Quabbin Park waterfowl and others



Northern Pintails, Quabbin Park, Oct 10, 2011

Northern Pintails (I cannot explain the apparent dark heads on three of the lower birds, perhaps shadows?  I didn't notice it until I looked at the photos), Quabbin Park, Oct 10, 2011

Quabbin Park looking toward the area of Goodnough Dike, Oct 10, 2011

Winter Wren, Quabbin Park, Oct 10, 2011

I spent another beautiful day out and about around the local area as our stretch of warm weather continued for another day.  Today the temps started in the 50's but quickly rose into the low 80's.  The morning fog made for some impressive sights as the sun rose and shined through it.  Today I stayed a bit closer to home visiting Quabbin Park, Quabbin Gate 5 and a trail along Jabish Canal with Wilson.  I was surprised by the number of interesting waterfowl sightings.  The sightings started with a group of nine Common Loons all together in one group at Quabbin Park and continued with an assortment of waterfowl viewed from Winsor Dam.  These included a flyby group of 10 Northern Pintails (which can be tough to come by here), an amazing group of twelve Red-necked Grebe together in a group (plus one single elsewhere) along with three White-winged Scoters.  In addition there were Wood Ducks, Mallards, Black Ducks, Common Mergansers and Canada Geese to round out the waterfowl.  I next went to gate 5 to get a better look at the grebes but they were still too far out for photos.  I tried to photograph through the scope with my iphone but they are not identifiable.  I had three White-winged Scoters here as well as four Northern Pintails.  A couple of juvenile Bald Eagles added some excitement as they made a low flight past me and then the assorted waterfowl while I watched from gate 5.  I wish I had it in me to make the hike down the gate 4 road as the birds were probably directly out from there but I was barely able to make the short walk down the gate 5 road so I figured I better not push my luck.   Beyond the waterfowl I had the expected assortment of later migrants with three warblers species (including a Black-throated Green that I oddly didn't see any of yesterday).  The small stump dump at Quabbin Park again produced some nice migrant groups with a bunch of sparrows and two Winter Wrens.  The trip to Jabish canal produced nothing out of the ordinary but was fun nonetheless as Wilson found lots of bugs, sticks, etc to keep him happy.

Central Quabbin on Columbus day weekend

Savannah Sparrow, Quabbin, Oct 9, 2011

Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Quabbin, Oct 9, 2011

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin, MA, Oct 9, 2011

Cape May Warbler, Quabbin, MA, Oct 9, 2011

I had a spectacular day birding the central part of Quabbin on a beautiful day in early October.  The weather started cool in the upper 40's but quickly warmed to a record setting mid 80's high.  The highlights were many and included eight species of warbler including an adult male Cape May in a mixed species flock.  In addition there was a large influx of both species of kinglets compared to last week in the same location as well as lots of White-throated Sparrows (100+).  I added a new bird to the list for this area of Quabbin with a very odd flyby American Pipit.  I have included the list for the day below.  Beyond the birds I had a few deer, a Porcupine and a Weasel species that I'm still trying to pin down to specific species. (After consulting a few books as well as describing the weasel to someone who knows them well the ID would be a Longtail Weasel)

Canada Goose 34 flybys
Wood Duck 7
Mallard 2
Ruffed Grouse 2
Common Loon 1
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Downy Woodpecker 13 had one group of four together
Hairy Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker 6
Pileated Woodpecker 4
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue-headed Vireo 14 a couple still singing
Red-eyed Vireo 3 one single, two together
Blue Jay 30
American Crow 5
Common Raven 1
Black-capped Chickadee 46
Tufted Titmouse 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 10
Brown Creeper 1
Winter Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 31 big influx since last week
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 47 everywhere, big influx. Minimum count, had several in one small tree at once
Hermit Thrush 4
American Robin 16
Gray Catbird 5
American Pipit 1 flyby, unusual in this location
Common Yellowthroat 1
Cape May Warbler 1 adult male, seen well and photographed
Northern Parula 2
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1 female
Palm Warbler (Yellow) 2
Pine Warbler 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 93
Eastern Towhee 8
Chipping Sparrow 3
Field Sparrow 1
Savannah Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 27
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 8
White-throated Sparrow 111
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 9
Northern Cardinal 1
Purple Finch 1
American Goldfinch 18

Arcadia meadows early AM



Lincoln's Sparrow, Arcadia

White crowned Sparrow adult, Arcadia

Palm Warbler, Arcadia

I made a brief stop by the Arcadia meadows before going into work today.  Despite my limited time I still managed to see some good stuff.  I covered a couple of field edges, a small part of the old trolley line and the edge of the Ibis Pool.  The sparrows have certainly arrived in numbers.  Although the numbers will certainly build a bit more it was still impressive.  I'm certain there are some oddities down there but the area is large, my time was short and the traffic through there gets heavier as the morning goes on.  I had a total of seven species of sparrow with Song, White-throated and Savannah predominating.  Only two species of warbler could be found down there today with yellow-rumps appearing to be everywhere, but not being very cooperative for photos.  The Palm Warblers were much more in the open.  A couple of Eastern Bluebirds made repeated swipes at each other and I managed to capture them once with a photo.  A couple of usually active spots were quiet as a Sharp-shinned Hawk worked its way along one of the field edges.  The weather started out cool with a little fog but warmed up as I was leaving.  The temperature today eventually topped off in the low 70's.

