Trip Highlights

The trip was originally schedule to go from Amherst to Turners Falls, but was rescheduled to walk along the CT River for a mile in South Hadley and spend time at the Hadley Cove.  The day was clear, dry, windy and very cold as seven die-hard birders scanned the river to find 48 Canada Goose, 6 Common and 1 Hooded Merg, 225 Mallard, 2 Black Duck, 3 Bald Eagle, 3+ Redtail, and 8 RB Gulls. Landbirds were 3 Red-bellied and 1 Pileated Woodpecker, 1 Robin, 10 Crows, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Cardinal, 1 Titmouse, 3 Carolina Wrens, 1 House and 2 Goldfinch and 2 Song Sparrows. Being out birding beats almost any other activity, even in the winter cold!

The Rhode Island trip was postponed one week to this first weekend in February due to harsh weather forecasts for the previous weekend.  Six members counted 73 species in total, including several infrequent visitors to the area. Extra special highlights were a Barrow’s Goldeneye, a Eurasian Wigeon, a Glaucous Gull, an Iceland Gull, a dozen Redhead Ducks, a Tufted Duck, a male King Eider, and a Catbird.

‍Day 1 - We began the birding at Watchemocket Cove, getting 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, two dozen Black Ducks, 8 American Wigeon, 6 Gadwall, 7 Bufflehead, 6 Mallards, 14 Mute Swans, and a few songbirds.

Next stop was Colt State Park, where we found the target Barrow’s Goldeneye before we even exited our cars, and as we were leaving the Park, we spotted 300+ Brant and 28 Horned Larks. Also noted in between were 6 Common Goldeneye, 9 Red-breasted Mergansers, 10 Black Ducks, a Bufflehead, a Common Loon, 2 Horned Grebe, a Great Black-backed Gull, 30 Herring Gulls, 30 Ring-billed Gulls, 10 Crows.  

From there we headed to Boyd’s Lane Marsh and easily picked up Eurasian Wigeon, among over a dozen American Wigeon, a half dozen Black Ducks, our only Green-winged Teal, 1 Carolina Wren and 25 Robins.

After all this excitement, it was time to head to our favorite spot, Coastal Roasters, for R & R and some refueling. Next stop was Ruecker Wildlife Refuge in Tiverton. We walked through the trail system, adding many songbirds to the list.  We saw or heard 2 Goldfinch, 2 House Finch, 4 Chickadees, 10 White-throated Sparrows, a Downy and a Red-bellied Woodpecker, 2 Cardinals, 6 Titmouse, 3 White-breasted Nuthatches, 10 Robins, 2 Blue Jays, 12 Starlings, a Red-breasted Merganser and a Red-tailed Hawk.

Then we took a slow drive with several stops along the Sepowet Marsh Loop.  We spotted a few raptors, including a Red-shouldered, a Red-tailed, and a Cooper’s Hawk, and one Harrier.  Waterfowl present were 35 Canada Geese, 6 Brant, 25 Goldeneye, a Common Loon, 8 Red-breasted Mergansers, 12 Bufflehead, and 2 American Wigeon. We spotted a Great Blue Heron, 10 Ring-billed, 11 Great Black-backed, and 30 Herring Gulls and several land birds, including a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a Flicker, a Carolina Wren, a Rock Pigeon, and last, but not least, 40 Horned Larks. At feeders we added a Brown-headed Cowbird, another Red-bellied Woodpecker, a Chickadee, and 12 House Sparrows.

‍Pardon Gray was the next stop, giving us a Harrier, 2 Crows, 30 Ring-billed Gulls, 15 Starlings, and 500 Canada Geese.  Unfortunately, we did not spot any Meadowlarks, which we often get in the fields.

‍St. Mary’s Pond in Middletown we spotted 3 Great Cormorants, 100 Canada Geese, 25 Hooded and 12 Common Mergansers, 2 Ruddy Ducks, 15 Gadwall, 50 Mallards, a Great Blue Heron, 12 Ring-billed Gulls, 3 Crows and a Flicker.

‍Green End Pond/Easton Pond on the Middletown-Newport line gave us a bright white Glaucous Gull. Other sightings included 2 Mute Swans, 5 Cormorants, 45 Red-breasted and 12 Hooded Mergansers, 16 Ring-necked Ducks, 4 Ruddy Ducks, 95 Coot, 6 Great Black-backed Gulls, a Great Blue Heron and a Cardinal. At the south end of Easton Pond, which we reached driving around to the west side and turning right off the main road, we were lucky enough to spot a dozen Redhead Ducks and a Tufted Duck, along with 14 Greater Scaup and 100 Robins.

‍Third Beach gave us 25 Brant,12 Surf Scoters, 2 Goldeneye, 4 Bufflehead, 2 Horned Grebe, 2 Common Loon, 12 Red-breasted Mergansers, and a Harrier.

Always our last stop on the first day of the trip, Sachuest.  We walked the loop, turning left where the trail Ts, and along the way found 32 Brant, one Red-throated and 3 Common Loon, 3 Horned Grebes, 22 Common Eider, a Goldeneye, 16 Bufflehead, 25 Harlequins, 25 Black, 12 White-winged, and 6 Surf Scoters, 12 Black Ducks and 7 Red-breasted Mergansers. Land birds included 1 Mourning Dove, 1 Carolina Wren, 2 Mockingbirds, 5 Tree and 3 Song Sparrows, and our only raptor, a Harrier.  We missed on Short-eared Owl, which had not been spotted there recently, but we always hope for one.

