Trip Highlights

Eight members met up in the Northampton commuter lot on Old Ferry Rd at 10:00 AM.  The forecast called for the rain to settle down and maybe even stop by then, but it was not to be.  

We headed to the Honey Pot in Hadley to search for the reported Northern Shrike.  The bird was not in the landfill area, one of the spots it had been seen, so we regrouped on Cemetery Rd for a walk down the dike to the river to check out another location of reported shrike sightings.  No birds were moving around, and the rain was still coming down lightly, but persistently.  Well after arriving at the river, the skies lightened up, the rain stopped, and the birds began to appear.

Donna found a Northern Harrier across the field, perched in a tree to our south.  We all got scope looks, later the same harrier was found perched on a fence, giving us much closer views.  A Common Merganser was spotted on the river and a Merlin perched high in a tree on the far side of the river.  We heard Horned Larks fly over many times and spotted three groups that totaled to approximately 150 birds.  

When we turned around to head back down the dike, there was a bird perched atop a large leafless tree.  It resembled a Mockingbird, but the posture was upright.  We hurried to get a scope view and it was the immature Northern Shrike, our target bird for the trip.  Lois was able to capture the bird in a photo. If you click on the photo and look closely, you can see the tell-tale hook on the shrike's beak. Now all of us were smiling, but more awaited.  As we were saying our goodbyes, 3 Bald Eagles came into view to put frosting on the cake of a well-planned hotline trip.   See complete list below.

What better way to start the new year than by venturing out for a day of coastal birding.  Six members were game to go, and rather than follow the scheduled route of birding Falmouth, Sandwich and Plymouth, we checked the latest rare bird reports and decided to head straight to Eastham.  A Western Kingbird was the draw, and the views of the kingbird were plenty of reward for the extra drive, but we were also rewarded with eye-dropping views of a Lark Sparrow and four Savannah Sparrows, perched all together in low vegetation on the visitor center grounds.

With some advice from local birders, we went to Herring Pond next, also in Eastham, and counted large numbers of many types of waterfowl, including 58 Ring-necked Ducks, 26 Ruddy Ducks, 20 Wigeon, 15 Red-breasted and 12 Hooded Mergansers, 5 Bufflehead and one stunning male Redhead Duck. At Town Cove in Orleans, we added 2 Belted Kingfishers, a Coot, 4 Gadwall, 5 Greater Scaup, and 25 Black Ducks.  That completed our pond birding, but we were anxious to see what the ocean waters held for us.  

We headed to Nauset Beach on the Nantucket Sound side of the Cape, where the waters were calm and the sky was eerie, as New England was expecting a northeaster to begin that evening.  Maybe the Razorbills knew, because we counted 55 of them spread out, mostly in small groups. Also there were 5 Red-throated and 2 Common Loons, 10 Gannets relatively close in and diving for food, 45 Black Scoters and single digit presence of White-winged and Surf Scoters, as well as Long-tailed Ducks.

From there we drove north to bird the bay side of the Cape, with the first stop being Corporation Beach in Dennis.  The number of seabirds was not quite as impressive, but the variety was good, and we added Horned Grebe to the day’s list.  We traveled just a short way to visit Dennis Chapin Beach and it turned out to be a perfect choice.  The tide was still out and the beach stretched far out into the bay.  There were over a hundred Dunlin, some close in, some farther away.  With the more distant Dunlin were over 50 Sanderlings, and very close in were two Black-belled Plovers.  As we packed up our scopes and walked back to the parking lot, one of us notice a Red Fox making its way across our path, and then we all saw a second Red Fox follow in pursuit.

We were hoping to get on the road early in an effort to beat the snowy forecast, but there was one last spot in the offing and that was Town Neck Rd in Sandwich.  We found the Treehouse Brewery parking lot to be quite busy, with just a few spaces available.  There was a large raft of Common Eider not far offshore, 5 Razorbills, some Black, White-winged and Surf Scoters, a dozen or so Red-breasted Mergansers, one Goldeneye and over 50 Robins flying about the hedge at the edge of the lot and swirling everywhere we looked as we exited.

For a cloudy day with temperatures hovering in the mid-30s and just a light northeast breeze, it’s a wonder most of us still felt cold at some point during the day. We ended as darkness approached with a total of 54 species and many moments of laughter to make the day even more memorable.

