Cape Ann 11/27/2010

Six Brookline Bird Club members participated in the trip to Cape Ann that had originally been scheduled for Friday. The temperature reached the lows 40sand the early light breeze turned to significant wind in the early afternoon. We went from the Jodrey Fish Pier to Andrews Point, to Cathedral Ledge to Bass Rocks and finally Eastern Point. We concentrated mainly on waterfowl. The trip went from 8am to 1pm. Seen on the trip were:

Common Eider - 159
Great Black-backed Gull - 268
Herring Gull - 473
Glaucous Gull - 1 (Andrews)
Peregrine Falcon - 1 (on Gloucester City Hall)
Rock Pigeon - 102
Thick-billed Murre - 3 (Andrews Point)
Red-breasted Merganser - 27
Bufflehead - 90
American Crow - 20
Northern Mockingbird - 2
Common Loon - 9
Red-throated Loon - 1
Canada Goose - 1
American Robin - 1
Northern Gannet - 82 (undercount as many were far offshore in Rockport, 3 in Gloucester)
Black Scoter - 8
Harlequin Duck - 58 (Andrews Point and Cathedral Ledge)
Great Cormorant - 28
Double-crested Cormorant - 2
Carolina Wren - 1
American Pipit - 1
Purple Sandpiper - 75 (most at Andrews Point, 20 at Bass Rocks)
European Starling - 26
House Sparrow - 12
Horned Lark - 1
White-winged Scoter - 40
Song Sparrow - 1
Red-necked Grebe - 2 (one at Andrews, one at Bass Rocks)
Razorbill - 25 (1 was close in at the Elks at Bass Rocks)
Black Guillemot - 4 (Elks at Bass Rocks)
American Black Duck - 18
Mallard - 32
Mute Swan - 3
American Tree Sparrow - 1
American Coot - 2
American Goldeneye - 2

We spent time examining a gull at Andrews with bubble gum pink legs as a possible Thayer's...

Barbara Volkle

Pink-footed Goose Chase Successful

Dear Friends,

Our BBC trip from Riverside MBTA station for both the Pink-footed Goose and the Barnacle Goose was successful. Thanks to Leslie Kramer and Jim McCoy for lining up and sending the message for the Pink-footed across from Apple Valley Montessori School, not too far west of Nine Acre Corner on Rte. 117 in Sudbury. Along with others helping us, we lined up the bird for MANY other people. Everyone was very careful and even fire fighters came out to see the Pink-footed.  The bird was still there at 1:20 PM. We headed off for Acton and the Barnacle Goose. It was not on Wetherbee Road but we relocated it on School Street within a 100 yards of Rte. 2.  A lot of people, many from out of state, picked up at least one life bird today.

(Photo Jason Forbes from 11/20)

Good birding, everyone!

Bill Drummond

Boston November 21

From Bob Stymeist (all pictures by Bob):

 

Today (Sunday, Nov 21) three friends joined me on a Brookline Bird Club trip  to many inner city parks in Boston. We started at Christopher Columbus Park to visit the resident Lesser Black-backed Gull, then on to the Rose Kennedy Greenway (RKG) to the Public Garden (PG), the Fenway, Olmsted Park, Jamaica Pond, Arnold Arboretum, Franklin Park, Forest Hills, Boston Nature Center (BNC) and ended the day at Chestnut Hill Reservoir and Chandler Pond in Brighton. Pretty windy and cold temperatures kept the number of species down to 47 species.

