Quabbin CBC today

Red Crossbill, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 30, 2023

Dark eyed Junco, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 30, 2023

White throated Sparrow, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 30, 2023

Red tailed Hawk, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 30, 2023

Pine Siskins, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 30, 2023

Red winged Blackbirds, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 30, 2023

Reservoir view, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 30, 2023

After another exhausting shift at work I got out and immediately  headed over to the area around Winsor Dam at Quabbin Park to assist for a time with the annual Quabbin Christmas Bird Count (CBC).  There have been a number of unusual in the area I help cover including Say's Phoebe, Eastern Phoebe and Pine Warblers.  The Say's Phoebe had not been seen since December 22nd despite multiple people (including myself) looking.  The Eastern Phoebe was even more sporadic with just a few sightings in December with the last one also being on the 22nd.  I had at least one Pine Warbler as recently as two days ago.  I briefly saw David and his group when I arrived and after a brief talk with David I decided to cover the area around the admin building mainly looking for any of the Pine Warbler and possibly the Say's Phoebe.  I spent about an hour and a half in the light rain and didn't find any of the above mentioned species.  I still had some good stuff including a scaup species that flew by, a couple Red Crossbills, nearly 80 Dark eyed Juncos and a good number of White throated Sparrows.  I then decided to explore the permit only area along Blue Meadow Road.  Again no luck with any of the above three target species but I did have at least four Red Crossbills, 22 Pine Siskins, 79 White throated Sparrows and 84 Red winged Blackbirds.  I poked around the dam a little more before leaving without finding anything new.  I ended my couple hours there with a total of 33 species (full trip list here).  Later in the day both phoebe species were rediscovered in the area and it really makes me wonder where they have been hiding and how long they will remain as we continue to move into winter with the arrival of the new year.

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.

Quabbin CBC

Yellow rumped Warbler 'myrtle', Blue Meadow Rd, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 28, 2019

Red Squirrel, Blue Meadow Rd, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 28, 2019

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 28, 2019

Bald Eagle, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 28, 2019

I took part in the Quabbin Christmas Bird Count (CBC) this morning with quite comfortable conditions for the count with mostly sunny skies and low temperatures around freezing (the weather is usually very cold and/or snowy for this count).  I helped David Spector in the area around the Administration Building and Winsor Dam.  I arrived before dawn and stayed at the dam until I met up with Dave a little after 8AM.  No luck finding anything too unusual at the dam (no repeat of the Great Black backed Gull I had there yesterday morning) but a flyover calling Purple Finch was a nice addition.  Once I met up with David we made the walk down Blue Meadow Road plus a couple other side roads.  We ran into a couple of pockets of birds on the walk in with several robins feeding on winterberry and a single Song Sparrow with a group of juncos plus at least three Red breasted Nuthatches.  The best bird of the entire morning waited until the very end of my time there when I heard a flyover Yellow rumped Warbler that briefly settled into the top of a tree along the road (thankfully allowing a photo) before it continued off to the west.  A very rare bird for the Quabbin area in late December!  It is only the third record ever for the species on the Quabbin CBC.  More on the warbler sighting can be found at the following link. Total number of species for the time I was there came up to 31...I'm sure David added some others later.  Lots of mammal tracks but I didn't see anything bigger than a squirrel for the morning.

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Quabbin cemetery wetland, Ware, MA, Dec 26, 2019

Ruby crowned Kinglet, Quabbin cemetery wetland, Ware, MA, Dec 26, 2019

Golden crowned Kinglet, Quabbin cemetery wetland, Ware, MA, Dec 26, 2019

Eastern Bluebird, Quabbin cemetery wetland, Ware, MA, Dec 26, 2019

Great Black backed Gull, Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, Dec 27, 2019 (crap photo with phone through scope)

Before the count I scouted a number of areas to try to find some rarities before the count (which will become count week species if no one finds them on the day of the count).  On Thursday the 26th I started off in Quabbin Park where I made it to Hank's Meadow before dawn and found a decent selection of waterfowl including 176 Common Mergansers and a Red breasted Merganser plus four Horned Grebes and four other species of waterfowl.  I then went over to the large wetland near the Quabbin cemetery where I had a Ruby crowned Kinglet as well as at least four Winter Wrens.

Posts from my previous Quabbin CBC's can be found here:

2017
2015
2012
2011
2009

Here is the summary from Scott regarding the count at Quabbin:

Here are the totals for this year’s Quabbin Count, which of course was held on December 28^th.

Forty five observers and two feeder watchers had really nice weather for this year’s count, Temperature range 31-44, wind direction was W-NW and wind speed ranged anywhere from 0-15 with a few gusts near 20 mph.  It was generally cloudy throughout the day but some breaks in the clouds in the afternoon.  Snow cover was basically non-existent which is incredible since we had over 20”on the ground on December 3^rd! The main body of the Quabbin was open, but smaller bodies of water (coves/Beaver Ponds etc) were frozen and most streams were open. We didn’t add any new species to the count, but we had 4 new high counts, but the overall numbers were generally down.

 

Many thanks to everyone for helping out, and if you like to plan ahead…….Next year’s Quabbin count will be on January 2, 2021.