This was our 33rd year of participation as Cobble Mtn Circle in National Audubon’s Christmas Count.  Here’s a rundown of how we did this year compared to past years.  We brought in a total of 66 species, down three species from last year, but still three over average.  Observer number was down by one birder and hours in the field was down by seven, but both were above average for the count.  Water was unfrozen for the most part, excepting some thin ice on the edges of still, shallow waters. The temperature ranged between 20-40 degrees F, the morning had clear skies, but clouds prevailed in the afternoon with a light breeze out of the S at 0-5 mph.

You could say things were ho-hum this year, with most species and numbers coming in about average.  There was one species found in a higher number than usual and that was Golden-crowned Kinglet.  We counted 35 kinglets, 5 above average, and we must go back to 2009 to find a higher count of 47.

There was also one species found in notably lower numbers than usual.  It was the House Sparrow.  At 174 individuals, it was 200 below average and the lowest number ever recorded on the count.  YAY!!!

We were fortunate to find some rarer species.  It seems Congamond always comes through for us, and this year the lakes gave us two American Wigeon (first time recorded), two Green-winged Teal (seen only one other time over the last 10 years), and 4 Greater Scaup (highest number of individuals to date). Pine Siskins had the highest count in the last 15 years at 37.  And finally, a Pine Warbler and a Vesper Sparrow were found for the first time ever in count history.

An unfortunate miss for this year was Sharp-shinned Hawk. The year 2013 was the only other count where this species was not recorded.  

Three count week species were added by Dave McLain and Kim Jones.  On the day after the count, they found 18 Lesser Scaup, 1 Pied-billed Grebe, and 1 Ruddy Duck on Congamond.

Special thanks to Joanne Fortin, who hosted the compilation and is always generous and gracious about sharing her home with the group.

Click below to view or download complete count results.

2023 Cobble Mtn CBC

Click below to view or download complete count results.

2023 SPFLD CBC Results

Nine members, including one new and very welcome member, enjoyed mild temps and winds from the south around 10 mph throughout the day while searching for seabirds along the coasts of Cape Ann.  We came to a total of 51 species for the day.  Locations visited and birding highlights below.

Green Landing and Marsh – 18 Bufflehead, 5 Black Duck, 1 Scoter sp

Jodrey’s Fish Pier – 5 RB Merganser, 7 C Loon, 225 C Eider, 1 Long-tailed Duck, 10 Surf Scoter, Herring, Blk-back, Ringed-B Gulls, but no white-winged gull present

Rocky Neck – 35 RB Merganser, 20 Purple Sandpiper, C Loon, 20 C Eider, 4 Long-tailed Ducks, 4 Surf, a WW, a Black Scoter, RN Grebe, 12 Bufflehead

Niles Beach – 2 RB Mergansers, 30 Surf Scoter, 2 Long-tailed Ducks, Bufflehead

Eastern Point – 1 Gadwall, 4 Blk Duck, 34 C Eider, 1 Bufflehead, 9 RB merganser, 1 C Loon, 8 Surf Scoter, 1 Long-tailed Duck, 1 RT Hawk, 1 Horned Lark

Niles Pond – 83 Ruddy Ducks, 16 Ring-necked Duck, 10 Bufflehead, 1 Greater Scaup, 2 Hooded Merganser, 1 C Loon, 2 Coot, 1 DC Cormorant

Elks Club – 3 No Gannet, 1 Blk Guillemot, 1 RN Grebe, 4 C Loon, 6 C Eider, 11 Bufflehead, WW Scoters, 1 DC Cormorant, 75 Purple Sandpiper, 9 Sanderlings

Stop and Shop for rest stop and birding the adjacent marsh – Cooper’s Hawk, Great Blue Heron

Pebble Beach – 4 Surf Scoter, 2 Bufflehead, 18 DC Cormorants, 8 C Eider, 1 C Loon

Loblolly Cove – 1 GW Teal, 3 C Loon, 12 Harlequin Duck, 2 Horned Grebe, 2 WW Scoter, 7 Bufflehead, 7 RB merganser, 2 Purple Sandpiper

Granite Pier – 2 Iceland Gull, 6 Surf Scoter, 1 C Loon, 1 DC and 2 Great Cormorants, 5 C Eider, 10 Harlequin Duck

Andrews Point – 7 Long-tailed Duck, 15 C Eider, 8 Surf, 5 Blk, and 3 WW Scoters, 80 Harlequin, 20 RB Merganser, 2 C Loon, 2 Purple Sandpiper

Halibut Point – 12 No Gannet, 2 Dovekie, 2 C Loon, 1 Long-tailed Duck, 4 Surf, 100 Black, and 1 WW Scoter, 15 Harlequin, 2 Blk Duck and 30 Mallards in Quarry