Birding Plum Island and NH 5/4/07 - 3 life birds!
I added 3 shorebirds (all in the sandpiper family) to my lifelist (#242, 243, and 244), but only one was actually seen on the shore.
I started down near Plum Island, on the Newburyport Harbor shore looking for a rare eurasian migrant - a Ruff (actually, there is some debate as to the gender of the bird. The bird is not yet in full breeding plumage, making gender harder to determine. A female is called a Reeve - don't know why, sorry. The bird's head is getting blacker, pointing to a male). The Ruff was with a number of Yellowlegs and some peeps (mostly, if not all, Least Sandpipers). I didn't have an opportunity for a picture due to lighting and distance. I tried to come back later, when both might be better, but I mistimed it, and the tide had come in too far and the bird left for parts unknown.
At the same time, hanging out on a rock in the middle of the water, was a seal. (S)he was awake and very curious, but didn't do anything more strenuous than stretch once while I was watching. He was watching people on the shore, other birds, and every now and then peering into the water (looking for fish?).
I headed over to Plum Island to look for warblers, but didn't find a single one - too windy, and perhaps too late in the morning (9:30ish). The best birds were another Hermit Thrush and 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
I stopped by Pikul's farm in Rowley (about 10 miles from PI and perhaps 1 mile inland), since I had heard of a couple good birds over there. I missed the White-faced Ibis, although I did see perhaps 40 Glossy Ibis. I did find a male and a female Wilson's Pharalope. Both are birds are very beautiful - the female has particular coloring, although you can't tell it from my picture below.
Then I headed up to NH (with a detour to pick up a book for wren13). I first stopped to see my friend the Eastern Screech Owl, who was in the same hole in the same tree when I got there - yay!
Then I went over to Pease AFB / Great Bay NWR and found at my first stop 3 Upland Sandpipers. The grass just off the runways of Pease (but inside the fences) are one of the few breeding areas for these birds in all of New England. I also stumbled across (almost literally) a Wild Turkey (with an odd tag). Over at the NWR, I looked for the Wood Ducks on Peverly Pond trail - still no luck. All I saw was a Sharp-shinned Hawk going through some nice aerial displays chasing around a smaller bird (White-throated Sparrow? Too small and way too fast to identify except by the unhappy chirping). This was my 3rd Sharpie in three different areas.
A very nice day, although not at all the birds that I originally expected to see.
Female Wilson's Pharalope (on the left - Greater Yellowlegs on the right)
This time the Pharalope is on the right, of course
The Female alone
Distant Glossy Ibis
Also near Pikul's Farm - this pretty Kestral:
The Screech Owl winking at me
Here is is digiscoping. This is clearly better with the new tripod, but my current camera does not focus right with the scope. Large.
Really distant Upland Sandpipers. Trust me on this. There are two of them in this crop, and a third to the left of this field of view.
Wild Turkey (also large)
3 Brandts at Joppa Flats
Plum Island:
Canada Geese
Mute Swans - 2 (North Pool)
Gadwall - 6+
American Black Duck - few
Mallards
Blue-winged Teal - 2 north pool overlook
Green-winged Teal - 7 pans
D-C Cormorant - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - marsh loop
Great Egret flyby near Goodno.
Greater Yellowlegs - 8ish pans
Herring Gulls
Rock Pigeons
American Crows - 3
Tree Swallows
Barn Swallows - 2 - 1 pans, 1 marsh loop (both unusual areas for them)
Black-capped Chickadees - 2 marsh loop
Marsh Wren 1 heard marsh loop
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3 marsh loop
Hermit Thrush - 1 marsh loop
American Robins - few
European Starlings
Song Sparrow - 1 heard
White-throated Sparrow - 4-5 hellcat road by parking lot
Red-winged Blackbird - 20ish
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
Other sightings:
Ruff - 1M? Newburyport Harbor
Least Sandpipers - 40+
Wilson's Pharalope - 1m, 1f Pikul's Farm
Glossy Ibis - 30-40 Pikul's Farm
American Kestral - 1 Pikul's Farm, 1 Pease AFB (Hovering!)
