Blue Hills Breeding Bird Survey - 6/29/25

On Sunday, June 29, 2025, the South Shore Bird Club held its annual breeding bird survey. This year, we covered the Blue Hills Reservation, which includes over 7,000 acres in the towns of Dedham, Milton, Canton, Braintree, Randolph, and Quincy. We had 17 participants split up into 6 small teams to cover as much of the area as possible. Thank you to all those who helped out that day.

We saw 74 different species and managed to confirm breeding for 19 of those, with another 49 Possible or Probable breeders. We were able to log a couple of nocturnal species this year, with an Eastern Whip-poor-will heard singing in the early morning and multiple Barred Owls seen or heard, including a fledgling.

Barred Owl Fledgling by Laura Markley

Some of the rarer species surveyed this year included a singing Louisiana Waterthrush, a singing Black-throated Green Warbler, and 3 Worm-eating Warblers. Each of these warblers only breeds in a handful of locations in eastern Massachusetts now.
Other interesting sightings were several Pileated Woodpeckers, many singing Scarlet Tanagers, and many Wood Thrushes, including at least 3 fledglings in 3 different locations.

Wood Thrush Fledgling by Peter Galvin

The full species list is below and an eBird trip report with all of the details is available at:
SSBC Blue Hills BBS 2025 - eBird Trip Report

Name	Count	Highest Breeding Status Observed
Canada Goose	16	Confirmed
Wood Duck	5	Confirmed
Mallard	1
Mourning Dove	37	Probable
Eastern Whip-poor-will	1	Probable
Chimney Swift	49	Probable
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	1	Possible
Killdeer	3	Probable
American Woodcock	1	Possible
American Herring Gull	4
Green Heron	2	Possible
Great Blue Heron	4
Turkey Vulture	4
Cooper's Hawk	2	Possible
Broad-winged Hawk	3	Possible
Red-shouldered Hawk	2	Possible
Red-tailed Hawk	1
Barred Owl	6	Confirmed
Red-bellied Woodpecker	17	Confirmed
Downy Woodpecker	36	Confirmed
Hairy Woodpecker	6	Confirmed
Pileated Woodpecker	5	Possible
Northern Flicker	9	Possible
Eastern Wood-Pewee	29	Probable
Eastern Phoebe	13	Confirmed
Great Crested Flycatcher	35	Probable
Eastern Kingbird	10	Possible
Warbling Vireo	9	Possible
Red-eyed Vireo	54	Probable
Blue Jay	94	Confirmed
American Crow	2	Possible
Common Raven	8	Probable
Black-capped Chickadee	102	Confirmed
Tufted Titmouse	98	Confirmed
Tree Swallow	34	Probable
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	3
Barn Swallow	17	Confirmed
White-breasted Nuthatch	41	Probable
Red-breasted Nuthatch	1	Possible
Brown Creeper	7	Probable
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	5	Probable
Northern House Wren	4	Possible
Carolina Wren	6	Possible
European Starling	19	Confirmed
Gray Catbird	97	Probable
Eastern Bluebird	14	Confirmed
Veery	4	Possible
Wood Thrush	43	Confirmed
American Robin	129	Confirmed
Cedar Waxwing	45	Probable
House Sparrow	10	Probable
House Finch	4	Possible
American Goldfinch	81	Probable
Chipping Sparrow	93	Confirmed
Field Sparrow	4	Possible
Song Sparrow	18	Possible
Eastern Towhee	38	Probable
Baltimore Oriole	16	Confirmed
Red-winged Blackbird	102	Possible
Brown-headed Cowbird	20	Probable
Common Grackle	46	Confirmed
Ovenbird	80	Probable
Worm-eating Warbler	3	Possible
Louisiana Waterthrush	1	Possible
Blue-winged Warbler	1	Possible
Black-and-white Warbler	4	Probable
Common Yellowthroat	30	Confirmed
Yellow Warbler	8	Possible
Pine Warbler	52	Probable
Prairie Warbler	5	Probable
Black-throated Green Warbler	1	Probable
Scarlet Tanager	28	Possible
Northern Cardinal	32	Probable
Indigo Bunting	7	Possible

Harrington 100, May 3, 2025

This year's Harrington 100, an attempt to see or hear 100 or more species north of Boston, was again successful with seven birders and myself birding for fourteen hours for a total of 128 species. Weather and tempatures were birder friendly. It seemed that many species were early, given the date.

