Falmouth and Sandwich, MA

The traditional first stop on the first club fieldtrip of the new year is Sider’s Pond in Falmouth and so it was this year, too.  We gathered, 7 in total.  The weather was sunny, but cold at 20-30 degrees, with 5-10 mph winds from the west.  At Sider’s Pond we had our first looks at Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser and Common Loon far out on the ice-free portion of the pond.  We picked up songbirds here, too, including 10 Yellow-rumped Warblers showing beautiful color in the morning light.

Next stops were Salt Pond, the oceanfront across the street, and Surf Drive Beach.  The pond was mostly frozen over, but the second viewing area did have some open water, revealing a half dozen Common Goldeneye, 4 Hooded Mergansers and 2 Bufflehead. The ocean side stops gave us another dozen Common Goldeneye and Red-breasted Mergansers.

The south end of Ashumet Pond was next. Here we spotted more of the same species and Hooded Mergansers, 2 Bald Eagles and a Red-tailed Hawk.  The north end of Ashumet had open water and added a Gadwall, 20 Lesser Scaup and 10 Greater Scaup, 15 Common Goldeneye, 8 American Wigeon, 8 Coot and a Bluebird to our list.

There was a King Eider reported at North Chatham Landing, but we decided not to go that far out, reasoning more birding, less driving.  Instead, we opted to try for the reported Northern Shrike at Francis A. Crane WMA.  The bird was not to be found, but we did spot Eastern Meadowlarks and a couple of beautiful little Fox Sparrows. Feeding in the same area off the entrance road by the playing field were Savannah, Field and Tree Sparrows, and the ubiquitous Dark-eyed Junco.

At Loop Beach in Cotuit, we spotted the reported two Barrow’s Goldeneyes, one male and one female.  Long-tailed ducks, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Common Eider, Mallards, and Black Ducks were all present, as well as 10 Brant and another Common Loon.

From here we headed due north to Shawme Pond in Sandwich.  The pond was mostly frozen over, but one area in the center was open and loaded with over a hundred American Wigeon. Though we scanned and scanned we did not find the Eurasian Wigeon we hoped for.  There were a couple of Ring-necked Ducks, two Mute Swans, 20 Hooded Mergansers, and a Bufflehead in the opening, a Great Blue Heron standing on the ice at the edge of the open water, and a Wild Turkey perched high above in a tree.  A Raven and several Crows called while we were scanning and we picked up a few songbirds and several woodpeckers, including Red-bellied and Hairy and a Yel-low-bellied Sapsucker.

The next spot was not far away, the popular Tree House Brewing Company on Town Neck Rd.  The parking lot was almost full, but finding a space here and there, we managed to stay and bird a bit on Cape Cod Bay.  We did not find alcids, but we did spot 500 Common Eider, 4 White-winged Scoters, 2 Common Loons, Long-tailed Ducks and a Great Cormorant.

Our final stop, and it was almost dark by then, was at the Great Herring Pond boat launch in Bourne.  The pond was frozen over, but we eyed a cluster of at least 10 Wild Turkeys in the trees that skirt the water’s edge.

We ended the day all smiles, with 54 species and 3 new species to add to our 250-Challenge!

Click below to view complete species.