My observation regarding returning wintering waterfowl et al is that they are tied into ice; the icing of northern water ways/ponds. These birds have a habit of staying as close to northern places as open water allows. When a winter thaw occurs, some birds leave (north?); then freezing occurs later in the month/early Feb and the birds are back. It can be subtle; not all leave, but seeing ponds inland which thawed and seeing ducks appear, then knowing they are frozen later the birds are gone. When I was doing the Nantucket CBC years ago, some would mention ducks would leave during warm spells and return when it got colder.
Recent years are staying warmer later. Loons are getting iced in lakes/ponds when the cold arrives and there are organizations which rescue them.
> On 11/21/2025 5:17 PM EST <blafley...> wrote: > > > Hello, > > By my experience and other accounts this fall has been a slow season for waterfowl migration. The past few days I have taken a couple walks in N Quabbin and checked some local ponds and it seems migration has picked up as I have come up with 19 species of waterfowl and large numbers of a couple species: > > Canada Geese 120 > American Wigeon 1 > Mallard 25 ish > Black Duck 110 ish > Green-winged Teal 2 > N Pintail 1 > Ring-necked Duck 19 > Greater Scaup 13 > Lesser Scaup 1 > WW Scoter 1 > Long-tailed Duck 1 (Gate 37) > Bufflehead 12 > C. Goldeneye 1 > Hooded Merganser 21 > Common Merganser 25ish > Great Cormorant 1 (L. Mattawa) > Horned Grebe 1 (Gate 35) > Red-necked Grebe 1 (Gate 35) > Common Loon 5 > > Bill Lafley > New Salem > <blafley...>