Birds of note include:American Oystercatcher first time seen on this trip, along with Black-billed Cuckoo(2X), Ruby-throated Hummingbird(7X), Semipalmated Plover(7X), Great Horned Owl(9X).

A non-birding highlight included watching string of Starlink satellites pass overhead while waiting for the group to arrive.

Below is the list of birds seen for the day.

 
#	NAME                    LOCATION	                                WHEN SEEN  
1	Mallard			Bald Hill Conservation Area--Crooked Pond	5/3/2025 4:05 AM
2	American Robin		
3	Song Sparrow		
4	Canada Goose									 4:30 AM
5	Wood Duck				
6	Wild Turkey				
7	Mourning Dove					
8	Double-crested Cormorant		
9	Great Blue Heron		
10	Red-tailed Hawk		
11	Eastern Screech-Owl		
12	Great Horned Owl		
13	Barred Owl		
14	Red-bellied Woodpecker		
15	Downy Woodpecker		
16	Hairy Woodpecker		
17	Pileated Woodpecker		
18	Northern Flicker		
19	Eastern Phoebe		
20	Great Crested Flycatcher		
21	Blue-headed Vireo		
22	Blue Jay		
23	American Crow		
24	Common Raven		
25	Black-capped Chickadee		
26	Tufted Titmouse		
27	Tree Swallow		
28	Ruby-crowned Kinglet		
29	White-breasted Nuthatch		
30	Red-breasted Nuthatch		
31	Brown Creeper		
32	Blue-gray Gnatcatcher		
33	Winter Wren		
34	Gray Catbird		
35	Eastern Bluebird		
36	Hermit Thrush		
37	Wood Thrush		
38	American Goldfinch		
39	Chipping Sparrow		
40	Swamp Sparrow		
41	Red-winged Blackbird		
42	Brown-headed Cowbird		
43	Common Grackle		
44	Ovenbird		
45	Louisiana Waterthrush		
46	Black-and-white Warbler		
47	Common Yellowthroat		
48	Pine Warbler		
49	Yellow-rumped Warbler		
50	Black-throated Green Warbler		
51	Scarlet Tanager		
52	Northern Cardinal		
53	Rock Pigeon	 			Route 128				6:40 AM
54	American Herring Gull	
55	Great Black-backed Gull	
56	European Starling	
57	Northern Mockingbird	
58	Mute Swan				Lynnfield Marsh				7:09 AM
59	Virginia Rail	
60	Killdeer	
61	Spotted Sandpiper	
62	Eastern Kingbird	
63	Warbling Vireo	
64	Fish Crow	
65	Northern Rough-winged Swallow	
66	Barn Swallow	
67	House Sparrow	
68	House Finch	
69	Savannah Sparrow	
70	Baltimore Oriole	
71	Northern Parula	
72	Yellow Warbler	
73	Northern House Wren			Lynnfield				8:54 AM
74	Carolina Wren	
75	Common Merganser			Puritan Lawn Memorial Park		9:00 AM
76	Chimney Swift	
77	Turkey Vulture	
78	Osprey	
79	White-throated Sparrow	
80	Nashville Warbler	
81	American Redstart	
82	Brant					Lynn					10:30 AM
83	American Black Duck	
84	Common Eider	
85	Surf Scoter	
86	White-winged Scoter	
87	Black Scoter	
88	Long-tailed Duck	
89	Red-breasted Merganser	
90	Ring-billed Gull	
91	Red-throated Loon	
92	Common Loon	
93	Greater Scaup				Nahant					11:00 AM
94	American Oystercatcher	
95	Great Egret	
96	Black-billed Cuckoo			Nahant Heritage Trail - Stump Dump	11:15 AM
97	Sharp-shinned Hawk	
98	Northern Waterthrush	
99	Rose-breasted Grosbeak	
100	Ruby-throated Hummingbird		Nahant					12:18 PM
101	Eastern Towhee	
102	Solitary Sandpiper			Topsfield Fairgrounds			1:40 PM
103	Lesser Yellowlegs	
104	Greater Yellowlegs	
105	Least Sandpiper	
106	Willet					Rowley					2:30 PM
107	Common Tern				Newburyport				2:37 PM
108	Glossy Ibis		
109	Gadwall					Parker River NWR			2:50 PM
110	Northern Pintail	
111	Green-winged Teal	
112	Semipalmated Plover	
113	Piping Plover	
114	Northern Gannet	
115	Northern Harrier	
116	Merlin	
117	Least Flycatcher	
118	Purple Martin	
119	Marsh Wren	
120	Brown Thrasher	
121	Veery	
122	Purple Finch	
123	White-crowned Sparrow	
124	Magnolia Warbler	
125	Black-throated Blue Warbler	
126	Palm Warbler	
127	Black-crowned Night Heron		Newburyport				5:58 PM
128	Green Heron	

