Waterfowl Prowl 3/31

From Eddie Giles:

*Yesterday, Mary Keleher and I led our 3rd Waterfowl Prowl for the Brookline Bird Club. The intent of this trip is to try and find as many of the 30 possible species of duck found in the Massachusetts. The weather forecast was for intermittent rain which would get worse as the day progressed. We decided to give it a go anyway, and three other hardy birders joined us. We covered the lower Cape in the morning, and around noon we decide to leave the Cape and head for Fairhaven, Westport, Acoaxet & Seekonk. At that point, a yellow light and a bad cell phone managed to divide the group; a two car rollover and it's resulting one hour traffic jam on Route 25 essentially ended the trip. We ended the day at West Island in Fairhaven with 20 species of duck, 44 species for the day.

Duck highlights only:

DUCKS
Wood
Gadwall
Eurasian Widgeon - Dutchman's Ditch
American Widgeon
American Black Duck
Mallard
Redhead - Little Pond
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup - Siders Pond, Little Pond
Lesser Scaup - Siders Pond, Little Pond
King Eider - Bournedale/Cape Cod Canal
Common Eider
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter - Bournedale/Cape Cod Canal (with Eider flock)
Long-tailed Duck - Monument Beach
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Hooded Merganser - Salt Pond
Common Merganser - Lovell's Pond
Red-breasted Merganser

On my way home, I stopped by Walnut Street in Halifax to look for the Greater White-fronted Goose. There was approximately 150 Canadas, but the GWFG was not among them. I then checked the Cumberland Farms fields and the flooded fields **were loaded with waterfowl - Canada Goose (**500+)**, Mallards, American Black Duck, Wood Duck, American Widgeon and Northern Pintail. There must have been over 2,000 birds there - the skies were in constant motion. I also got to watch a large coyote trying to hunt ducks in the flooded fields.*
*

Woodcocks in Reading 3/24

From Dave Williams:

8 folks saw and heard 1 Am. woodcock perform this evening at the Bare
Meadow Conservation Land in Reading. After 3 courtship flights, a
Great horned owl began hooting in the distance and the Woodcock
performed no more. I wonder if there is a cause and effect there?
Birds seen included:
Canda geese - 5
Wood duck - 1
Mallard - 4
Am. woodcock - 1
Great horned owl - 1 (heard)
Downy woodpecker - 1ardinal - 2
Black-capped chickadee - 2
Tufted titmouse - 2
Carolina wren - 1
Am. robin - 7
Cardinal - 1
Red-winged blackbird - 7
Common grackle - 1

Vernal Equinox Walk ~ 03-20-10

On March 20th I led my Vernal Equinox Walk for the Brookline Bird Club. I was joined by Mark Burns, Jane Lothian, Lenny Jackson, Joan and Larry Duprey, Dianna Fruguglietti, and Paul Ippolito. We spent the day on the Upper Cape and birded Salt Pond, Falmouth Thicket, Nobska Point, Sider’s Pond behind the Falmouth Town Hall, Little Pond, Great Pond, Mill Pond, Herring Pond, Muddy Pond, and Sandy Neck. We stopped at Scusset Beach before heading north to our carpool spot in Plymouth and we finished the day at Cumberland Farms in Halifax/Middleboro. It certainly felt like Spring with temperatures ranging between 44 df in the morning and 72 df in the afternoon! The winds were light and sunshine was abundant. We tallied 59 species between 9:00am and 7:30pm.

There were several highlights for the day but notables included seeing: KILLDEER at the Plymouth Rest Area (a first of the year for many of us); REDHEAD at Sider’s Pond; AMERICAN WIGEON at Little Pond; TREE SWALLOWS at Muddy Pond; NORTHERN GANNET, WHITE-WINGED- SURF- BLACK- SCOTERS at Sandy Neck; FISH CROWS in Sandwich; and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW (immature), NORTHERN HARRIERS, DUCKS, WOODCOCK, and a beautiful sunset at Cumberland Farms! Here is a special Thank you to Jim Sweeney who met us Cumberland Farms and shared his wealth of knowledge about the area and brought us to the best spots to see ducks and woodcocks at twilight!

