Trip Highlights

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

Eleven participants gathered to enjoy a sunny day of birding the Quabbin,  It was cool and windy where we started our walk in the observation area right in front of the Quabbin Headquarters.  There we were graced with a sighting of a flyover by a Bald Eagle.  On the water we spotted many Ring-billed Gulls, Common Loons and Canada Geese.  We then set off to the 2nd entrance of the Quabbin, where we encountered Crows, Ravens, multiple species of sparrows and more Blue Jays than we could count!  Next stop was the tower area, and then on to Hanks Meadow, where we walked along the shore.  Here we saw a pair of Horned Grebes, and three White-winged Scoters, along with some more Common Loons.  All told we identified White-throated, White-crowned, Song, and Chipping Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Goldfinches, Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatches, and Turkey Vultures, along with five species of woodpecker, Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, Pileated and Northern Flicker.  Special songbird highlights were Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Our total for the four hours of birding was 31 species – a great day!

Below is the list of birds seen on the trip. There were 12 participants.

Pied-billed Grebe
Cormorant
Canada Goose
Mallard
Black Duck
Wood Duck
White-winged Scoter
Domesticated Duck (Swedish Blue)
Great Blue Heron
Ring-billed Gull
Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Turkey Vulture
Cooper's Hawk
Chickadee
Titmouse
Blue Jay
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
American Robin
American Crow
Mockingbird (Seen in the parking lot by Rachel and I as we were leaving)
Brown Creeper
Song Sparrow
Warbler sp.

We set out at 8:00 am with six participants, two of which were brand new members.  The weather was sunny, but cool with temps in the low 50s.  We walked to the 1 ½ mile marker, and then headed back.  
We counted a total on 17 species on the walk, with Blue Jay being the most plentiful bird of the day.  Most exciting was the Common Loon family of three.  Other birds on the water were Canada Geese, Double-crested Cormorants, a couple of Great Blue Herons, and a Belted Kingfisher.  While walking we observed three different species of woodpecker, Red-bellied, Hairy and Pileated.  There were also Golden-crowned Kinglets, White-breasted Nuthatches, Red-tailed Hawk, Blue-headed Vireo, and two species of warbler, American Redstart and Yellow-rumped Warbler.

We had a really nice birding morning at Arcadia. It was a beautiful sunny day.  Nine people attended, including Olivia, a nice young woman from England.  This was her first birding trip.  Many of our normal birds such as Cardinals and Blue Jays were new to her, so that was fun.  The highlight birds were a Meadowlark and a couple of Kestrels. Tim and April got on a Tennessee Warbler, too!.