Greetings, Certainly been a while since my last post. (Been a long winter) I took part in two Christmas counts this past December, Northampton and Quabbin. Both count days had decent weather, but the Northampton count had more unusual birds this time around. Below is a few pictorial highlights from both counts.  |
| American Robin- record numbers on the Quabbin Count and I guess the same for other Christmas counts in the region. |
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| Savannah Sparrow- Always a species we are somewhat responsible for on the Northampton Count. Although in recent years it has started to show up in other areas in the count circle. |
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| Horned Larks- the bird on the left maybe an Arctic/Prairie form? |
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| Peregrine Falcon along the Ct River. |
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| Chipping Sparrow- Currently hanging out at my feeding station. Not a bad bird for this time of year.....but come mid April, it returns in big numbers to our region. |
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| Clay-colored Sparrow- A very cooperative bird along Aqua-Vitae Rd in Hadley during the Northampton Count. This is about the 4th time we've had this species in our area on the count. |
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Common Merganser- always present along the Connecticut in winter. |
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| Ring-necked Duck- Only one on the count this year! |
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| Golden-crowned Kinglet- a uncommon bird in our area. |
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| Lapland Longspur- one of five in the Honey Pot area. |
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| Snow Bunting- honey Pot |
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| Am.Tree Sparrow- This was a fun moment watching this bird bathing in a shallow area on the Connecticut River. |
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| Although James Smith and I heard one during the count, this bird was photographed in Tom Gagnon's area the next day. |
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| Quabbin Count- The Quabbin count was held under ideal weather conditions. The above photo is a Beaver Pond near fishing area 43. |
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| My brave group near the Dana Spruces in Quabbin. |
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| Fishing Area 43/Horse Shoe Dam |
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| This year we had five Eagles in view at once at the Horse Shoe Dam area. Overall we fell one short of tying the record of 38. |
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| Black-capped Chickadee-Hardwick |
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| Eastern Bluebird-female/ Hardwick |
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| Clearly an ongoing project for a over achieving Beaver! |
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| Northern Cardinal- |
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| Perhaps the cutest photo of the day was this cat at the Robinson Farm in Hardwick. |
