It is always a crap-shoot when heading out on a Whale watch boat as naturally the whales take precedence over the birds. Some years the birding is slow, limited to far off views.
But more times than not, we get to view a lot of interaction between the species. When the whales are actively feeding, the birds tend to join in, picking over the "scraps". Other times, we find large rafts of shearwaters just floating about.
This year, twelve individuals join the club trip as we headed out on the
Captain John from Plymouth Harbor to
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary for a morning of seabird watching.
With clear blue skies and calm seas (always my favorite!), we headed out past Plymouth beach on the high tide. The normally active tern colony appeared quite, but I am sure this related to the tide. A handful of terns were loafing at the end of the beach. At least one person, reported seeing a Black Skimmer, but I and a few other seasoned birdwatchers could not find it.
Aside from a few Common Terns coming and going from and to the colony and a few gulls, birds were lacking for over the first couple of hours. We motored right past a couple somewhat distant humpback whales, as more were being reported, north and east of P'town.
As we continued, east, a few Wilson's Storm-Petrels started to show up, then the show began.
We came upon two rafts of shearwaters, 30- 50 birds, but as we got closer, but not close enough, the birds tended to pick up and fly away from us. Were they Greats or Cory's Shearwaters? At this point, the light was not in our favor, so we could not be sure.
We then came upon the whales, other whale watching and pleasure boats and lots of bird action. Three to seven whales were actively feeding in the area, including three whales which ended up right next to our boat. For the next half hour, we enjoyed one of the wonders of nature as the birds and chased the whales as they surfaced bringing sandlance and other aquatics to the surface.
Several other rafts of Shearwaters were found with 95+% were Cory's Shearwaters.
 |
| Cory's Shearwater |
We finally did manage to see Great and Sooty Shearwaters, along with more Storm-Petrels. As soon as the show began, we had to return to Plymouth.
On the way back, we did see Willets and Piping Plover on Plymouth beach.
Below is a full list of birds seen.
| Canada Goose |
7 |
| Mallard |
15 |
| Cory's Shearwater |
290 |
| Great Shearwater |
4 |
| Sooty Shearwater |
4 |
| Wilson's Storm-Petrel |
57 |
| Great Blue Heron |
1 |
| Osprey |
2 |
| Piping Plover |
1 |
| Willet |
2 |
| Laughing Gull |
2 |
| Ring-billed Gull |
X |
| Herring Gull |
X |
| Great Black-backed Gull |
5 |
| Least Tern |
4 |
| Common Tern |
55 |
| Black Skimmer |
1 |
| Rock Pigeon |
5 |
| American Crow |
1 |
| European Starling |
1 |
| Song Sparrow |
1 |
| House Sparrow |
6 |
| Mike Emmons |
Ruffed Grouse,
Moose tracks and Bear scat
Brown Creeper
Glenn has been leading this trip for both the SSBC and
Brookline Bird Club many times. Over the years he has seen it all; sweltering
heat and cool rain. We got lucky this year as the temps were in the seventies
and there was no humidity to speak of. This was one of those perfect sunny
summer days, and no better place to be than out in the beautiful woods around
Quabbin. Nine birders thought the same and met at 7 am to walk the 6 mile loop
from Gate 10 in Pelham.
Besides enjoying the long walk and diverse woodlands and
great birding, we also found fresh Moose tracks and Bear scat. While seeing Moose
bathing in a pond would have been nice, the bear sightings I prefer are from a
car – so this was just fine by me!
A birding highlight
for me was encountering two broods of Ruffed
Grouse flushed on or just off the path. One hen was obliging enough to hang
around and perch on a branch for everyone to get a short look - rather than
just a glimpse at rear ends.
From the website of the ruffed grouse society I learn
that “
The Ruffed Grouse is a hearty, snow-loving, bud-eating native
which thrives during severe winters that decimate flocks of partridges, quail,
pheasants and turkeys.” http://www.ruffedgrousesociety.org/grouse-facts#.VZgsQ43bLIU. We’ve certainly had a hard
winter and I loved being compensated by this sighting of so many Ruffed Grouse!
Moths, butterflies, dragonflies and amphibians were also observed
and we all broadened our knowledge of nature. For those interested, a partial
list and some of Steven’s photos of the butterflies and dragonflies as well as
the full lists of birds seen (or heard!) can be found below.
Green
frog red Eft (terrestrial stage of the
Red spotted Newt)
Some of us weren’t quite birded out after we returned to
the cars and we carried on to Belchertown in search of the recent sighting of a
Common Gallinule. No luck with that bird, but we did add a few species to our
day list and discovered a pretty new place to end the day.
Many thanks to Glenn D’Entremont for leading this trip,
Vin Zollo for his help with the Dragonfly ID and Steven Whitebread for the
photos.
Christine Whitebread
List of some of
the Butterflies seen:
Red spotted Purple (Limenitis arthemis), Baltimore Checkerspot
(Euphydryas phaeton), Summer
Azure (Celastrina
neglecta), Northern Pearlyeye (Enodia anthedon), Little Wood-Satyr (Megisto cymela), Great
Spangled Fritillary Speyeria cybele, Silver
spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus), Little
Glassywing (Pompeius verna), Large Laceborder Moth (Scopula limboundata)
Silver spotted Skipper Baltimore Checkerspot Large
Laceborder Moth
List of some of
the Dragonflies seen:
White Corporal (Ladona exusta), Spangled Skimmer
(Libellula cyanea), Spreadwing sp., Chalk-Fronted Corporal (Ladona Julia, ), Bluet sp.
White Corporal Spangled
Skimmer Bluet
sp.
E-bird lists:
Quabbin Reservoir--Gate 10,
Hampshire, Massachusetts, US
Jul 3, 2015 7:00 AM - 1:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
4.5 mile(s)
Comments: BBC/SSBC trip
49 species
Ruffed Grouse 11
Broad-winged Hawk 3
Mourning Dove 1
Barred Owl 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 14
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 6
Pileated Woodpecker 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 11
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 2
Blue-headed Vireo 3
Red-eyed Vireo 71
Blue Jay 7
American Crow 2
Black-capped Chickadee 16
Tufted Titmouse 3
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 9
Brown Creeper 3
Veery 21
Hermit Thrush 8
Wood Thrush 13
American Robin 5
Gray Catbird 16
Cedar Waxwing 5
Ovenbird 47
Northern Waterthrush 1
Black-and-white Warbler 5
Common Yellowthroat 34
American Redstart 4
Magnolia Warbler 1
Blackburnian Warbler 8
Chestnut-sided Warbler 18
Black-throated Blue Warbler 28
Pine Warbler 16
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 5
Black-throated Green Warbler 11
Eastern Towhee 33
Chipping Sparrow 6
Scarlet Tanager 15
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 3
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Common Grackle 2
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
Baltimore Oriole 1
American Goldfinch 1
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24189137
Belchertown, Hampshire,
Massachusetts, US
Jul 3, 2015 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments: BBC/SSBC trip
17 species
Canada Goose 18
Wood Duck 6
Hooded Merganser 9 1 female, 8 young
Green Heron 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 3
Eastern Kingbird 2
Warbling Vireo 1
Tree Swallow 10
House Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Eastern Bluebird 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling X
Cedar Waxwing 10
Song Sparrow 2
Red-winged Blackbird 5
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S24189131
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