 

Cheers,

 

Scott

Quabbin Count.   Dec 28, 2019

 

Mallard- 117

American Black Duck-89

Greater Scaup-  CW

Common Goldeneye-16

Hooded Merganser- 35

Common Merganser- 275

Ring-necked Pheasant -1

Ruffed Grouse – 11

Wild Turkey -89

Horned Grebe- 4

Red-Necked Grebe -1 (6^th record)

Rock Pigeon – 140

Mourning Dove -150

Ring-billed Gull – 288 HC

Herring Gull – 18

Great Black-backed Gull –CW

Common Loon -5

Great Blue Heron – 1

Sharp-shinned Hawk -1

Bald Eagle- (29) Adults -17  Imm. -12

Red-shouldered Hawk -1

Red-tailed Hawk – 30

Great Horned Owl – 6

Barred Owl – 2

Northern Saw-whet Owl – 5

Belted Kingfisher – 5

Red-bellied Woodpecker- 39

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 4

Downy Woodpecker – 96

Hairy Woodpecker – 23

Northern Flicker – 9

Pileated Woodpecker -17

Eastern Phoebe- CW

Blue Jay – 216

American Crow – 162

Common Raven – 23

Black-capped Chickadee – 660

Tufted Titmouse – 271

Red-breasted Nuthatch – 44

White-breasted Nuthatch – 163

Brown Creeper – 25

Winter Wren -5

Carolina Wren- 20 HC

Golden-Crowned Kinglet -97

Ruby-crowned Kinglet CW

Eastern Bluebird -119 HC

American Robin - 114

Hermit Thrush – 1

Gray Catbird -2 HC

Northern Mockingbird -8

European Starling - 248

Cedar Waxwing – 164

House Sparrow – 625

House Finch – 33

Purple Finch – 3

American Goldfinch – 210

American Tree Sparrow – 15 (all time low)

Dark-eyed Junco – 375

White-throated Sparrow – 71

Song Sparrow –  30

Red-winged Blackbird- 6

Brown-headed Cowbird – 1

Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1 (3^rd record)

Northern Cardinal – 96

 

60 Species -  Individuals -5201.

 

Mammals

 

Eastern Cottontail -1

Gray Squirrel -50

Red Squirrel- 10

Eastern Chipmunk-2

Porcupine-1

Beaver-2

River Otter-1

Red Fox-1

White-tailed Deer-1

Moose-1

Quabbin CBC on a very cold morning

Winsor Dam, Quabbin Park, MA, dec 30, 2017

I headed out for a few hours this morning to take part in the Quabbin CBC covering the area around Winsor Dam and then down Blue Meadow Road and then off along the road to Gate 4. It was yet another brutally cold morning with a low of -3.  I joined three others as we tried our best to turn up some decent birds despite the frigid temperatures.  I left late in the morning by which time we had reached 25 species including six species of waterfowl (Canada Goose, Mallards, Black Duck, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser and Common Merganser...oddly no loons but the viewing conditions were far from perfect) and a flyover Purple Finch (my 86th species in the county for December...more on that below). 

Fox Sparrow, Ware, MA, Dec 29, 2017 (photo with phone through binoculars)

After work yesterday I stopped in a variety of spots on my way home in search of whatever I might run across.  The morning low of -10 (another record low) certainly made it uncomfortable to be outside for any length of time but nonetheless there were still birds around.  The best stuff over the course of the morning included a Merlin in the East Meadows, a Northern Harrier along Aqua Vitae Rd and a somewhat late Fox Sparrow along a roadside in Ware.  The harrier became species 85 for the month in Hampshire County. 

This December has been great for diversity (especially early in the month when it was warmer than normal) with a total of 86 species so far.  I actually had 81 species by December 9th, which shows just how good the beginning of the month was.  A typical December produces a total in the mid 60's with my previous high in the last five years being 68 back in 2014. 

Quabbin CBC

Although I missed the other Christmas Bird Counts this season when I was down in Costa Rica I managed to take part for a short time on the Quabbin CBC yesterday covering parts of the Prescott Peninsula.  I could only stay through late morning but during that time we managed 20 species with highlights being four Common Mergansers, eight Hooded Mergansers, a Common Loon, a Bald Eagle and a Great Horned Owl that got flushed and flew across a frozen marsh before disappearing into the woods.  Oddly no winter finches while I was there but hopefully they caught up with some later.  No photos from the day but the conditions were calm and cool with snow flurries turning to a steady snow later (after I left).

Quabbin CBC

I spent the morning through early afternoon covering the Prescott Peninsula area for the annual Quabbin Christmas Bird Count along with Tom Gagnon.  The day started out rainy and cool with a few pockets of freezing rain.  It rained throughout the morning with some dense areas of fog but eventually it let up around midday.  Despite the less than ideal conditions we managed 25 species with the highlights being Horned Grebe (13), Winter Wren (1), Red-breasted Nuthatch (12...with one group of seven together), Ruffed Grouse (2) with great looks at one, Golden-crowned Kinglet (10), Common Merganser (3), Pileated Woodpecker (3), Common Raven (2), a Song Sparrow, a Common Loon, a Bald Eagle and a Belted Kingfisher.  Also had a good mammal deep in the woods...a Red backed Vole.