Trip Highlights

The wind was brisk and the cold was deep, but there were only a few inches of near-fresh snow on the ground.  The 14 teams included only 26 birders in the field for 103.5 hours, well below the average, but far above the disastrous 67 hours for the 2016 count.  They traveled almost 430 miles, with 47 miles on foot and 375 miles by car.

Black Ducks did very well, but Mallards floundered.  Both Mergansers were very high, while Goldeneyes almost matched their highest total ever.  There were four rare duck species, one each of Wood Duck, Greater Scaup (only second time since 2000), Bufflehead (4th time), and Ruddy Duck.  The only heron was a half-dozen Great Blue.  Among the six species of day-raptors were a record high count of 13 Bald Eagles and three Red-shoulders.  All three owls and two of the three falcons were barely recorded.  There was enough open water to please a decent count of eight Kingfishers.  Jays and especially crows were below average, but the usual few Fish Crows and Ravens were noted.  Only one modest flock of Horned Larks was found.  Red-breasted Nuthatch continued scarce, though one was better than last year’s none.  Also at that meager level were Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Catbird.  Creeper, Winter Wren, Bluebird, Mockingbird, Waxwing, and Robin were in low numbers, but Golden-crowned Kinglets were numerous.  Among the sparrows, Tree, Junco, White-throated and Song were well below average, though Field and Savannah showed well, but typically few.  One Fox and one Swamp Sparrow completed a dreary picture. The Cardinal matched the 114 of last year, still few.  Twenty Redwings, 7 Cowbirds, and two Grackles were also meager.  Goldfinch and House Sparrows were near the eight-year average, much fewer than the long-term level.  Hours of coverage were 103.5, not too much lower than the average of 115 since 1980.  Despite the dreary results there was much to enjoy and celebrate at the home of George Kingston and Jean Delaney.

Team Members and Highlights

Chicopee:  Tom Swochak, 8 hours, 1.5 owling hours, 42 species, a Great Blue Heron, 25 Black Duck, 3 Hooded Merganser, 31 Common Merganser, 3 Bald Eagle, a Cooper’s Hawk, 2 Kingfisher, a Kestrel, a Screech Owl, 5 Hairy Woodpecker, 613 Crow, a Fish Crow, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, 23 White-throated Sparrow, and 20 Red-winged Blackbird.

Longmeadow West:  Steve and Rachel Svec, 6 hours, 41 species, 6 Mute Swan, 92 Mallard, 39 Black Duck, 49 Goldeneye, 6 Hooded and 18 Common Merganser, 284 Ring-billed Gull, 2 Bald Eagle, a Harrier, 11 Red-bellied and 12 Downy Woodpecker, 3 Flicker, 2 Pileated Woodpecker, a Raven, a Creeper, 57 Robin, 15 White-breasted Nuthatch, a Brown Creeper, 5 Carolina Wren, 57 Robin, a Catbird, 2 Cedar Waxwing, and a Fox Sparrow.

‍Agawam Southeast:  Janice Zepko, Seth Kellogg, 8.5 hours plus 1 owling hour, 41 species, a Ruddy Duck, a Bufflehead, a Greater Scaup, a Great Blue Heron, 9 Mute Swan, 830 Canada Goose, 90 Goldeneye, 7 Hooded and 30 Common Merganser, 11 Turkey, 2 Bald Eagle, a Cooper’s Hawk, 6 Red-tailed Hawk, 20 Turkey, 2 Great Black-backed Gull, a Pileated Woodpecker, 2 Screech Owl, 2 Carolina Wren, 14 Robin, 2 Tree Sparrow, and 14 Song Sparrow.

Longmeadow East:  Jim Pfeifer, 7.5 hours, 1.25 night-hours, 39 species, a Sharp-shinned Hawk, 2 Red-shouldered Hawk, 7 Red-tailed Hawk, a Great Horned Owl, Kingfisher, a Barred Owl, 2 Turkey, 2 Flicker, 23 Chickadee, 15 Titmouse, a Brown Creeper, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, 13 Cardinal, 4 Field, 3 Savannah, and a Swamp Sparrow, 183 Junco, 2 Grackle, 7 Cowbird, and 72 House Finch.

Forest Park:  Al and Lois Richardson, G. Saulmon, 7.5 hours, 33 species, a Wood Duck, 2 Black Duck, 2 Kingfisher, 2 Flicker, 35 Blue Jay, 2 Winter Wren, 22 White-throated Sparrow, 127 Junco, and 64 Goldfinch.

Springfield:  Tim Carter & L. Leed, 8 Hours, 32 Species, 14 Hooded Merganser, a Kingfisher, a Flicker, 26 Horned Lark, a Savannah Sparrow, and 2 Purple Finch.

West Springfield:  Myles and Kathy Conway, 7.5 hours, 31 species, 2 Cooper’s Hawk, 95 Mourning Dove, a Merlin, and a Kingfisher.

Hampden:  Mary Felix, Janet Orcutt, Donna Morrison, 7.5 hours, 27 species, 21 Turkey, 25 Chickadee, 19 Titmouse, 6 Bluebird, 23 Cardinal, and a Savannah Sparrow.

