November Wrap-up

Seasons of change are in full-effect and the turnover of birds is evident this month. Locations that haven’t been frequented since March are being visited again for winter birds and in the midst of waterfowl migration, visits to new spots are turning up regionally-impressive sightings!

Bufflehead

With lots of water bodies freezing over and some lousy weather for most of the month, in addition to an ever growing 3-month old…it made for challenging and/or brief outings. With that being said, one of the brief and challenging outings with the 3-month old in tote led to one of my personal best finds!

Mid-way through the month with most ponds and streams frozen I decided to check out a location I hadn’t been to all year in search of open water. As I approached the boat ramp at Lake Attitash in Merrimac, MA I was stoked to see the amount of waterfowl on the lake and began picking through from the car. I first spotted my first new bird of the month — a HORNED GREBE actively diving among the 100+ Bufflehead in the middle of the lake.

The Horned Grebe excitement would only last moments…as I turned to my left to scan the birds in the southwest corner of the lake I noted several swans among the dabblers. In general, Mute Swans are common and to me rather mundane to see, but it wouldn’t take me long to realize THESE WERE NOT MUTES….there were 5 TUNDRA SWANS swimming loosely together! In my excitement, and with a crying baby in the backseat I initially thought there were six total, but later realized one of them was in fact a Mute.

Interestingly, this was part of a small influx of Tundra Swans in New England. The day before a couple of others were reported at Plum Island, MA 14 were seen just offshore, and 2 were seen in Barnstead, NH. Other sightings would soon surface from other parts of New Hampshire and Vermont. Prior to these sightings, the last Essex County record was in December of 1996. Hundreds of people were able to come to see these birds over the course of 1-2 weeks.

The only other addition to the year list in November was a small flock of HORNED LARK at Kimball Farm in Haverhill.


At the end of November I finished with a total of 169 species for the year.

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