As each year passes, we see changes in habit, with nature succession, Lynnfield marsh; animal influence succession, Crooked Pond; and of course man-made change, all over. Each affects the overall number and type of species. In addition, when you factor in the weather and when on the calendar the first Saturday falls, it makes each year different and challenging. This year, the weather was favorable and we were towards the end of when the event could occur. Combined, it made for a record setting year for the total number of species, plus a new species for the event!
Seven hearty birders meet at 4:30 am at Crooked Pond in Boxford. We continued from there, going nonstop and not looking back. We birded until 7 pm, when the lack of light, new species and energy along with the onset of mosquitoes made the decision to quit, easy.
Off to a quick start, we reached our goal, 100 species by about 11:00 am. We were still in Nahant, sort of the midway point of the day, in terms of time and area. Along the way, I jokingly made the comment that we would hit 140 species this year. I knew full well, we always seem to hit a mid afternoon lull and our yearly average was 111 species. To get nearly 30 more species than the average seem out of reach.
I was wrong on both accounts, or pretty much so! There was no real lull and we ended up one shy, at 139 species! Given it was still early of the prime migration period and the area involved, I think it was an impressive number. New for the trip was King Eider! This immature male individual had been hanging out at Emerson Rocks on Plum Island for a week or two.
Close up of the day went to this Virginia Rail in the Lynnfield marsh area.
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| Virginia Rail |
Here is the list of species we had, in the order of when seen or heard. When the time is not listed, it is somewhere between the previous and next time in the list.
Crooked Pond Eastern Screech-Owl 04:15 AM
Crooked Pond Winter Wren 04:30 AM
Crooked Pond American Robin
Crooked Pond Song Sparrow
Crooked Pond Red-winged Blackbird
Crooked Pond Mallard
Crooked Pond Black-capped Chickadee
Crooked Pond Tree Swallow
Crooked Pond Brown Creeper
Crooked Pond Mourning Dove
Crooked Pond Wood Duck
Crooked Pond Swamp Sparrow
Crooked Pond Chipping Sparrow
Crooked Pond Ovenbird
Crooked Pond Common Yellowthroat
Crooked Pond Pine Warbler
Crooked Pond Brown-headed Cowbird
Crooked Pond Baltimore Oriole
Crooked Pond Northern Waterthrush
Crooked Pond Red-bellied Woodpecker
Crooked Pond Great Crested Flycatcher
Crooked Pond Pileated Woodpecker
Crooked Pond Gray Catbird
Crooked Pond Downy Woodpecker
Crooked Pond Blue-headed Vireo
Crooked Pond Canada Goose
Crooked Pond Common Grackle
Crooked Pond Northern Parula
Crooked Pond Yellow-rumped Warbler
Crooked Pond Palm Warbler
Crooked Pond Eastern Kingbird
Crooked Pond Great Blue Heron
Crooked Pond Double-crested Cormorant
Crooked Pond White-breasted Nuthatch
Crooked Pond Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Crooked Pond Tufted Titmouse
Crooked Pond Black-and-white Warbler
Crooked Pond American Goldfinch
Crooked Pond Louisiana Waterthrush
Crooked Pond Eastern Phoebe
Crooked Pond Northern Cardinal
Crooked Pond Northern Flicker
Crooked Pond Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Crooked Pond Swainson's Thrush
Crooked Pond American Crow
Crooked Pond Black-throated Green Warbler
Crooked Pond Prairie Warbler
Crooked Pond Blue Jay 06:40 AM
Route 95 Rock Pigeon 06:44 AM
Route 95 European Starling 06:45 AM
Route 95 Herring Gull 06:47 AM
Route 95 Red-tailed Hawk 06:50 AM
Lynnfield Marsh Bufflehead 07:22 AM
Lynnfield Marsh Mute Swan
Lynnfield Marsh Great Black-backed Gull
Lynnfield Marsh Warbling Vireo
Lynnfield Marsh House Sparrow
Lynnfield Marsh Green Heron
Lynnfield Marsh Savannah Sparrow
Lynnfield Marsh Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Lynnfield Marsh Virginia Rail
Lynnfield Marsh Belted Kingfisher 07:47 AM
Lynnfield Marsh Yellow Warbler 08:04 AM
Lynnfield Marsh Sora 08:04 AM
Lynnfield House Finch 08:13 AM
Lynnfield House Wren 08:20 AM
Lynnfield Wild Turkey 08:21 AM
Lynnfield Chimney Swift 08:29 AM
Lynnfield Bald Eagle 08:30 AM
Lynnfield Killdeer 08:38 AM
Lynnfield Ruby-crowned Kinglet 08:38 AM
Peabody Golden-crowned Kinglet 09:05 AM
Peabody Hairy Woodpecker
Peabody Black-throated Blue Warbler
Peabody Great Horned Owl
Peabody Fish Crow
Peabody Eastern Towhee
Peabody White-throated Sparrow
Peabody Ring-billed Gull
Peabody Northern Mockingbird
Peabody Barn Swallow
Peabody Cooper's Hawk 09:22 AM
Lynn Brant 10:15 AM
Lynn Bonaparte's Gull
Lynn White-winged Scoter
Lynn Black Scoter
Lynn Surf Scoter
Lynn Common Eider
Lynn Greater Scaup
Lynn Red-throated Loon
Lynn Common Loon
Lynn Osprey
Lynn American Black Duck
Lynn Red-breasted Merganser 10:30 AM
Lynn Common Tern
Nahant Orange-crowned Warbler 10:45 AM
Nahant Blue-winged Warbler
Nahant Least Flycatcher
Nahant Veery
Nahant Hermit Thrush
Nahant Magnolia Warbler 11:30 AM
Nahant Broad-winged Hawk 11:40 AM
Nahant Chestnut-sided Warbler 11:45 AM
Nahant Nashville Warbler 12:00 PM
Nahant Sharp-shinned Hawk 12:35 PM
Topsfield Greater Yellowlegs 01:24 PM
Topsfield Lesser Yellowlegs
Topsfield Least Sandpiper
Rowley Snowy Egret 01:45 PM
Rowley Glossy Ibis
Newburyport Willet 02:05 PM
Newburyport Turkey Vulture
Plum Island Great Egret 02:12 PM
Plum Island American Kestrel 02:14 PM
Plum Island Purple Martin 02:16 PM
Plum Island Northern Gannet 02:35 PM
Plum Island Field Sparrow 02:46 PM
Plum Island Green-winged Teal 02:49 PM
Plum Island Lincoln's Sparrow 03:30 PM
Plum Island Purple Finch 03:40 PM
Plum Island Gadwall 04:14 PM
Plum Island American Redstart
Plum Island Dark-eyed Junco
Plum Island Long-tailed Duck 04:30 PM
Plum Island Sanderling
Plum Island Orchard Oriole
Plum Island Marsh Wren 04:45 PM
Plum Island Piping Plover 05:00 PM
Plum Island Least Tern
Plum Island Dunlin
Plum Island King Eider
Plum Island Brown Thrasher 05:34 PM
Plum Island White-crowned Sparrow 05:35 PM
Newburyport Spotted Sandpiper 06:05 PM
Newburyport Northern Harrier 06:10 PM
Cherry Hill Res. Pectoral Sandpiper 06:30 PM
Cherry Hill Res. Ruddy Duck 06:45 PM
West Newbury Wood Thrush 07:00 PM
Scotland Road Common Raven 07:00 PM
The gang, minus one, at the end of the day. You would never guess we had been birding 14 1/2 hours and awake longer than that!
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| End of a successful day of birding the Harrington 100 |
Mike Emmons
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