Boston 7:15-4:30PM  37-44F

Canada Goose  223

Mute Swan   5

Am. Black Duck  29

Mallard  207

scaup, sp   4

Bufflehead  4

Hooded Merganser  31

Ruddy Duck  30

Double crested Cormorant  3

Great Blue Heron  7

Cooper's Hawk   4

Red-tailed Hawk  9

Peregrine Falcon  2   (spectacular dive from top of International Place to Fort Point Channel- success with -best guess- a Starling)

American Coot  30

Ring-billed, Herring gulls

Lesser Black-backed Gull  1  

Great Black-backed Gull 4

Rock Pigeon  141

Mourning Dove  9

BARRED OWL  1  (Fenway- The Fenway in Willow tree) 

Belted Kingfisher  (Chandler Pond)

Red-bellied Woodpecker  4

Downy Woodpecker  4

Blue Jay  35 American Crow  245

Fish Crow  22

Chickadee  28

Titmouse 16

Red breasted Nuthatch  1

White-breasted Nuthatch 16

Carolina Wren  1

Golden-crowned Kinglet  2

Hermit Thrush  3 (1-RKG, 2-PG)  http://www.flickr.com/photos/rstymeist/5196434543/in/photostream/

American Robin 110

Mockingbird  7

Starling  55

Palm Warbler  1 (FVG)

Field Sparrow  1 (BNC)

Fox Sparrow  1 (FHC)

Song Sparrow  38

Swamp Sparrow  1 (RKG)

white-crowned Sparrow  1 (BNC)

Dark-eyed Junco  70

Cardinal  20

House Finch  14

Goldfinch  36

House Sparrow  28

November Pelagic

This past Saturday (November 13), 60 hearty souls participated in yet another EXTREMELY successful Brookline Bird Club EXTREME Pelagic trip. Offshore forecasts were not favorable with 10+ foot seas and winds forecasted to be gusting to 20 knots, but after consultation with the crew of the Helen H, the trip was confirmed.  I think that everyone on board would agree that it was worth it!  While the seas did hold high, Captain Joe deftly manipulated our course to make it as comfortable as possible.  We had a drip of Menhaden Oil going for most of the time and were constantly chumming which brought thousands of birds into the back of the boat, providing excellent views and excellent photographic opportunities! (See the links below).  The whale show, with 33 Humpback Whales feeding mostly in one small area, was spectacular!

Steve Mirick has posted a few links to the track of our journey and I include his links here:

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image

or for those who use Google Earth:

kmz file

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As can be seen from these links, the trip took us across Nantucket Sound to the south tip of South Monomoy.  We then proceeded around the east side of the Monomoy and well east of Chatham to the productive ishing areas east of Pollock Rip.  We looped around and came back into Nantucket Sound around 230pm.

The avian highlights were numerous.  The most exciting find of the day was a Great Skua.  This is only the third time we have recorded this species on the BBC Extreme Pelagics.  The bird was in view for sometime and almost all on board were able to see the bird.  Excellent images of this bird were obtained including the following:

Ryan Schain 1

Ryan Schain 2

Luke Seitz

A first winter Little Gull was another exciting find and a first for many people on board!  This bird was spotted just off the south tip of South Monomoy.  Great views were had by all.

Jeremiah Trimble

Luke Seitz

Our successful chumming led to a constant group of up to several hundred large gulls (and tubenoses) following the vessel.  Amongst these birds were at least 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 5 Iceland Gulls and one presumed hybrid Herring X Lesser Black-backed Gull!  All of these gave amazing views and presented excellent photographic opportunities.

Iceland Gull:

Jeremiah Trimble 1

Jeremiah Trimble 2

Ryan Schain

Lesser Black-backed Gull:

Jeremiah Trimble

Luke Seitz 1

Luke Seitz 2

Herring X Lesser Black-backed Gull:

Jeremiah Trimble

Luke Seitz

The most amazing SIGHT of the day was the massive congregations of sea ducks in the waters surrounding South Monomoy.  These flocks were mostly made up of Common Eider but included large numbers of scoters, particularly White-winged Scoters.  Counting from sea level was just impossible, however, we tried to come up with reasonable, conservative estimates based on photographs of the larger congregations. This effort led to the following estimates:

Common Eider: 350,000+
White-winged Scoter: 16750
Surf Scoter: 3200
scoter sp.: 10,000

Although our encounters with tubenoses took some time to get started, in the end, we were treated to spectacle of Great Shearwaters and Northern Fulmar.  As well, we saw at least 3 Manx Shearwaters (It is getting a bit late for this species).  Squadrons of Great Shearwaters were visible much of time we were at the eastern edge of our track (east of Pollack Rip).  Norther Fulmar were constantly in view in this area as well.  Of the 45 Northern Fulmar that we had, only two of these were dark-morph birds (as is typical in the North Atlantic).

