Trip Highlights

There were nine participants in all for this annual fall trip south.  We were happy with our number of 108 species until I came home and looked at previous years.  It is the lowest we've recorded!  Part of it was that weather was not in our favor.  It rained on Sunday, so we didn't return to Higbee at all.  We just did Nummy and the Wetlands Institute that day.  Although we added some good species at those places (Wilson's and Blackpoll, Willet, Rb Nut), we still lacked some that we usually get.  Brig was okay, with low tide, so we saw Clapper, etc., in the channels, but the water in the pools had already been raised, so there were few shorebirds, and numbers of ducks had not come in yet.  The hawkwatch was good, with good looks, but I don't think migration was at its peak.  Highlights by day are included below.

Sept 21 – Brig had 12 Wood Duck, 2 Gadwall, 10 American Wigeon, 75 Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, 8 Pied-billed Grebe, 3 Clapper Rails, 5 Pectoral Sandpiper, 100 Semipalmated Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, 2 Long-billed Dowitcher, Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Caspian Tern, 120 Black Skimmer, 20 Glossy Ibis, Black Vulture, Peregrine Falcon, 1 White-eyed Vireo, 1 Marsh Wren, 1 Seaside Sparrow, 20 Boat-tailed Grackle, and 5 Savannah Sparrow.

Sept 22 – Higbee gave us 1 Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, Eastern Wood-Pewee, 1 Yellow-throated Vireo, Carolina Chickadee, Brown Thrasher, 3 American Pipit, 2 Bobolink, 2 Baltimore Oriole, 1 Black-and-white Warbler, 1 Dickcissel, American Redstart, 1 Magnolia Warbler, 2 Prairie Warbler, 5 Blue Grosbeak, 7 Indigo Bunting, and 1 Nashville Warbler.

Cape May Hawkwatch Platform and the Cape May Meadows had 15 Blue-winged Teal, 6 Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, American Oystercatcher, Pied-billed Grebe, Peregrine Falcon, Black Vulture, Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, 3 Cooper's Hawk, Bald Eagle, Belted Kingfisher, 5 American Kestrel, Merlin, and Little Blue Heron.

Sept 23 – Nummy’s Island provided looks at American Oystercatcher, 2 Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 1 Green Heron, 12 Black-crowned Night-Heron, Red-eyed Vireo, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatch, 1 House Wren, Brown Thrasher, American Redstart, Palm Warbler, 1 Wilson's Warbler, and 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  Finally, Stone Harbor Blvd – Wetlands Institute added 1 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, 6 Northern Flicker, and 1 Blackpoll Warbler to our trip list.

Six birders came for the walk on a warm, sunny day.  We saw a total of 25 species.  Noticeably absent were migrating birds and warblers, with a Redstart and a Common Yellowthroat being our only warblers.  However, it was a nice day to be walking in the woods and near the end we were able to get good looks at a pair of Scarlet Tanagers, not in breeding plumage.

The annual Allen Bird Club/Hoffmann Bird Club hawk watch and picnic was held today on Blueberry Hill in Granville.  We were also joined by several members of Massachusetts Audubon from Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton.

We had hoped for a big push of raptors today after the week's dreary weather, but it was not to be (at least not at our site).  Nevertheless, we enjoyed many good looks at an assortment of raptors, and several of the newcomers commented that they learned a lot about the identification of these often confusing birds.

The watch ran from 8:45 AM to 3:00 PM, on a mostly sunny day with balmy, late-summer temperatures.  Species counts are below.
       
       COUNTED AS MIGRANTS:
       Osprey 1
       Bald Eagle 3
       Northern Harrier 1
       Sharp-shinned Hawk 18
       Broad-winged Hawk 98
       American Kestrel 7
       Merlin 2
       Blue Jays 25
       Monarch Butterflies 10
       
       ALSO PRESENT:
       Double-crested Cormorant
       Turkey Vulture 2
       Red-shouldered Hawk 2
       Red-tailed Hawk
       Northern Flicker 3
       Eastern Phoebe
       Blue-headed Vireo (sang briefly)
       American Crow
       Common Raven 2
       American Robin
       Common Yellowthroat (only warbler tallied!)
       Purple Finch 4
       American Goldfinch 2

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.

The first fall walk at Stebbins Refuge was attended by 8 participants and we tallied 32 species.  It was warm at 7:30 a.m. and got more humid by the time we left at 11 a.m.  It was a slow meander and quiet for the most part.

We had no warblers - a Warbling Vireo and a pair of Phoebes were present and we tallied 5 Green Herons (they were almost as ubiquitous as the calling Catbirds).  The ponds held many Wood Ducks, Mallards, Swans, Great Egrets (2), Rough-winged Swallows, and DC Cormorants.  We were treated to a Cooper's Hawk being dive-bombed by a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  We could observe well the overall size, head and body pattern differences between the two hawks.  It was a pleasant, if slow, start to fall migration and a chance to see the changes happening at the Refuge.