Our birding team consisting of Dan Berard, Chuck Caron, Rod Jenkins, Paul Meleski and I left Westminster at 3:30AM on Saturday morning with the temp at 6 degrees Fahrenheit. The wind was light out of the north west but the weatherman had promised it would increase to the 15-20MPH range by the day's end.
We arrived in Ipswich, at our Screech Owl spot at 4:50AM and waiting until 4:58AM to begin imitating this species call and it immediately answered . It continued to call when the clock struck 5:00AM and our first bird was tallied for the day, we tried for Great-horned at this stop but none would answer. At 5:05AM Chuck "the time warden" Caron proclaimed ... "we're already an hour behind schedule, lets go"! Over the next 45 minutes we were fortunate to have Northern Saw Whet and Great-horned Owls answer our imitations at other locations in Ipswich and Essex.
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| Traffic....always a frustration while owling. |
Listen for the "screechie" on this video, Paul and Rod can be heard in the background trying to entice a Great-horned to call.
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| View from Gardner Road in Ipswich |
Our daylight birding would begin on the eastern tip of Nahant where we'd add several common species of waterfowl and a high scoring Northern Shoveler. At the Nahant Thicket we added more common species, but missed a Winter Wren we'd heard their last week, but a Northern Flicker made for a good consolation. Onto Nahant's Long Beach area and despite the tide being down, careful scanning would not produce any shorebirds. Onto the Lynn beaches where large numbers of Buffleheads and other common waterfowl species....on King's Beach on the Lynn/Swampscott border we searched carefully for a Mew Gull 9reported over the past few weeks) and struck out. Around the corner, still in Swampscott, we added Greater Scaup but the "usual" mixed flock of Lesser and Greater Scaup could NOT be found.
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| Sunrise near Nahant, Ma. |
Flax Pond, in Lynn, was 95% frozen, but at a small open area we found Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard, Black Duck, Ring-necked Duck, Hooded Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser and American Coot! Now, for a long drive to Jodrey Pier in Gloucester.
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| A bedraggled Amercian Coot at Flax Pond |
The three new wind turbines, in Gloucester, were a welcomed sight, but the speed in which they turned was a sure sign of a cold outing on Cape Ann! At
the pier we added Iceland and Glaucous Gulls along with a close in
Razorbill, however despite carefull scanning we could not find the
Peregrine Falcons that frequent city hall. At Eastern Point we'd add Northern Gannet, Great Cormorant, Gadwall and Black Guillemot. On the drive to
Niles Pond a Gray Catbird was found during a roadside stop and Niles
produced a female Canvaseback on a small open patch of water.
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| Razorbill seen from Jodrey Pier |
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| First winter Glaucous Gull from Jodrey Pier |
Near Bass Rocks we'd carefully count an impressive 82 Red-necked Grebes, but couldn't find the King Eider nor any Purple Sandpipers. At the Granite Pier, in Rockport, we added Harlequin Duck then on Andrew's Points an impressive number of Razorbill were observed flying past but the 2 Common Murres were a great surprise. We'd chosen to skip Cathedral Ledge, to save time, but later discovered another team found a Pacific Loon...and while that was painful, had we stopped there we would have missed the murres that had flown past Andrew's Pt.!
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| The team scanning from Andrew's Point. |
Comono Point Road (Essex) has always been a good stop for us, but the songbirds were very much lacking, we'd only add Red-breasted Nuthatch, this was a huge disappointment! However on Comono Point we'd add Dunlin (100+) and a few Bonepart's Gulls. Further along Rte 133 in Essex Dan would spot 2 Bald Eagles but the few Northern Pintails that Chuck and Rod had seen on Thursday were nowhere to be found. A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker did prove to be reliable near the end of Spring Street.
Gardner Road, in Ipswich, is another area that has proven to be productive in past years but this year....NOT! On Ipswich's Labor in Vain Road a Hairy Woodpecker flew past and later it called, but Swamp Sparrow was a no show. We had carefully scanned the sky for Turkey Vultures and accipiters all along the drive from Cape Ann to the Newburyport area, but other than Red-tailed Hawks no raptors were seen.
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| Dan and Paul scan while Canada Geese pass overhead. |
At the end of Stackyard Road in Rowley we enjoyed both light and dark "morphs" of Northern Rough-legged Hawk along with Northern Harrier. Further down on Little's Lane 2 Snow Geese stood out among the large flock of Canada Geese and while there were a few Cackling Goose candidates we'd have to leave that species as candidates only. We were in the "home stretch" to Plum Island/Salisbury area with 70 species, way behind last year's tally at this point, but still hopeful.
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| Snow Geese with Canadas |
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Horned larks were contently feeding in the short grass near the Plum Island Airport and a Merlin was perched on a stump across the road. At Parker River NWR's lot 1 we quickly added Black Scoter and Sanderling, it took a little more work to get the Western Grebe but we eventually got it (a state bird for me!!).