Tubenoses:

Great Shearwater: 2800+

Luke Seitz 1

Luke Seitz 2

Manx Shearwater: 3+

Jeremiah Trimble

Northern Fulmar: 45

Jeremiah Trimble 1

Luke Seitz

Jeremiah Trimble 2

Jeremiah Trimble 3

Ryan Schain

One of our major hopes on these late season trips is getting good views of alcids.  Unfortunately, conditions were just about as bad as they could have been for observing these tiny birds at sea.  The huge waves made detecting them very tough. STILL, we were able to get excellent views of a flock of 4 Dovekies both sitting on the water and flying! We also saw 27 Razorbills.

Jeremiah Trimble

Ryan Schain

Luke Seitz

For those interested in more images here are a few sites from photographers on board.  I am sure that there are many more photographers who will be posting images (I hope!):

Luke Seitz

Jeremiah Trimble

Ryan Schain

Myer Bornstein

Margo Goetschkes

Alex Burdo

I am including here a complete list of birds seen during the trip.For those on board (or others interested), we have broken down the day's trip into several legs and posted them to eBird.  If participants want me to share these lists with them, please email me your eBird USERNAME!  There are 4 separate lists.

BBC Extreme Pelagic totals - 13 November 2010:
Canada Goose (25)
Brant (26)
American Black Duck (3)
Mallard (32)
Common Eider (350,000+)
Surf Scoter (4500)
Surf/Black Scoter (1500)
White-winged Scoter (16750)
Black Scoter (600)
Scoter sp (10000+)
Long-tailed Duck (4500)
Bufflehead (15)
Red-breasted Merganser (250)
Red-throated Loon (5)
Common Loon (32)
Northern Fulmar (45)
Great Shearwater (2800)
Manx Shearwater (3+)
Double-crested Cormorant (3)
Great Cormorant (2)
Northern Gannet (~300)
Great Blue Heron (1)
Northern Harrier (2)
Large falcon sp. (1)
Phalarope sp. (1)
Black-legged Kittiwake (275)
Bonaparte's Gull (35)
Little Gull (1)
Ring-billed Gull (1)
Herring Gull (1400+)
Iceland Gull (1 ad., 2 1w)
Lesser Black-backed Gull (3 ad., 1 3w, 2-3 1w)
Great Black-backed Gull (350+)
Common Tern (15)
Great Skua (1)
Dovekie (4)
Razorbill (27)
Rock Pigeon
Belted Kingfisher (1)
American Crow (14)
 
Mammals:
Humpback Whale - 33 - An incredible show of Humpback Whales well east of Chatham, most congregated in one small area!  Some were bubble feeding right near the boat and lunge feeding!

Minke Whale - 3+
Gray Seals - huge hall out on the south tip of South Monomoy.

I also wanted to take this chance to thank again the Brookline Bird Club for sponsoring these trips, Ida Giriunas for organizing (THREE CHEERS for Ida!) them and for my fellow leaders for all the hard work they put in out there! Joe Huckemeyer and the crew of the Helen H as always did a great job shuttling us about, thanks!

Finally, thanks as well to all the participants on board. It was a fun, learning experience!

Hope to see you on one of next year's trips.

