Plum Island 2/28

From Ida Giriunas:

Greetings:

BBC P.I. Trip from 8 AM to 12 noon. Lots of ducks, loons and gulls but not
much else. Highlights were one SNOWY OWL Perched on the Nelson Island
Osprey platform seen from the warden's, a white-winged gull across the
Merrimack River seen from the Municipal Parking lot, about 40 Gadwall in the Plum Island salt pannes and over 15 Common Loons seen from Salisbury. Of special note - no Chickadees, no Juncos, no White-throated Sparrows, no Tree sparrows, geez!

Cape Ann 2/27

From Bill Drummond:

Dear Friends,
The sun came out for a while today and at Folly Point, Halibut Point, and Andrew's Point we had some nice birding. Scoters and Gannets put on a fine show as did Great Cormorants with their white flank patches. We had Black Guillemots and Razorbills. The birding highlight of the day was the flock of Razorbills in both plumages close by at Andrew's. We tried twice at Niles Pond for the Mew Gull but had no luck. Nor did we have luck looking for Dovekies in Gloucester Harbor.
We saw trees down everywhere and at times we had a hard time getting around. So many trees were down and roads closed on my route from North Andover to Gloucester that it took me an hour and 25 minutes to get there. Leslie Kramer and I communicated by cell phone and she was able to start the trip to East Gloucester. Thanks Leslie.

Good birding, everyone!

Cape Ann 2/21

From Linda Ferraresso:

It was a blustery day on Cape Ann today for the BBC trip ( 34 degrees at 8 a.m., with winds 10-20 mph). Some ocean effect snow added some additional excitement for the day. We tallied 49 species:

Canada Goose 71
Brant 2 ( Andrews Point)
Mute Swan 4
Gadwall 12
American Black Duck 4
Mallard 100+
Ring-necked Duck 1
Greater Scaup 8
Common Eider 178
Harlequin Duck 36
Surf Scoter 48
White-winged Scoter 24
Long-tailed Duck 6
Bufflehead 47
Common Goldeneye 63
Red-breasted Merganser 76
Red-throated Loon 1
Common Loon 11
Horned Grebe 12
Red-necked Grebe 5
Great Cormorant 16
Turkey Vulture 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 3
Peregrine Falcon 1
Wild Turkey 10
Purple Sandpiper 100 ( 20 at Bass Rocks, 80 at Andrews Point)
Ring-billed Gull 27
Herring Gull 130
Iceland Gull 3 ( 1 on Dogbar at Eastern Point, 2 at Niles Pond)
Great Black-backed Gull 17
Razorbill 21 ( 1 at Jodrey Pier in Gloucester, 20 at Andrews Point, Rockport)
Black Guillemot 5 (Bass Rocks)
Rock Dove 200+
Eastern Screech Owl 1 ( Eastern Point, thanks Steve Grinley)
Blue Jay 6
American Crow 20
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Carolina Wren 2 both singing
American Robin 72
Northern Mockingbird 3
European Starling 30
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird 1
Common Grackle 1
House Finch 5
American Goldfinch 10
House Sparrow 95

Cheers!

Quincy and Hingham 2/20

From Glenn d'Entremont and Jane Zanichowsky:

On a bright and rather mild, but quite windy, day a hardy group birded parts of Quincy and Hingham. Waterfowl predominated over land birds. The walk began at Squantum Point Park, Quincy and ended at Bare Cove Park, Hingham.

Many thanks to Glenn d'Entremont for a stand-up job continuing the trip when I had to leave for a funeral.


H-Hingham, rest at Squantum unless noted.

