Well, December is off to a cracking start. The first day of three months of winter not only produced unseasonably warm temperatures but also a host of top quality birds, though admittedly few were new arrivals. Red Crossbills continue to feature with small flocks and singles scattered around Gill, Wendall and Montague though curiously my last two visits to the Montague Plains crossbill hotspot have produced exactly zero (!!) giving the distinct impression that they might have moved out from that site altogether? All of today's Red Crossbills were identified from audio clips as Sitka Spruce or Type 10 - thanks Tim Spahr!
The Pine Grosbeaks at Wendell State Forest were still present and had actually increased since my last visit on Nov 26th (9) to 13 today. The flock is still composed of females or at least female-type plumages and some nice plumage variation within the group as well as a lot of call notes being uttered making for a very pleasant 40 minutes of birding.
As if Pine Grosbeaks within touching distance wasn't enough for one day, the Turner's Falls power canal was full of birds in the afternoon. The Barnacle Goose, present in the area since Nov 23rd, continued to loaf around with the Canada Geese (1100). It looked settled, often swimming and roosting close to the long staying Cackling Goose, that particular bird having first arrived on Nov 7th. Two Iceland Gulls were present together, both of them first-winters and gull numbers in general are starting to build with at least eight Great Black-backed and 45 Herring Gulls present this afternoon. Numbers of Common Goldeneyes have swollen too with 85 present in the evening with a further eight present on Barton Cove.
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