Plum Island

We met in Ludlow at McDonald’s at 6:30 and five of us headed for Plum Island. We had Red-tailed Hawk, Osprey and 15 DC cormorants en route and arrived at the Salt Pannes at 9:15.  The water greeted us with two Great Egrets, a Merlin, a Kingfisher, one Lesser Yellowlegs a dozen or so peeps and 30+ Tree Swallows.

The Warden’s gave us Cooper’s Hawk, two Harrier, Pewee, Phoebe and Mockingbird. Off to North Pool, where we added more Great Egrets, a Great Blue, 5 Semi-Sandpipers, an Eagle and more Tree Swallows.  The Bill Forward Pool at Hellcat landed us the best bird of the day, good looks at American Bittern, as well as a laundry list of sandpipers, 25 White-rumped, 150 Semi-palmated, 20 Least, 1 Solitary and 1 Spotted. Also there were 100 Semi-palmated Plovers, 1 Long and 6 Short-billed Dowitchers, 2 Great Blue Herons and a Little Blue, 40 Great and 4 Snowy Egrets, 20 each of Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, 4 Black Ducks and 6 Mallards, 50 DC Cormorants, a Harrier sitting on the beach, a Savannah Sparrow, more Tree Swallows and 2 Barns.

A half after noon we arrived at Emerson Rocks to find 40 Sanderlings, 12 Semi Sandpipers, 12 Semi Plovers, 2 Scoters, 10 Gannets, and a beautiful Baird’s Sandpiper close and seen well. We headed across the way to Sandy Point, where we got 2 Whimbrel, 3 Red Knots, 20 BB Plovers, 75 Semi Sandpi-pers, 50 Semi Plovers, 12 Sanderlings, a Ruddy Turnstone and three species of gulls.