Plum Island & vicinity - 11/09/2013

A group of eight individuals were present for our annual fall Plum Island Trip.
Also, one of the first cold blasts of the season was present. A 10-15 mph wind was almost constantly present, which brought down the wind chill. If you could get out of the wind, it was not so bad.

Sharing hats and gloves, the group set out to find the focus of this trip, ducks, loons and alike. For the most part, we were not disappointed. Eighteen species of ducks were found.

However, the best bird was not a duck, but an American Avocet. It had been seen off and on for a week prior to the trip. So I was hoping it was still around. And it was. Originally found at the far end of the Pannes, the bird then flew in closer and merged with a raft of ducks. But all the up ended bottom feeding and associated paddling and splashing by the ducks, coaxed the Avocet to move on; luckily closer to our vantage point.

Trying to fit in...

My better side

Time to move on

Other highlights included a flock of Snow Buntings that flew right over us as we scanned the ocean from the reconstructed platform at parking lot #1. This was followed up by a smaller flock of Horned Lark. Neither of which were seen again.
 
We had hoped to find one of the Eurasian Wigeons reported recently, but most of the Wigeons seen this day were far beyond the Pannes. Even with scopes, the distance, wind and heat haze was too much to call one for certain.

Here is my list for the trip. Numbers I am sure are on the conservative side.

Canada Goose 6 Plum Island Mute Swan 2 Plum Island American Wigeon 18 Plum Island American Black Duck 75 Plum Island Mallard 12 Plum Island Northern Shoveler 6 Plum Island Northern Pintail 3 Plum Island Green-winged Teal 1 Plum Island Ring-necked Duck 13 Cherry Hill Res. Common Eider 5 Plum Island Surf Scoter 5 Plum Island White-winged Scoter 500 Plum Island Black Scoter 12 Plum Island Long-tailed Duck 25 Plum Island Bufflehead 5 Plum Island Bufflehead 6 Cherry Hill Res. Hooded Merganser 2 Cherry Hill Res. Common Merganser 1 Plum Island Common Merganser 4 Cherry Hill Res. Red-breasted Merganser 2 Plum Island Ruddy Duck 50 Cherry Hill Res. Ruddy Duck 3 Plum Island Red-throated Loon 16 Plum Island Common Loon 5 Plum Island Horned Grebe 4 Plum Island Northern Gannet 2 Plum Island Double-crested Cormorant 7 Plum Island Great Cormorant 1 Plum Island Great Blue Heron 3 Plum Island Turkey Vulture 5 West Newbury Northern Harrier 1 Plum Island Red-tailed Hawk 3 Plum Island American Coot 13 Cherry Hill Res. American Avocet 1 Plum Island Greater Yellowlegs 8 Plum Island Sanderling 2 Plum Island Purple Sandpiper 1 Plum Island Dunlin 6 Plum Island Ring-billed Gull X Plum Island Herring Gull X Plum Island Great Black-backed Gull 5 Plum Island Mourning Dove 6 Plum Island Blue Jay 2 Cherry Hill Res. Horned Lark 8 Plum Island Eastern Bluebird 1 Cherry Hill Res. American Robin 1 Plum Island Northern Mockingbird 2 Plum Island European Starling 1 Plum Island Snow Bunting 120 Plum Island Chipping Sparrow 1 Plum Island Song Sparrow 8 Plum Island Dark-eyed Junco 3 Plum Island
49 Species
Mike Emmons

 51 Species


Mike Emmons