A nice flock of Red-winged Blackbirds were in Salisbury and a single Brown-headed Cowbird "within" was considered a bonus for us! Salisbury State Park was our last chance for Purple Sandpiper and we left empty handed. Mudnock Road, in Salisbury, had a number of songbirds near a feeding station but all were "repeats" for the day.
With 30 minutes remaining Amesbury's Deer Island (the Chain Bridge area) was in our sights, usually out last stop. Common Merganser should be an easy bird here and thankfully it was, the semi-reliable Great Blue Heron was at its perch on the bridge and quickly Chuck spotted a Belted Kingfisher.
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| Great Blue Heron seen from Deer Island. |
With a 15 extra minutes we headed down river in search of Barrow's Goldeneye or perhaps a pintail or teal or wigeon or anything new! The Belted Kingfisher turn out to be our 81st and last species of the day. However, at Newburtport's Waterfront Promenade park we enjoyed a great moon rise and several attractive Red-breasted Mergansers and Common Goldeneyes feeding in the river.
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| The moon rising over Salisbury, seen from Newburyport's Waterfront Promenade Park |
We finish up with a respectable 81 species for 174 points and while this was well off lasts years 92 species and 197 points, we felt we'd done well. With the day's (and previous week's) low temperatures high winds it this was expected. The numbers were crunched and it was a close contest, the 4th and longspurs (Steve Mirick et al) was the top team with 83 species and 182 points followed Wicked Pishahs (Tom Young et al) had 82 species and 168 points and our Burger Kinglets 81 species and 174 points.
Our list from the day :
| Red-throated Loon Gavia stellata |
2 |
| Common Loon Gavia immer |
1 |
| Horned Grebe Podiceps auritus |
1 |
| Red-necked Grebe Podiceps grisegena |
2 |
| Western Grebe Aechmophorus
occidentalis |
5 |
| Northern Gannet Morus bassanus |
2 |
| Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo |
1 |
| Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias |
3 |
| Snow Goose Chen caerulescens |
4 |
| Canada Goose Branta canadensis |
1 |
| Brant Branta
bernicla |
3 |
| Mute Swan (I) Cygnus olor |
1 |
| Gadwall Anas strepera |
2 |
| American Black Duck Anas rubripes |
1 |
| Mallard Anas
platyrhynchos |
1 |
| Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata |
8 |
| Canvasback Aythya valisineria |
8 |
| Ring-necked Duck Aythya collaris |
4 |
| Greater Scaup Aythya marila |
2 |
| Common Eider Somateria mollissima |
1 |
| Harlequin Duck Histrionicus
histrionicus |
2 |
| Surf Scoter Melanitta
perspicillata |
1 |
| White-winged Scoter Melanitta fusca |
1 |
| Black Scoter Melanitta nigra |
2 |
| Oldsquaw Clangula
hyemalis |
1 |
| Bufflehead Bucephala albeola |
1 |
| Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula |
1 |
| Hooded Merganser Lophodytes cucullatus |
2 |
| Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator |
1 |
| Common Merganser Mergus merganser |
1 |
| Bald Eagle Haliaeetus
leucocephalus |
2 |
| Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus |
1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis |
1 |
| Rough-legged Hawk Buteo lagopus |
3 |
| Merlin Falco
columbarius |
4 |
| Wild Turkey Meleagris gallopavo |
3 |
| American Coot Fulica americana |
4 |
| Sanderling Calidris alba |
3 |
| Dunlin Calidris
alpina |
3 |
| Bonaparte's Gull Larus philadelphia |
3 |
| Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis |
1 |
| Herring Gull Larus argentatus |
1 |
| Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides |
2 |
| Glaucous Gull Larus hyperboreus |
3 |
| Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus |
1 |
| Common Murre Uria aalge |
8 |
| Razorbill Alca torda |
3 |
| Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle |
2 |
| Rock Dove (I) Columba livia |
1 |
| Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura |
1 |
| Eastern Screech-Owl Otus asio |
2 |
| Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus |
3 |
| Northern Saw-whet Owl Aegolius acadicus |
4 |
| Belted Kingfisher Ceryle alcyon |
3 |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus |
3 |
| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Sphyrapicus varius |
5 |
| Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens |
1 |
| Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus |
2 |
| Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus |
3 |
| Blue Jay Cyanocitta
cristata |
1 |
| American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos |
1 |
| Horned Lark Eremophila
alpestris |
2 |
| Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapillus |
1 |
| Tufted Titmouse Baeolophus bicolor |
1 |
| Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis |
2 |
| White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis |
1 |
| Carolina Wren Thryothorus
ludovicianus |
2 |
| American Robin Turdus migratorius |
1 |
| Gray Catbird Dumetella
carolinensis |
4 |
| Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos |
1 |
| European Starling (I) Sturnus vulgaris |
1 |
| American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea |
1 |
| Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia |
1 |
| White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis |
1 |
| Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis |
1 |
| Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis |
1 |
| Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus |
3 |
| Brown-headed Cowbird Molothrus ater |
3 |
| House Finch Carpodacus
mexicanus |
1 |
| American Goldfinch Carduelis tristis |
1 |
| House Sparrow (I) Passer domesticus |
1 |