Good birding,
Jeremiah Trimble
Cambridge, MA

All images copyright Margo Goetschkes

New Hampshire Coast November 2010

Steve Mirick's Report:

Notes:     All day field trip with the Brookline Bird Club

8:00 AM to 3:00 PM 22 participants Overcast and cold 38-44F winds NNW 15 to 20 knots. High seas (8-9 feet offshore at Jeffrey's Ledge) made offshore viewing of ducks on water more difficult. Number of species:     64

Coastal coverage including Hampton Harbor, Hampton Beach State Park, Bicentennial Park, Eel Pond, Ragged Neck, Odiorne Point State Park, and the Urban Forestry Center.  Finishing trip to Salisbury for staked out Saw-whet Owl.  Very difficult day for land birds with very almost none at Odiorne and very few at Urban Forestry Center in stark contrast to recent days.

Complete list with a few great photos taken by Len Medlock:

Canada Goose

Mute Swan

American Black Duck

Mallard

Northern Pintail     1     One female/imm. male seen for 2nd day in a row SITTING WITH ROOSTING GULLS IN HAMPTON BEACH STATE PARK.  Very odd location.

Common Eider

HARLEQUIN DUCK     2     Pair picked out by Judith Silver at Odiorne Point State Park.  I believe this is my first record for this location. A hard bird to find in NH.

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Black Scoter     All three species of scoters in good numbers off Hampton Beach, but hard to pick out in high seas.

Long-tailed Duck     Several from Bicentennial Park.

Bufflehead     Several in Eel Pond.

Red-breasted Merganser

Red-throated Loon

Common Loon

Pied-billed Grebe     2     Two in Eel Pond.

Horned Grebe     Apparently one seen in Hampton harbor that I did not see.

Red-necked Grebe     Two together at Odiorne.

Northern Gannet     Mostly distant views, but a few relatively close birds from Odiorne.

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Turkey Vulture     1     One at Urban Forestry Center.

Northern Harrier     1     One seen migrating in from offshore at Odiorne.

Sharp-shinned Hawk     1

Red-tailed Hawk

Merlin     1

American Coot     Several on Eel Pond.

Black-bellied Plover     85     Good number for date roosting in Hampton Beach State Park.

Semipalmated Plover     2     Two lingering on Hampton Beach.

Sanderling

SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER     1     One late bird with other roosting shorebirds at Hampton Beach State Park.

Purple Sandpiper     3     Nice view of three on breakwater at Rye Harbor.

Dunlin     Large number (200+) roosting in Hampton Beach State Park.

Bonaparte's Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

ICELAND GULL     1     First winter bird continues in Hampton harbor. Our first of winter.

LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL     1     One 3rd winter bird in Hampton harbor picked out by Lauren Kras.

COMMON TERN     1     Very surprising sighting of bird flying out of Hampton harbor inlet from Hampton Beach State Park.  Picked out by Ben Griffith.  Our first since September 21st!  I believe my latest NH record by one day!

Rock Pigeon

Downy Woodpecker

Blue Jay

American Crow

Horned Lark

Black-capped Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch     2     Both at Urban Forestry Center.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Brown Creeper     1     Nice views of one at Odiorne.

Carolina Wren     1     One heard near Eel Pond.

Golden-crowned Kinglet     1     Only one for day seen coming in from offshore and landing in American Beach Grass at Hampton Beach State Park!

American Robin

Northern Mockingbird

European Starling

Yellow-rumped Warbler     Remarkably hard to find.  Only one or two fly overs.

Savannah Sparrow (Ipswich)     1     One in Beach Grass at Hampton Beach State Park.

Song Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco     1     One seen in wrack line at Ragged Neck!

Snow Bunting     200     Much fewer than yesterday when 780 counted at Hampton Beach State Park in one flock!  Yesterday's was my largest single flock I've ever counted.  For the fun of it, Jane and I actually counted the flock with some stitched photos last night and got the 780.

Northern Cardinal

Brown-headed Cowbird     Small flock noted along Route 1A in Rye.

House Finch

American Goldfinch

House Sparrow

And the last bird of the day.......down at Salisbury Beach State Reservation in Salisbury, MA:

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NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL - 1 roosting low in pines.