Kathy and Myles Conway
Participants: M. and K. Conway, A. Downey, M. Felix, D. and L. Haile, T. Skill, B. Spirito, J. Zepko, Ruth Green and Joseph Sefter, the last two being new members
In keeping with what has been typical this season, our Berkshire Lakes trip took place on a day that was mild for early November. The warmish weather has kept the ducks from moving south, but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of the eleven participants. The larger Cheshire Reservoir gave us more land birds than waterfowl (Cedar Waxwings, Red-winged Blackbirds, Pileated Woodpecker, among others) until we came to the "teal hole". There we found a pair of Bufflehead, a handful of Hooded Mergansers, and a female Lesser Scaup. At the causeway on Onota we found Wood Ducks as expected along with two Gadwall. There were Coot in one cove on Richmond Pond, but the first Coot of the day was spotted by Donna H. at the Pontoosuc causeway. She also located the last bird of the day, a Pied-billed Grebe in the Richmond marsh. With a total of 32 species, we ended the half-day trip enjoying cider donuts and other pastries at Bartlett's Orchard.
Trip list:
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Great Blue Heron 4
Turkey Vulture 1 or 2
Canada Goose
Mute Swan 2
Wood Duck 12
Gadwall 2
Mallard 15
Lesser Scaup 1
Bufflehead 2
Hooded Merganser 7
Common Merganser 18
Bald Eagle 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2
American Coot 6
Ring-billed Gull 91
Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Blue Jay
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 1
Carolina Wren 2
Eastern Bluebird 5
Robin
Cedar Waxwing 25
Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Goldfinch