Mike

Marsh Stomp 2024

 

Marsh Stomp 2024

Written by Noah Henkenius

Sunrise at Little Harbor Beach

This year’s annual Marsh Stomp took place on October 13th, 2024. We surveyed several sites along Buzzards Bay in hopes of finding Bitterns, Rails, Saltmarsh Sparrows, Nelson's Sparrows, and Seaside Sparrows. Overall the trip was a success, we had good numbers of Nelson’s Sparrows, lingering Saltmarsh Sparrows, a couple of Seaside Sparrows, and a Virginia Rail. 

Nelson's Sparrow

In addition to Marsh Birds, other highlights include a White-eyed Vireo and Yellow-breasted Chat at Egypt Lane Marsh in Fairhaven and Forster's Terns at the Tempest Knob in Wareham.

Yellow-breasted Chat (photo by Brian Vigorito)

Total Species (57)

10 Canada Goose

32 Mallard

23 American Black Duck

8 White-winged Scoter

5 Horned Grebe

5 Rock Pigeon

1 Virginia Rail

10 Semipalmated Plover

15 Greater Yellowlegs

48 Laughing Gull

14 Ring-billed Gull

48 Herring Gull

2 Forster's Tern

2 Common Tern

7 Common Loon

367 Double-crested Cormorant

3 Black-crowned Night Heron

2 Snowy Egret

4 Great Egret

21 Great Blue Heron

1 Cooper's Hawk

1 Red-tailed Hawk

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker

2 Downy Woodpecker

3 Northern Flicker

1 White-eyed Vireo

12 Blue Jay

19 American Crow

5 Black-capped Chickadee

2 Tufted Titmouse

35 Tree Swallow

2 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

1 White-breasted Nuthatch

8 Carolina Wren

7 European Starling

2 Gray Catbird

2 Northern Mockingbird

1 American Robin

8 House Sparrow

9 American Pipit

2 House Finch

2 American Goldfinch

3 White-throated Sparrow

2 Seaside Sparrow

25 Nelson's Sparrow

3 Saltmarsh Sparrow

6 Savannah Sparrow

32 Song Sparrow

2 Swamp Sparrow

1 Yellow-breasted Chat

2 Baltimore Oriole

2 Red-winged Blackbird

1 Common Yellowthroat

5 Palm Warbler

1 Pine Warbler

23 Yellow-rumped Warbler

2 Northern Cardinal

Sites Visited (with eBird checklist)

Egypt Lane Marsh in Fairhaven, MA

Winsegansett Avenue Marsh in Fairhaven, MA

Hacker Street Marsh in Fairhaven, MA

Tempest Knob in Wareham, MA

Little Harbor Beach in Wareham, MA

2024 Fall Roundup Results

This year’s Fall Roundup was held on Saturday, September 21st. 35 participants spread out in teams from Quincy to Plymouth to survey the entire South Shore area. Thank you to everyone who participated or helped organize the count.

Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us this year. The forecast was a bit questionable a day out, but we decided to go ahead with the event anyway. But the forecast kept getting worse and we were faced with steady rain and high winds on Saturday morning.

Given those conditions, our species total and many of the individual counts are lower than normal, but we still managed to get out and find some interesting birds.

Nate and Noah found a Little Gull in the afternoon on Plymouth Beach. This species has only been recorded twice before on the Fall Roundup, with the last sighting all the way back in 1976!

Little Gull by Noah Henkenius

The Quincy team picked up a Bufflehead, which has only been seen 3 times before on the roundup. Buffleheads don’t normally arrive in our area until later in the year, but this individual appears to have been around all summer.

