Plymouth Day May 28 2017

Part I of the Plymouth day is the 6 mile round trip walk out to the very tip of Plymouth beach. Sometimes this effort yields some great sights of rarer migrants and newly arrived breeders.

This year our walk coincided with a historical King Tide. The sad evidence were many washed out eggs from Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus)  which had not yet hatched








A few Plovers had gotten down to business early and their chicks had managed to hatch just one day before the astronomical high tide!

Photos by Steven Whitebread

The plovers which had lost their nests were already busy with mating calls and display. The melodious piping was heard all over.

Below are the ebird lists from Plymouth beach and Plymouth Airport

Plymouth Beach, Plymouth, Massachusetts, US

May 28, 2017 6:30 AM - 10:45 AM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
Comments:     SSBC/BBC/FMSSF/Paskamansett trip  More terns than last year, but obviously still an issue with predators.  At least one nest of Herring and Great Black-backed.  Few shorebirds as well.  Lovely walk still.
43 species

Brant (Atlantic)  1
Canada Goose  5
Mute Swan  2
Mallard (Northern)  8
Double-crested Cormorant  20
Great Blue Heron (Blue form)  4
Osprey (carolinensis)  3
Black-bellied Plover  5
Piping Plover  23     2 young; recent storm caused high water and nest damage of both plover and Least Tern.  Saw eggs on plover in wet rack and at least one plover displaying as another nesting attempt.
Ruddy Turnstone  2
Sanderling  4
Semipalmated Sandpiper  2
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Willet (Eastern)  8
Laughing Gull  50
Ring-billed Gull  25
Herring Gull (American)  X     1 nest at least; this is not good for the terns
Great Black-backed Gull  X     2 nests, one on the channel marker and one in the colony; not good for the terns
Least Tern  75     widening the road the town limited another section used by Leasts
Common Tern (hirundo)  175
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  X
Mourning Dove  8
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  1
Willow Flycatcher  1
American Crow  4
Fish Crow  2     one high up and coming in from the ocean/bay ??
Horned Lark  3
Tree Swallow  10
Bank Swallow  10
Barn Swallow (American)  5
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  3
European Starling  X
Common Yellowthroat  2
Yellow Warbler (Northern)  4
Saltmarsh Sparrow  1     surprised several of us who called it out together-clearly sang once only near the beginning of beach; near a small section of cattail
Song Sparrow  24
Northern Cardinal  1
Red-winged Blackbird (Red-winged)  1
Common Grackle  21
Baltimore Oriole  1
House Finch  6
House Sparrow  X

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S37253366

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Plymouth Airport, Plymouth, Massachusetts, US

May 28, 2017 12:15 PM - 3:15 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
Comments:     SSBC/BBC/FMSSF/Paskamansett trip
34 species

Great Blue Heron (Blue form)  2
Turkey Vulture  6
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Killdeer  1
Upland Sandpiper  2
Mourning Dove  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  1
American Kestrel  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Eastern Kingbird  4
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  5
Fish Crow  8
Horned Lark  2
Tree Swallow  4
Barn Swallow (American)  1
Black-capped Chickadee  2
Tufted Titmouse  2
American Robin  3
Gray Catbird  2
Brown Thrasher  3
Northern Mockingbird  2
Ovenbird  3
Common Yellowthroat  2
Pine Warbler  1
Prairie Warbler  3
Grasshopper Sparrow  3
Chipping Sparrow  4
Vesper Sparrow  3
Savannah Sparrow (Savannah)  1
Eastern Towhee  3
Eastern Meadowlark (Eastern)  6
Brown-headed Cowbird  3
American Goldfinch  2

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S37253372

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)