Wilbraham:  Howard Schwartz and Marcy Schwartz, 7 hours, 25 species, a Peregrine Falcon, 2 Raven, and a Mockingbird.

Ludlow: Bill and Carol Platenik, 3 hours, 21 Species, 2 Hooded Merganser, a Common Merganser, a Cooper’s Hawk, 25 Turkey, and a Robin.

‍Holyoke:  Bob Bieda, 7 hours, 25 species, 5 Mute Swan, 78 Black Duck, 15 Goldeneye, 3 Hooded Merganser, 22 Common Merganser, 3 Bald Eagle, a Cooper’s Hawk, 7 Great Black-backed Gull, and a Raven.

Agawam Robinson Park: Steve Perrault, Madeline Novak, 6 hours, 24 species, a Great Blue Heron, 2 Hooded Merganser, a Bluebird and 12 Robins.

‍East Longmeadow:  George Kingston and Jean Delany, 5 hours, 21 species, a Golden-crowned Kinglet and 31 Robins.

‍South Wilbraham:  Ben Hodgkins, 4 hours, 17 species, a Pileated Woodpecker, 2 Brown Creeper, 16 Golden-crowned Kinglet, and a Cedar Waxwing.

The 71 species recorded was 3 above the 1980-2017 average, and the number of birds was about average.  Species rarely recorded were Greater Scaup (2 years), Bufflehead (5 years), Ruddy Duck (6 years), Harrier (13 years), Barred Owl (9 years), Kestrel (13 years), Raven (14 years), and Savannah Sparrow (11 years). Well above average numbers of regular but uncommon species were: 154 Goldeneye, 21 Mute Swans, 154 Black Duck, 43 Turkey, and 48 Red-tailed Hawk.  Uncommon species in below average numbers with number of years found out of 37were: Wood Duck 24, Red-shouldered Hawk 17, Raven 13, Sapsucker 16 (every year in last 10), Kestrel 13 (absent until 1997), Peregrine Falcon 16 (missed only in 3 years since 2002), Fox Sparrow 22, and Purple Finch 18.

Click below to view or download complete count results.

2017 Springfield Area Christmas Count

Six people in two cars arrived at the rotary, where high tide gave us 50 Bufflehead, 2 Common Loon, and 4 Red-breasted Merganser.  We then drove right out to Rockport where the Granite Pier had 5 Harlequin Ducks, 12 Surf Scoter, 50 Eider, 4 Gannets in the distance, 2 Red-necked Grebes and a Cormorant.  At Andrews Point we saw some distant Razorbills, 3 flying and one on the water.  Much closer were 75 Harlequin Ducks, 2 Red-necked Grebes, 3 Common Loons, a Black and 6 White-winged Scoters, 2 Eiders, an Oldsquaw, and 4 Red-breasted Mer-gansers.  The next stop was Cathedral Ledge, where we noted 60 Purple Sandpipers on the point, while close to us on the water were 6 Bufflehead, 2 Common and a Red-throated Loon, 20 Black and 12 White-winged Scoters, 50 Harlequin Ducks, 10 Red-breasted Merganser and 80 Eiders.  Halibut Point, after a long walk, had only 2 Long-tailed Ducks, 5 Eiders, and 2 Common Loons.  There was a beautiful close adult Gannet working right off shore.  

We returned to Gloucester and stopped at Bass Rocks to view the scattered Eiders, along with Black and White-winged Scoters, 20 close Bufflehead, 2 Common Loons, a Red-throated Loon, and a Red-breasted Mergan-ser.  Further along the shore we found 5 Great Cormorants, many Eiders, a few Red-breasted Mergansers, and one Purple Sandpiper.  At Niles Pond the road was narrow, but we stayed long enough to find 12 Coot, 6 Hooded and 20 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Greater Scaup, 5 Ring-necked Ducks, 15 Bufflehead and a Ruddy Duck.  We stopped at Jodrey Pier, which was crammed with parked cars.  The Glaucous Gull was opposite us on a laden pier in a small open area with other gulls, a very bright individual.  On the water were 40 Eiders and 20 Cormorants, a Red-breasted Merganser, and 5 Common Loons.  We stopped for a food break, then went on to Plum Island, arriv-ing at 2 pm.

The first salt pannes had 25 Gadwall, 25 Wigeon, and 4 Mute Swans mixed in with the many Black Ducks.  Also there were 2 Dunlin and a Greater Yellowlegs.  A flock of Dunlin with one large likely Black-bellied Plover flew overhead to the ocean.  At North Pool overlook we got a flyover Harrier, while Hellcat Pool had 12 Pintail, 6 Green-winged Teal, 15 Hooded Merganser, 8 American Wigeon and a Bufflehead among the many Black Ducks.  Two more Harriers flew over farther along the road.  Emerson Rocks at low tide had 6 Red-throated Loons, 12 Common Loons, a Black Scoter, 2 White-winged Scoters, 10 Bufflehead, and many Eiders.  On the way back north a Cooper’s Hawk flew close in front of us.  Joppa Flats was just starting to open and we had 20 Bufflehead, many gulls and Mallards, many Black Ducks, 50 Canada Geese, 3 Great Cormorants, and 50 Dunlin.

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.