Warblers were scarce this year, but Liam managed to find a few at Leland Farm, including a Mourning and a Connecticut. The Cohasset/Hull team found 4 Glossy Ibis. And Dan used the storm to his advantage and picked up Great and Cory’s Shearwaters in a seawatch at the end of the day.

Although most of our counts are fairly low, one notable high count this year was Lesser Black-backed Gull. We found a total of 15 this year, including 11 on Duxbury Beach and 1 at Plymouth Airport.

Merlin by Kathy Rawdon

The full species list is below:

Total species:	130
Canada Goose	580
Mute Swan	117
Duck sp	4
Wood Duck	75
Blue-winged Teal	4
American Wigeon	1
Mallard	564
American Black Duck	70
Green-winged Teal	33
Greater Scaup	4
Common Eider	198
Surf Scoter	17
White-winged Scoter	5
Black Scoter	50
Scoter sp	8
Bufflehead	1
Red-breasted Merganser	4
Wild Turkey	106
Pied-billed Grebe	1
Red-necked Grebe	3
Rock Pigeon	144
Mourning Dove	49
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	1
American Oystercatcher	4
Black-bellied Plover	107
Semipalmated Plover	195
Piping Plover	2
Killdeer	17
Whimbrel	1
Ruddy Turnstone	22
Red Knot	5
Sanderling	168
Dunlin	6
Least Sandpiper	18
White-rumped Sandpiper	8
Pectoral Sandpiper	1
Semipalmated Sandpiper	740
Short-billed Dowitcher	5
Spotted Sandpiper	2
Solitary Sandpiper	1
Greater Yellowlegs	43
Lesser Yellowlegs	9
Bonaparte's Gull	14
Little Gull	1
Laughing Gull	1015
Ring-billed Gull	701
Herring Gull	1626
Lesser Black-backed Gull	15
Great Black-backed Gull	476
Gull sp	88
Least Tern	1
Caspian Tern	2
Common Tern	970
Forster's Tern	65
Common Loon	23
Cory's Shearwater	1
Great Shearwater	1
Shearwater sp	2
Northern Gannet	2
Double-crested Cormorant	1725
Great Blue Heron	78
Great Egret	134
Snowy Egret	98
Green Heron	3
Black-crowned Night-Heron	40
Glossy Ibis	4
Osprey	9
Northern Harrier	2
Sharp-shinned Hawk	2
Cooper's Hawk	3
Bald Eagle	8
Red-shouldered Hawk	3
Red-tailed Hawk	2
Belted Kingfisher	17
Red-bellied Woodpecker	6
Downy Woodpecker	16
Hairy Woodpecker	5
Northern Flicker	16
Merlin	1
Peregrine Falcon	3
Eastern Wood-Pewee	1
Eastern Phoebe	14
Blue-headed Vireo	1
Red-eyed Vireo	7
Blue Jay	150
American Crow	118
Common Raven	4
Black-capped Chickadee	139
Tufted Titmouse	59
Horned Lark	1
Tree Swallow	467
Bank Swallow	2
Barn Swallow	11
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	1
White-breasted Nuthatch	19
Brown Creeper	2
House Wren	29
Carolina Wren	43
European Starling	128
Gray Catbird	217
Northern Mockingbird	21
Eastern Bluebird	15
Hermit Thrush	1
American Robin	760
Cedar Waxwing	13
House Sparrow	43
House Finch	61
American Goldfinch	32
Chipping Sparrow	105
Dark-eyed Junco	1
White-crowned Sparrow	2
White-throated Sparrow	4
Savannah Sparrow	73
Song Sparrow	100
Swamp Sparrow	61
Eastern Towhee	5
Red-winged Blackbird	295
Brown-headed Cowbird	2
Common Grackle	6008
Black-and-white Warbler	3
Connecticut Warbler	1
Mourning Warbler	1
Common Yellowthroat	13
American Redstart	6
Northern Parula	3
Magnolia Warbler	2
Yellow Warbler	3
Blackpoll Warbler	9
Palm Warbler	6
Pine Warbler	22
Yellow-rumped Warbler	2
Black-throated Green Warbler	3
Warbler sp	4
Northern Cardinal	80
Indigo Bunting	1