Horned Grebe 1
Canada Goose 110 (5-H)
Brant 11
Mallard 74
Black Duck 24
Gadwall 2
Greater Scaup 2
Common Goldeneye 24
Bufflehead 87
Common Eider 146
White-winged Scoter 5
Surf Scoter 12
Red-breasted Merganser 23
Turkey Vulture 3-H
Red-tailed Hawk 5 (1-H)
Great Black-backed Gull ***
Herring Gull ***
Ring-billed Gull ***
Rock Pigeon ***
Mourning Dove 1
Downy Woodpecker 1-H
Northern Flicker 1-H
Blue Jay 1-H
American Crow 6 (2-H)
Common Raven 1-Quincy
Black-capped Chickadee 2 (1-H)
White-breasted Nuthatch 1-H
Northern Mockingbird 3 (1-H)
American Robin 36 (30-H)
Hermit Thrush 1 (at Quincy Point Park, chucking)
Starling ***
Song Sparrow 3
White-throated Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 4
House Finch 2-H
House Sparrow ***

36 species

Ipswich 2/15

From Jim Berry:

Location: Ipswich, Mass.
Observation date: 2/15/10, 0800-1230
Notes: BBC morning trip to various spots in and near Ipswich. We stopped at the Ipswich River downtown, the Town Farm at the edge of the salt marsh, and the Appleton Farm Grass Rides, a forest tract with many old grassy carriage trails. Two of the group glimpsed a probable barred owl in a hemlock stand in the Grass Rides where I have often seen them in previous winters.
Number of species: 31

Canada Goose 70
American Black Duck 15+
Mallard 47+
Bufflehead 1 f in Ipswich River downtown
Common Merganser 2 (pr) in Ipswich River downtown
Red-tailed Hawk 3 all adults
Peregrine Falcon 1 (seen in flight by folks in two of the cars)
Ring-billed Gull x
Herring Gull 50+
Great Black-backed Gull 3
Mourning Dove 9
Owl (sp.) 1 almost certainly barred
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 6
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1
Blue Jay 7
American Crow 15
Black-capped Chickadee 6
Tufted Titmouse 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 conifer grove in Appleton Farm Grass Rides
White-breasted Nuthatch 6
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 conifer grove in Appleton Farm Grass Rides
Eastern Bluebird 5
American Robin 40
European Starling ~400
Cedar Waxwing 4
American Tree Sparrow 4
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird ~120 one flock at edge of salt marsh, about 10% female; males were singing, so these birds were probably early migrants
Brown-headed Cowbird 6 3 males and 3 females with the redwings; no grackles seen
House Sparrow 3

Cape Ann 2/14

From Linda Pivacek:

Brookline Bird Club trip at Cape Ann with 13 delightful participants. Partly sunny with west winds that "blew us away" at exposed points. Thanks to all for great spotting and cooperation!

Observation date: 2/14/10
Number of species: 45

Highlights only:

Gadwall 10
King Eider 1 ad male distant view from Atlantic Ave
Common Eider (Atlantic) 108
Harlequin Duck 33 always a beautiful sight.
Surf Scoter 49
White-winged Scoter 5
dark-winged scoter sp. 5
Bufflehead 87
Common Goldeneye 38
Hooded Merganser 1
Red-breasted Merganser 42
Wild Turkey 6
Red-throated Loon 3
Common Loon 10
Horned Grebe 7
Northern Gannet 7
Great Cormorant 26
Turkey Vulture 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Purple Sandpiper 51
Black-legged Kittiwake 5
Ring-billed Gull 6
Herring Gull (American) 300
Iceland Gull (Kumlien's) 7 six were seen from Jodrey Fish Pier
Great Black-backed Gull 53
Dovekie 1 distant views from Niles Beach
Razorbill 1 close looks from Jodrey Fish Pier, Gloucester.
large alcid sp. 8
Black Guillemot 4
Northern Flicker 1
Northern Shrike 1 fine looks as the shrike flew and perched several times near parking area at Eastern Point.

Fun!

Cape Ann 2/6

From Ida Giriunas:

A bitterly cold day on Cape Anne with 10-20 MPH N-NE winds with only one
alcid but a few highlights.

Drake King Eider - 1 - off Good Harbor Beach
Breeding Plumage Guillemot - 1 - off Granite Pier
Peregrine Falcon - 1 - perched on city hall dome
Iceland Gulls - 2 - Fish Pier
Lots of Harlequin ducks, Surf Scoters, a few White-wing Scoters, a few
Horned Grebes and the usual winter Sea ducks and Gulls.