Trip Highlights

The morning started out foggy, but cleared quickly with a slow warming and light winds for ten of us who stopped along Pondside Road and walked into the Bark Haul area.  We counted an amazing 30 Great Egrets in one pool beside the road.  More spread out were 24 Wood Duck, 15 Great Blue Heron and 2 Green Heron.  A Kingfisher was working one pond and a Peregrine Falcon flashed past.  Other highlights were Phoebes, Redstarts, and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks as well as a single Red-breasted Nuthatch, a Red-eyed Vireo and 2 Magnolia Warblers.  A small flock of Purple Finches also showed up, all part of 38 different species.

The hawkwatch and picnic on Blueberry Hill had 25 people, but only 32 migrants counted, thanks to the south winds and heavy air.  The best migrants were a Merlin and a Harrier, but we did note a dozen high Broadwings and as many close Kestrels.  There were only 2 Ospreys and 3 Sharpshins moving.  Local raptors included a few Redtails, two Bald Eagles, and one Cooper’s Hawk.  The wine and goodies improved our mood, but surprisingly not the flight.  The handful of non-raptors included a Raven, a Pileated, 30 Cedar Waxwings, 2 Hummingbirds, and a Philadelphia Vireo.

Eleven people met at Fannie Stebbins to walk a portion of the Bark Haul Trail and along Pondside to see what the fall migration had brought.  Before starting out, we heard the long absent song of a Warbling Vireo, and then another further down the trail.  Red-eyed Vireos also made their presence known.  Warblers did not show up in any large numbers, but we had good looks at Common Yellowthroat, Redstarts, a Magnolia, and a Northern Parula.  Perhaps the biggest treat was seeing 2 Northern Waterthrush feeding among the muddy leaves in a dried-up pond near the railroad tracks.  Pondside proved more productive, as we found Least Sandpipers in the mudflats near the culvert, and an Osprey and a calling Red-shouldered Hawk overhead.  Everyone enjoyed the continuing extravaganza of the many Great Egrets (27) and Great Blue Herons (15) congregating in the shallow ponds.  Green-wing Teal and Wood Ducks were in the northernmost pond, and a Green Heron also lurked in the buttonbush there, trying hard to keep out of our sight.

Up in time to reach Blueberry Hill at 7:30, but met only one birder there.  We had nice walk, getting only Redstart and Yellowrump.  It started to rain just as we got back to the cars.  I returned at 11:30 and watched for 2 hours, with three migrants, Osprey and 2 Sharpshins.  There was also one Bald Eagle.

There were 14 folks in four cars on the trip to Plum Island, but the tide had not dropped enough to uncover Joppa, so we drove quickly down the island stopping or slowing briefly for looks at a Peregrine, a Harrier, 30 Great and 25 Snowy Egrets, a close Redtail on the ground, and some Cormorants.  Stage Island pool looked very inviting, but we started at Sandy Point where there was still some room to park and the cove was already open.  We walked out on the beach to the cove, getting a flock of Sanderlings, hunting Ospreys and a Harrier. With a little more scanning we added a Golden Plover alone, some Black-bellied Plovers, 3 Dunlin, Semipalmated and Piping Plovers, and a Red Knot.  On the other side of the point at Emerson Rocks we had an Eider and a Common Loon.  On our return, Stage Island was still busy with many yellowlegs, some peeps, Green-winged Teal, a Pintail, 5 Dunlin, a Pied-billed Grebe, 4 Snowy Egrets and a Great Egret.  We drove without stopping much to the Forward Pool blind, finding the small parking lot full at first.  Then the birders there left, saying a peregrine had spooked all the shorebirds.  We still found some Dowitchers and yellowlegs, a few Snowy Egrets, and a flock of Green-winged Teal.  From the main dike at Hellcat there were a few yellowlegs, Killdeer, and peeps.  We skipped looking for Night-Herons at the roost, and only paused just briefly at the Wardens and Salt Pannes, hoping to get to Joppa before it was covered by the tide.  We were still too late, so we ended the trip and headed home.