine Siskins.  I then tried my luck at Beaver Lake in Ware to see if any waterfowl might be more inclined to be on a smaller body of water...found just a couple Common Mergansers there.  I then wandered back to Quabbin Park heading over to Gate 52 where I found a single Horned Grebe (third species of grebe for the morning) plus a Spotted Sandpiper...probably the same one I saw earlier in the morning at nearby Hank's Meadow but who knows for sure?  A few more stops at Winsor Dam later in the morning turned up a few more geese migrating plus a few more species of raptor but nothing unusual.

American Pipit, Valley St., Hatfield, MA, Oct 23, 2014

American Pipit, Valley St., Hatfield, MA, Oct 23, 2014

The bulk of the storm hit yesterday with heavy rain (a few inches) and strong winds.  I was unable to get out at all until very late in the day as I headed north from Northampton to Deerfield for an appointment.  I checked several fields in Hatfield into Whately and most fields were devoid of birds.  I did manage to find 45 or so American Pipits along Valley Street in Hatfield as well a a few Rusty Blackbirds mixed into small blackbird flocks in a couple locations.  The only geese I found were a group of about half a dozen flying north.  Elsewhere yesterday I heard of all three species of scoter being grounded by the storm as well as few other waterfowl species but nothing unexpected.  Really wish I could have checked Quabbin yesterday...oh well.

Bonaparte's Gulls at Winsor Dam and other stuff around the south Quabbin area

Bonaparte's Gulls, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2014

Bonaparte's Gulls, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2014

Bonaparte's Gulls, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2014

Bonaparte's Gulls (with Ring billed Gulls), Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2014

Bonaparte's Gull (with Ring billed Gulls), Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2014

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2014

Wood Duck, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2014

Hank's Meadow looking north, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2014

Blue Jay, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Oct 10, 2014

I stayed close to home this morning with various stops in the south Quabbin area looking for waterfowl and other migrants.  Fog made viewing tough at times early on but it eventually cleared out.  The best birds of the day turned out to not be waterfowl but instead a group of four Bonaparte's Gulls sitting on the water at Winsor Dam.  I watched them for quite awhile and eventually they took off once the fog lifted and they started flying north, feeding from the surface as they went.  As far as waterfowl goes I had a few Mallards and Black Ducks at Winsor Dam as well as several Canada Geese migrating, two Common Mergansers and a Common Loon.  In Quabbin Park itself I had five Common Mergansers and a couple Common Loons and at the Route 9 marsh I had 33 Canada Geese, 16 Wood Ducks, half a dozen Black Ducks, four Mallards and a Pied billed Grebe....a slight increase in numbers and species of waterfowl from previous visits but still somewhat slow.  A couple stops at Beaver Lake in Ware turned up zero waterfowl.  Other migrants included several species of raptors, small groups of Pine Siskins, a few American Pipits and Yellow rumped Warblers plus Blue Jays and others.

The forecast for tomorrow is calling for rain beginning before dawn and continuing through the morning which may result in some waterfowl (and perhaps other migrants like shorebirds) getting grounded.  Sunday looks like it will be sunny with northwest winds which should bring in even more waterfowl and other migrants and a stationary count may produce some good stuff...time will tell.