Eastern Bluebirds sparring

Palm Warbler (eastern) with some debris on its beak

California Part 3 -Monterey Bay pelagic Sept 22

Black-footed Albatross

Sooty Shearwater raft

Sooty Shearwater feeding next to boat

Northern Fulmar (dark morph)

Pink-footed Shearwater

On September 22 I joined an all day pelagic trip into Monterey Bay by way of the well known Shearwater Journeys.  The trip began at 7am and ended around 3:30pm.  The weather for the most part stayed overcast with some fog and occasional drizzle as well as large swells well out in the bay.  The sun finally broke through as we came back into the harbor.  The day was a great success with many great birds and fabulous looks at them.  The conditions made it a bit difficult to get great photos but I got some fair ones that give a representations of the birds that day.  The list of birds for the day included Buller's, Pink-footed Shearwaters, and Sooty Shearwaters (with one, maybe two leucistic individuals..more on that bird later), all three jaegers, a South Polar Skua, Ashy, Leach's and Black Storm-Petrels, Black-footed Albatross, Sabine's Gull, Northern Fulmar, Rhinoceros and Cassin's Auklets and Common Murre.  There were many highlights to the day but one of the most memorable was when we found ourselves in the midst of a large feeding group of Sooty Shearwaters (thousands of birds) just out of the harbor that fed right next to the boat.  They were so close my camera could not focus at times.  Even the guides on board had not been within such a large feeding group in a few years.  Despite the occasional large swells I had a great day and was very happy with the trip.  A day well spent indeed.

Sabine's Gull with Northern Fulmar (light morph) in background

Common Murre

California Part 2 -trip to Monterey Sept 21



Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Elkhorn Slough

Long billed Curlew juvenile, Moss Landing

Brown Pelican, Moss Landing

Sanderlings, Moss Landing

Orange-crowned Warbler,Elkhorn Slough

Following our days in the Point Reyes area we took the long car ride south to the Monterey area.  We broke up the trip down with stops at Elkhorn Slough and Moss Landing beach before arriving in Monterey late afternoon.  The weather changed drastically from sunny and hot inland to low overcast and cool at the coast.  Even though we arrived at Elkhorn Slough early afternoon the area was still quite active with birds.  I'm certain a morning trip there would have been very productive.  After Elkhorn Slough we stopped briefly at Moss Landing beach and had a great show of 1000's of Sooty Shearwaters passing just offshore.  The numbers were impressive with hundreds in view at once as they streamed south.  This was just the beginning of great pelagic sightings that continued the next day as I took a Shearwater Journey's trip out of Monterey.

California Part 1- Point Reyes Sept 17-20

Marbled Godwit

Least Sandpipers

Northern Harrier

I will try and recap my recent trip out to California with a few photo highlights.  The first part of the trip found us staying in Inverness right next to Point Reyes National Seashore at a home that had a commanding view of Tomales Bay.  The weather was just perfect with clear skies and warm temps most days.  I visited various areas of Point Reyes NS including the lighthouse, Drakes Beach, Limintour Beach, Abbott's Lagoon, Chimney Rock and several trails in within the park.  All the photos were taken at these various locations.  For more photos go to my Flickr page at the follow spot:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/54277284@N05/

Osprey

Snowy Plover

Western scrub Jay

Heermann's Gull

White-crowned Sparrow

Tomales Bay from our house rental

California trip con't

Heermann's Gull, Point Reyes NS, CA, Sep 18, 2011

Western Gull eating crab, Point Reyes NS, CA, Sep 18, 2011

Spotted Towhee, Point Reyes NS, CA, Sep 19, 2011

Western scrub Jay, Inverness, CA, Sep 18, 2011

I have finally gotten around to adding up the birds seen on my recent California trip as well as going through some of the photos taken out there.  I have only gotten through about half so far but have included a few above.   The trip began in Point Reyes where we stayed for four nights and then down to Monterrey for a night (with an all day pelagic trip) and then three nights in Big Sur.

The totals for the trip are as follows:
Life birds:13
Year birds: 52
California Birds:86 (state total now 161)
Total species seen on trip: 145

I will add more detailed info on the trip as I get around to it.