Following is a complete list of the birds we saw:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Red-throated Loon - 1
Common Loon - 6
Horned Grebe – 40
Red-necked Grebe – 7
Northern Gannet – 8
Double-crested Cormorant - 4
Canada Goose - 300
Brant - 45
Mute Swan - 35
Wood Duck – 30 (at Cumberland Farms)
Gadwall – 4
American Wigeon - 3
American Black Duck - 200
Mallard - 120
Redhead -1
Ring-necked Duck - 12
Greater Scaup – 350
Lesser Scaup - 40
Common Eider – 700
Surf Scoter - 50
White-winged Scoter - 20
Black Scoter - 17
Duck formerly known as Oldsquaw - 12
Bufflehead - 180
Red-breasted Merganser - 24
Northern Harrier - 9
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 15
Killdeer - 11
American Woodcock - 6
Ring-billed Gull - 190
Herring Gull - 200
Great Black-backed Gull - 20
Rock Pigeon - 1
Mourning Dove - 26
Downy Woodpecker – 7
Northern Flicker - 11
Blue Jay - 18
American Crow - 260
Fish Crow – 3
Tree Swallow - 9
Black-capped Chickadee - 36
Tufted Titmouse - 45
White-breasted Nuthatch - 3
Carolina Wren - 7
American Robin - 650
Northern Mockingbird - 5
European Starling – 1,000
Savannah Sparrow – 2
Song Sparrow – 70
White-throated Sparrow – 1
White-crowned Sparrow - 1
Northern Cardinal - 35
Red-winged Blackbird – 1,000
Common Grackle - 250
Brown-headed Cowbird – 9
House Finch - 27
American Goldfinch - 90
House Sparrow - 24

Wishing you all a Happy Spring!

Laura H. de la Flor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So much to learn about Mother Nature...
...always racing with father time." (lhf)

Newburyport 3/13

From Bill Drummond:

Dear Friends,
I drove to Newburyport today to see if anyone showed up for the 1 PM meeting time. No one else showed up. People used very good judgment as it would have been a very difficult afternoon to go birding. At 1:20 I drove over to Mass. Audubon Joppa to see my friends there and look at the bird sightings reports. No Snowy Owl reported today but good looks from there at the Bald Eagles, but earlier in the day. So no bird of the day for me in Newburyport. I headed home in the driving rain and saw lots of the sparrows, juncos, woodpeckers and goldfinch at our feeders.

Good birding, everyone!

South Shore 3/7

From Jane Zanichowsky:

Dear Massbirders:

It was a beautiful day for birding the South Shore on Sunday. Bright sun, little wind, and mild temps were enjoyed by all. The Barrow's Goldeneye was not present at Straight Pond at 1:30 p.m. Highlights:

WP = Wheelwright Park, Cohasset MB = Minot Beach


common loon 3
horned grebe 1
red-necked grebe 1
great cormorant, breeding patches evident 12
brant 6 all the above, MB
mute swan 6
American black duck 92
mallard 28
scaup sp. (likely Greater) 4 Straight Pond, Cohasset/Hull
common eider 41 tide was out at Minot, reducing numbers
harlequin duck 6 MB
surf scoter 10 MB
white-winged scoter 9 MB
red-tailed hawk 6 or more
purple sandpiper 6 MB
ICELAND GULL ad 1 MB
red-bellied woodpecker 2 WP
Carolina wren 1 WP
song sparrow 8
dark-eyed junco 5
red-winged blackbird 23


Song sparrows and w-b nuthatches were singing/calling like crazy. There was a dearth of other sparrows. At least one pair of nuts in Wheelwright Park exhibited courtship behavior including mutural feeding and checking out a nest hole. By nuts I mean birds. ; )

Cape Ann 3/7

From Ida Giriunas:

Greetings:

Extraordinary weather, calm seas, exciting birds and wonderful participants
made for a pleasant trip.
Highlights were: 1 THICK-BILLED MURRE at close range at the Granite Pier
found by CONSTANCE LAPITE. 7 Black Guillemots, 22 Red-necked Grebes and
several Ruddy Turnstones at Bass Rocks along with Purple Sandpipers. A
total of 46 species were seen.