Sharp-shinned Hawks - 1 harbor, 1 Pikul's, 1 Great Bay NWR
Upland Sandpipers - 3 Pease AFB runway closest to the NWR
Wild Turkey - Pease roadside
Eastern Meadowlark - briefly seen on fence singing, Pease AFB
Eastern Screech Owl (Greenland, NH)
I started down near Plum Island, on the Newburyport Harbor shore looking for a rare eurasian migrant - a Ruff (actually, there is some debate as to the gender of the bird. The bird is not yet in full breeding plumage, making gender harder to determine. A female is called a Reeve - don't know why, sorry. The bird's head is getting blacker, pointing to a male). The Ruff was with a number of Yellowlegs and some peeps (mostly, if not all, Least Sandpipers). I didn't have an opportunity for a picture due to lighting and distance. I tried to come back later, when both might be better, but I mistimed it, and the tide had come in too far and the bird left for parts unknown.
At the same time, hanging out on a rock in the middle of the water, was a seal. (S)he was awake and very curious, but didn't do anything more strenuous than stretch once while I was watching. He was watching people on the shore, other birds, and every now and then peering into the water (looking for fish?).
I headed over to Plum Island to look for warblers, but didn't find a single one - too windy, and perhaps too late in the morning (9:30ish). The best birds were another Hermit Thrush and 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
I stopped by Pikul's farm in Rowley (about 10 miles from PI and perhaps 1 mile inland), since I had heard of a couple good birds over there. I missed the White-faced Ibis, although I did see perhaps 40 Glossy Ibis. I did find a male and a female Wilson's Pharalope. Both are birds are very beautiful - the female has particular coloring, although you can't tell it from my picture below.
Then I headed up to NH (with a detour to pick up a book for wren13). I first stopped to see my friend the Eastern Screech Owl, who was in the same hole in the same tree when I got there - yay!
Then I went over to Pease AFB / Great Bay NWR and found at my first stop 3 Upland Sandpipers. The grass just off the runways of Pease (but inside the fences) are one of the few breeding areas for these birds in all of New England. I also stumbled across (almost literally) a Wild Turkey (with an odd tag). Over at the NWR, I looked for the Wood Ducks on Peverly Pond trail - still no luck. All I saw was a Sharp-shinned Hawk going through some nice aerial displays chasing around a smaller bird (White-throated Sparrow? Too small and way too fast to identify except by the unhappy chirping). This was my 3rd Sharpie in three different areas.
A very nice day, although not at all the birds that I originally expected to see.
Female Wilson's Pharalope (on the left - Greater Yellowlegs on the right)
This time the Pharalope is on the right, of course
The Female alone
Distant Glossy Ibis
Also near Pikul's Farm - this pretty Kestral:
The Screech Owl winking at me
Here is is digiscoping. This is clearly better with the new tripod, but my current camera does not focus right with the scope. Large.
Really distant Upland Sandpipers. Trust me on this. There are two of them in this crop, and a third to the left of this field of view.
Wild Turkey (also large)
3 Brandts at Joppa Flats
Plum Island:
Canada Geese
Mute Swans - 2 (North Pool)
Gadwall - 6+
American Black Duck - few
Mallards
Blue-winged Teal - 2 north pool overlook
Green-winged Teal - 7 pans
D-C Cormorant - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - marsh loop
Great Egret flyby near Goodno.
Greater Yellowlegs - 8ish pans
Herring Gulls
Rock Pigeons
American Crows - 3
Tree Swallows
Barn Swallows - 2 - 1 pans, 1 marsh loop (both unusual areas for them)
Black-capped Chickadees - 2 marsh loop
Marsh Wren 1 heard marsh loop
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3 marsh loop
Hermit Thrush - 1 marsh loop
American Robins - few
European Starlings
Song Sparrow - 1 heard
White-throated Sparrow - 4-5 hellcat road by parking lot
Red-winged Blackbird - 20ish
Common Grackle
American Goldfinch
Other sightings:
Ruff - 1M? Newburyport Harbor
Least Sandpipers - 40+
Wilson's Pharalope - 1m, 1f Pikul's Farm
Glossy Ibis - 30-40 Pikul's Farm
American Kestral - 1 Pikul's Farm, 1 Pease AFB (Hovering!)
Sharp-shinned Hawks - 1 harbor, 1 Pikul's, 1 Great Bay NWR
Upland Sandpipers - 3 Pease AFB runway closest to the NWR
Wild Turkey - Pease roadside
Eastern Meadowlark - briefly seen on fence singing, Pease AFB
Eastern Screech Owl (Greenland, NH)