After getting home from Florida during the afternoon of the 22nd I spent most of the next few days at home as we had a few bouts of snow and I didn't want to deal with it much after being in the warmth but I did get out a bit as Wilson insisted. The best bird by far was a Common Yellowthroat that showed very briefly for me on the 24th and became my latest date ever for the species in the county.
Thankfully the predicted snow for the 25th into the 26th never really materialized so we didn't get another 2-4 inches as predicted but instead got just a dusting. After getting out of work on Thursday morning I made a few stops including Arcadia and a few spots in Amherst. Arcadia featured my first Great Black backed Gull of the year plus the pale Canada Goose that has been in the area the last few winters. Winsor Dam had a very close Horned Grebe which I was able to get some digiscoped shots of between its bouts of diving. I had loads of chickadees at the feeders though out the day including multiple banded birds...always fun to see banded birds.
I had to work on Friday but I did get out a bit after work on Saturday morning. I started at Arcadia where I tried to find an Eastern Towhee that Mary had on Friday but I had no luck. It was a bit breezy so the bird was probably around but just hunkered down. I did have a large number of American Tree Sparrows in the area plus a flyover flock of Common Grackles. After Arcadia I headed across the river and decided to make a stop in Amherst to try to turn up a Common Yellowthroat I last had in the area on January 7th. I arrived in the area but had no luck initially in the spot I had it earlier. However as I was walking out I heard a yellowthroat calling distantly and got some recordings. The bird would call occasionally but stayed out of view almost the entire time and I managed just a few brief looks and some blurry photos. This sets yet another new record late for me for the species in the county and is different from another individual in the area that I have had along the rail trail on and off since late December. As I waited for the yellowthroat I had another unusual species with a single male Rusty Blackbird that flew in and allowed for a few photos.
On Monday I stayed around the area of south Quabbin and Ware mainly trying to find waterfowl and perhaps a vulture roost. I started off before dawn at Winsor Dam and found a single Iceland Gull in among the large numbers of Ring billed Gulls and a smattering of Herring Gulls. I last saw the bird heading off to the southwest in a group of other gulls. With the continued warmer than average weather I checked a few bodies of water and turned up a total of seven species of waterfowl over the course of a couple hours. I didn't have any luck finding a vulture roost but I know there must be one somewhere in the area as there are large numbers of vultures being reported in Ware. Another notable sighting was a group of three Red Crossbills I had fly out of some pines near Beaver Lake.
To end out the month I decided to make a trip over to Arcadia with the main goal being perhaps some waterfowl taking advantage of all the open water (at least until the big cool down for the end of the week into the weekend). I arrived and started scanning the oxbow and came away with an impressive total of at least 256 Common Mergansers (plus a few Hooded Mergansers). There were also some geese around and as I scanned through I found the pale individual that has popped up in various spots in the valley for the last few years. As I scanned through the rest of the geese I noticed some more geese flying in and among them was a unique looking leucistic bird that had lots of white patches throughout. It settled in and at times was fairly close to the pale bird and I got them both in the same view for a bit. After getting my fill of the waterfowl I decided to walk a few thicket areas in the hopes of finding something unusual and my eventual reward was an Eastern Towhee that called a few times but did not show well at all (Mary found the individual a few days ago in roughly the same area but she was able to get a photo and I had to be happy with a recording). I'm actually surprised this is the only towhee around in the area this winter given the mild temps so far this season. The towhee became species #99 for me in the county so far this year (#100 if one were to count a Ring necked Pheasant I saw earlier this month). I then checked the East Meadows in the hopes of finding the Yellow rumped Warbler I have had there occasionally this winter but no luck today but it was a bit cool and breezy. I then checked a few fields in Amherst and Hadley for geese but didn't find anything beyond a few groups of Canada Geese.
I finally got around to checking the game camera along the Jabish Brook at the house and turned up quite a few captures with most being Gray Fox and Bobcat. It looks like there is a pair of Gray Foxes so really looking forward to the potential for Gray Fox pups being around this spring.