‍Day 2 – At Beavertail State Park we spotted 4 Red-throated and 8 Common Loons, 100 Eider, 100 Black, 20 Surf, and 6 White-winged Scoters, 1 Horned and 1 Red-necked Grebe, 15 Harlequin, a Gannet and a possible Razorbill. Land birds were 3 Mourning Doves, 20 Blue Jays, 2 Chickadees, 2 Cedar Waxwings, 43 Robins, a Crow, 2 Cardinals, a Carolina Wren, 13 White-throated Sparrows and a Merlin!

We spent just a few minutes at Zeek’s Creek Bait Shop overlooking the Sakonet Bridge on Rte 24, we picked out 3 Bufflehead, 1 Goldeneye, 1 Black Duck, 2 Great Blue Herons, 1 Kingfisher, a Herring Gull and in the farm field beyond the water were 500+ Starlings.

‍Point Judith gave us over 2,000 Black, 2 White-winged and 50 Surf Scoters, over 200 Eider, 2 Horned Grebes, 1 Red-throated and 3 Common Loons, 1 Red-breasted Merganser, 4 Black Ducks, 1 Great Cormorant and 100+ Starlings.  At Galilee we picked up Iceland Gull (and other common gulls).  Also there were 2 Turkey Vultures, a Common Loon, an Eider, and 12 Red-breasted Mergansers.

En route to Weakapaug Breachway we saw 12 Common Loons and a Red-tailed Hawk.  When we arrived, we found what we sought, a male King Eider. The water was rough but we still got solid views. Also there were 40 Common Eider, 6 Black Scoters, a Common Loon and 1 Herring Gull.

The Trustom Pond feeders gave us a variety of land birds including, 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 4 Titmouse, 2 Chickadee, 3 Mourning Doves, 3 Cardinals, 2 Robins, 4 Junco, 5 White-throated Sparrows and 1 Goldfinch.

Six members met at Pynchon Point Park then headed to the River Rd bike path to comb the river for a Barrow’s Goldeneye that had been seen there recently.  Though we missed the target bird, we found seven Common Mergansers and three Common Goldeneye, along with a couple of hundred Canada Geese and a pair of Mallards.

From there we headed to Hilltop Farm in Suffield, CT.  Thanks to a sharp-eyed member, we were able to spot two Red-headed Woodpeckers and get good scope views without disturbing the birds.  We also picked up a Red-bellied Woodpecker, another 100 Canada Geese, 2 Red-tailed Hawks, 6 Mourning Doves, 3 Blue Jays, 20 Crows, 4 Song Sparrows, 4 Juncos, 5 House Finch, and our second-best bird of the day, a Merlin, perched atop a tree along the far edge of the field. We ended the day before noon with a total of 16 species, but quality beats quantity every time and this was no exception.

The trip originally scheduled for January 4 was postponed to the 5th due to rain in the forecast.  Thirteen members braved windy weather, and racked up 46 species, while hitting nine key birding spots.  We started off the trip by heading to a new eBird hotspot, the Rte 105/Vaughn Hill Rd fields in Rochester, where White-fronted Goose and Snow Goose had been observed mixed in with a large flock of Canada Geese.  While we missed on the White-fronted Goose, we all had wonderful scope views of the immature Snow Goose and a smattering of Bufflehead, Hooded Mergansers, Black Ducks and Mallards.  A Bald Eagle was spotted overhead and a flock of 40 Horned Larks flew over and disappeared when they landed in the field.  Next stop was Sider’s Pond in Falmouth which added 30 Greater Scaup, Great and Double-crested Cormorants, 9 Ring-necked Ducks, 5 Red-Breasted Mergansers and a Mute Swan.  Also there, were several land birds, including a Flicker and a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  On down the road to Salt Pond, we found 300 Greater Scaup and 35 Lesser Scaup, and added 6 Goldeneye and a Great Blue Heron.

After a rest stop at McDonald’s we headed to Town Neck Rd, Sandwich where we counted over 200 Common Eider, 1 Surf Scoter, 6 Black Scoters, a possible alcid, 3 Common Loons and a Red-throated Loon.  A short walk from the parking area added 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Yellow-rumped Warbler.  Our next destination was Scusset Beach State Reservation for 150 Common Eiders, 4 Common Loons, and 4 White-winged Scoters, but King Eider was not to be found.

We then drove to Plymouth and Great Herring Pond, where we did our usual stop at the end of Eagle Hill Drive.  There were no specialties this year, but we did count 25 Goldeneye, 25 Bufflehead, 5 Red-breasted Mergansers and a few Mallards and Black Ducks, plus a wonderful view of two Bald Eagles flying together overhead lit by the sun.  From there we headed to Plymouth Harbor where we had more Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Black Ducks, Eider, Surf and White-winged Scoters.  The Jetty added 200 Brant to our list and from there we headed off to Cumberland Farms for the day’s last light.  We missed on Short-eared Owl and Rough-legged Hawk, but got 2 Harriers and a Red-tail from the north end of the fields, and from the east side on Fuller Rd we added a Cooper’s Hawk, 100 Robins and 100 Red-winged Blackbirds.

Click below to view or download complete count results.

2019 Cobble Mtn Count Results