Trip Highlights

A big thank you to our leader and newer member, Will Fitzgerald, who provided a wonderful tour of Plymouth birding for seven lucky members.  We began our day by visiting Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary, exploring trails, walking over 3 miles and gathering a few puddle ducks (incl. Black Duck, Am. Wigeon) and many land birds (incl. Downy, Flicker, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglet, Tree and Swamp Sparrows, a Palm and 6 Yellow-rumped Warblers).

From there we headed to White Horse Beach, Manomet, parking along side of the road.  Scanning the ocean, we picked up 5 Surf and 20 Black Scoters, 2 Long-tailed Ducks, 20 RB Merganser, 7 Red-throated and 2 Common Loons.  We were almost certain we were looking at 2 Dovekie, but they turned out to be Razorbills.  Just down the road at Manomet Point, we added 1 White-winged Scoter, more Long-tailed Ducks and RB Mergs, another Razorbill, a Bonaparte’s Gull, 3 Horned Grebe, a Northern Gannet and a surprise Bald Eagle flying across and well over the ocean waters.  

A rest stop at Leyden Coffee House was welcome by all, great coffee!  From there we headed to the Plymouth Beach parking area along 3A, where we added beautiful views of Red-necked Grebe.

Nelson Field was our next destination, and we checked off our usual sighting there, 20 Brant. We saw several already mentioned sea ducks but were delighted to add 12 more Bonaparte’s Gulls to our list.

Cumberland Farms, entered by River St., was our last and very rewarding stop. We walked and counted a total of 7 Northern Harriers and 24 Red-winged Blackbirds, but backtracked to the solar panel area, where we stood atop a structure in the field to get good looks at 2 or 3 Short-eared Owls making their way back and forth in the area of the solar panels.  It was an excellent way to end our day at the coast with a total species count of 51.

On November 2 six members met and scoped out the lakes in Berkshire County.  We tallied 38 species, including 15 species of waterfowl.  We had 4 Pied-billed Grebes, 3 together at No Name Road; a nice male Pintail at the "Teal Hole" plus one more; many Hooded Mergansers throughout; 10 Black Scoters at our first stop on Pontoosuc; and 7 Ruddy Ducks on Richmond (and possibly 3 more at Stockbridge Bowl).  One Common Loon was seen from Burbank Park as well.  We also saw one Bald Eagle, one Harrier, and heard a Raven.  At No Name we saw about 100 Grackles flying swiftly and had a few Red-winged Blackbirds as well. At the Teal Hole we had 3 Carolina Wrens together and saw a Kingfisher.  A Berkshire Lakes trip would not be complete without a stop at Bartlett's Orchard, and all enjoyed that.

Four stalwart members gathered to explore Quabbin Reservoir and were rewarded with a list of 26 species.  Click below to view trip list.

Six members gathered to enjoy a 2-mile walk along the shores of Ashley Ponds.  Click below to view trip list.

Ten members gathered to explore birds along the Ludlow Reservoir this morning.  We spent about 3 ½ hours walking the trail and identified 26 different species.