Trip Highlights

The second trip to Berkshire Lakes had 5 cars and nine people ready to go despite a strong, cold northwest wind.  We started at the north end of Cheshire Lake, where some birds were too distant, but we did get 3 Hooded and 3 Common Mergansers plus a Kingfisher.  The south end had sheets of thin ice, but we still got 3 Pied-billed Grebe and a low-flying immature Bald Eagle.  A Common Loon was close to us at Pontoosuc from Matt Reilly’s pub.  There was an expected flock of 60 Common and 15 Hooded Mergansers there, plus two more Bald Eagles, one an adult that landed and loitered in a treetop.  The Bull Hill causeway was mostly iced, but a few more mergansers were at the far edge in some open water.  There were land birds and some warm rest and relief at Ann’s house, but no Fox Sparrow.  We continued south along Pontoosuc’s west shore to the end of road, where we found 12 Pied-billed Grebes, six of them in an unusual mid-lake flock.

The Onota south causeway had 6 Green-winged Teal at the edge of the ice covering the lagoon, as well as two Great Blue Herons and 3 Hooded Mergansers.  From the park at central Onota we picked out a Red-necked Grebe, a Common Loon, and Hooded Mergansers with the geese huddled on the far side.  The gulls were every-where.  At the south end we spotted a Red-throated Loon and a raft of 14 Black Scoters, mostly male.  Richmond Pond was open and well stocked with birds, including 28 Coot, 7 Common Goldeneye, a Horned Grebe, and 5 Hooded Mergansers plus an array of Black Ducks, Mallards and geese.  We finished the trip with donuts at Bartlett’s, though one car then went to Mud Pond, where the rafts of Ring-necked Ducks numbered about 800 birds.

Together we had 5 cars and 16 people for this traditional first trip to this mecca of migrating waterfowl.  We met two cars in Lanesboro, where the deep water, northern end of Cheshire Reservoir had few ducks.  The shallower, south end had Osprey, Cormorant, 2 Great Blue Herons, Kingfisher, 4 Pied-billed Grebes, 2 Ring-necked Ducks, and a Hooded Merganser.  At the very south end we had Wood Duck, Pied-billed Grebe, Great Blue Heron, Greater Yellowlegs.  Pontoosuc was barren, with only a few Waxwings in the tree.  The nearby cove did have 12 Common Mergansers.  Onota causeway had 5 Black Scoters, but we skipped the center and south end.  Nothing was on Cheshire Reservoir, but 12 Green-winged Teal were feeding in a small pond off Reservoir Road.  Stockbridge Bowl had flock of geese close and one was small enough to be a Cackling Goose.

Fourteen birders gathered for a quiet day of birding amid the beautiful surroundings of Quabbin.  What we lacked in perching birds (having only 1 Chipping Sparrow, although a White-throated sang for us) we made up with the big guns.  A nice flock of Turkeys on the Winsor Dam, 3 Eagles (in varying ages), 2 Pileated Woodpeckers, 3 Common Loons and a Belted Kingfisher were within close view for observations.  For the new birders it was a good introduction to spotting birds and for all of us, a nice walk on a pleasant fall day.

Eight members joined in for a slow walk around the Ashley Ponds.  Birds seen by participants included a DC Cormorant flyover, Canada Geese, Mallards, scope views of Wood Ducks, a very close immature Bald Eagle that was startled up from the shore, and a feeding group of Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Eight members of the Allen Bird Club, including two new members, enjoyed a beautiful fall morning while birding at the Springfield reservoir in Ludlow. Highlights were 3 Common Loons, 6 Ruddy Ducks, a Great Blue Heron, a Phoebe, a Black-and-white Warbler and many Yellow-rumped Warblers.