Trip Highlights

There were 6 cars and 16 people on the trip to the North Shore.  At the meeting place in Gloucester there were a few distant Bufflehead and a gliding Harrier.   After struggling with the back road to Andrews Point, we set up scopes at 9:15, quickly counting good numbers: 170 Eider Ducks, 30 Harlequin Ducks, and about 65 Black Scoters.  There were some Surf and White-winged Scoters, ten Long-tailed Ducks, and a few Red-breasted Mergansers, Common and Red-throated Loons.  We also spotted soaring Gannets and some Razorbills.

Cathedral Ledge, Granite Pier, and Bass Rocks had more of the same, big Eider flocks, 40 Harlequin Ducks, over 300 Black Scoters, 3 Black Guillemots, Great and Double-crested Cormorants, 3 Gannets, a flock of Bufflehead, over 20 Red-throated Loons, a Goldeneye, a Hooded Merganser, a Red-necked Grebe, and another Razorbill.  We got very close to a flock of Snow Buntings and a few Purple Sandpipers on the jetty rocks.  The Point and Niles Pond added Ring-necked Ducks and Greater Scaups, 35 Mergansers, 2 Great Blue Heron and many gulls.  Jodrey Fish Pier gave us another Razorbill and a Peregrine Falcon.  

We headed north to Newburyport, where Joppa Flats added two more Great Blue Herons.  It was mid-afternoon for Plum Island, where we added 6 Gadwall, 13 Pintail and a Green-winged Teal.  Also, there, were 3 Horned Grebes, and 3 Coot.  The only hunting raptor was another Harrier.

The trip attracted 12 participants, who met at McDonald’s in Lee before heading out to search for waterfowl.  The more common species were found on the water at several locations and included at least 350 Canada Geese and over a hundred Mallards.  There were also about a hundred each of Common and Hooded Mergansers and a good number of Ring-billed Gulls scattered on the ponds.  We found about 30 common land birds notably a Flicker, two Brown Creepers, 3 Bluebirds, 6 Cedar Waxwings, and 30 Grackles.  

Our first stop was the north end of Cheshire Reservoir where there were a Great Blue Heron, 2 Mute Swans, an Osprey and 3 Bald Eagles, one an adult that perched beautifully atop a tall tree at our next stop further south on the Reservoir.  There and at other stops we also found a Long-tailed Duck, 2 Lesser Scaup, and a Ruddy Duck.  At one stop a sharp-eyed member noticed 3 Bluebirds flying over that eventually landed atop a tree, giving everyone good scope looks.

North Pontoosuc offered another Long-tailed Duck, 3 Common Loons, 2 more Lesser Scaup, 7 Bufflehead, 4 Horned Grebes, plus 3 Bonaparte’s Gulls together on the water.  At the south end we picked out a White-winged Scoter, a Goldeneye, and a Herring Gull from the Jeebe St., Lanesboro lookout.  

Burbank Park at Onota gave us 2 Red-necked Grebes after careful study and 2 more Common Loons.  Richmond Pond had a dozen Greater Scaup, 8 Coot, 8 Ring-necked Ducks, 14 Bufflehead, and another Common Loon.  Of course the day would not be complete without a stop at Bartlett’s for some yummy cider donuts, followed by a final stop at Stockbridge Bowl that gave us ten Buffleheads.  Our total species count was 51.

The walk was attended by 8 participants and yielded 20 species.  The clouds never cleared and it stayed cool and windy, which kept birds low.  The raptors held the day - a pair of Eagles, adult and immature, a Cooper's Hawk perched on a bush hoping to extract the hidden birds, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk swooping over us.  A flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers hugged Windsor Dam's facade along with Juncos.  Sparrows were sparse with only Savannah and White-throated.  

Windsor Park held both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Creeper, and a Downy.

At gate 52, a cooperative Swainson's Thrush and 2 pairs of Horned Grebes ended another fine autumn birding trip.

Thirteen birders started out on this leisurely walk along the Ludlow Reservoir hoping to find some fall migrants, early winter birds (usually this trip get first of season Juncos for many of us) and perhaps some water fowl and raptors.  For the first quarter mile we had eerie silence and no birds.  I even joked that I hope we see "A bird."  Our luck soon changed as one of our first birds of a the day was a Kestrel on the other side of the reservoir that we could see in the scope and flybys of a Common Merganser and Kingfisher, who landed and also afforded good views through the scope.  There was also a grebe farther up the waterway, but we could not make out the type at that distance.  A group of 19 Ring-billed Gulls flew by.  As we proceeded up the path we were soon surround by chip notes and calls of a number of different warblers, many of whom would not stay still long enough to identify.  What we did ID in this group were Pine, Palm, Yellow-rumped and Blackpoll Warblers (we came across another cache of Blackpolls later on as well).  A late Phoebe, Red Breasted & White Breasted Nuthatches, Blue-headed Vireo and Ruby-crowned Kinglets were also seen.  We were then treated to great looks at a Swainson's Thrush, which was first spotted about 10-12 feet from us on the ground.  He stayed visible for many minutes.  

A group of Blue Jays crossed the path and a few minutes later we hear their calls mixed with the croaks of a Raven that they must have stumbled across.  We finally reached the farthest point that we were going to and found a number of great birds, including two Bald Eagles, one fishing and the other that landed in a tree and allowed us to scope him.  We also spotted 3 Turkey Vultures and distant Peregrine Falcon along with the grebe which turned out to be a Pied-billed Grebe, a Great Blue Heron and a Common Loon that eventually did a swim-by pretty close to us, affording great looks.  At this point we headed back and found another Swainson's Thrush, a Song sparrow (our only sparrow of the day) and a group of Black-throated Blue Warblers, as well as our third immature Bald Eagle.

All in all we ended up with 31 species, not counting the unidentified warbler species that were just moving around too quickly to ID.  Not a huge number, but we did get some really nice birds and some great looks at them.

We had 14 participants and totaled 29 species.  The highlight of the morning was at Arcadia, where we had a kettle of raptors, including Red-tailed, Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks and a Northern Harrier.  

It was difficult seeing much of anything when we first started as it was quite foggy.  Once it burned off it became warm and clear.  We did the Northampton Meadows, Aqua Vitae Rd, Honeypot Rd and Arcadia last.  There was a folk festival at Arcadia that day which brought in many people, but it did not affect where we were headed so that was good.