Birding Western Mass: Bonus Weird Duck Report
Thoughts on Birding from the Quabbin to the Berkshires
What Weird Ducks are Here and Where to See Them
Weird duck time is running a little late this year, I think. When I look at graphs of the relevant ducks on eBird, I think I might have expected them to have moved to places with more free water. Regardless, they’re here for the first weekend of the CBCs, and hooray for that! (If you aren’t familiar with the idea of weird duck time, here’s an excellent post from National Audubon about it. It originates with the estimable Rosemary Mosco.)
There’s a dove sitting on my heated bird bath right now (it’s about dawn), which says that I’m not glad I’m out there, but then I also don’t have oiled feathers. (Doves don’t either.) This weekend, temperatures will be cold, but it seems likely that it hasn’t been cold enough to substantially advance ice cover.
I did a quick analysis of the last month’s unusual (or, weird) duck sightings as recorded by watchers on eBird. Two stand out, of course — the whistling duck at the farm and the harlequin duck at Winsor Dam. But there’s more insights to take away. (Thanks to Larry for both links to his blog postings.)
If you’d like a map of good spots, here’s an overall such map. Not all the below places are on it, but the top ones are.
Some lakes reliably have turned in sightings of rare / unusual ducks this fall. My top suggestions on where to go are below.
Barton Cove / Turners Falls Pool: There’s a good chance you’ve birded here. I have used a kayak here in summer and visited in winter. You can always drop in a trip to the power canal while you’re here, too. I had a Barrow’s Goldeneye there (in the canal, down in the woods) last year, and the space below where the canal discharges is an intimate, woodsy walk. Greater and lesser scaup in the Cove in the last week. [Bonus: A Bonaparte’s gull sighted there Friday.]
Laurel Lake: This is a well-behaved small lake with multiple places to look into it. I bet that when it gets partially icy you can still see the open water from different places around it. I went kayaking here last summer. In the last few weeks, there have been red-breasted mergansers, black scoters, and greater and lesser scaups.
Pontoosuc Lake: I don’t personally know this lake. I have not had a chance to stop here yet. There was a red-breasted merganser here not long ago; more variety was in November.
Stockbridge Bowl: I went to Kripalu in August on a wonderful gift visit (thank you, foot massage) and looked out over the Bowl for a happy visit. I have not tried to bird it yet. I can’t speak to its accessibility except that it’s sizable and it looks from maps like there’s plenty of ways in. A canvasback was recently logged; it had a number of unusual ducks over the past month.
Winsor Dam: This is where the nature center is at the Quabbin. The reservoir has two major dams. This is one of them. There is an easy road walk across the dam. You can park not far from it and the space is accessible to all. While the recent attraction has been the harlequin duck, it has turned up a handful of unusual ducks, too.
Here are the rest of them.
Cheshire Reservoir
Cleveland Brook Reservoir
Congamond Lakes
Ludlow Reservoir
Longmeadow Sandbar Area (especially the other side of the river, the bike path in Agawam, which is only close as the gull flies — you probably should pick one side or the other, because going around takes a while — I’m on the Allen CBC and we are hoping to scope it from the Longmeadow side)
Lake Mattawa
Onota Lake
Otis Reservoir
Quabbin - Gate 5
Quabbin - Gate 22
Quabbin - Gate 35
Quabbin - Quabbin Park
Quabbin - Winsor
Richmond Pond
Silver Lake
South Spectacle Pond
Stockbridge Bowl
That’s all I have this week; it’s a special weird duck issue.