2023 Plymouth County Duck Count

On Sunday, November 19, 2023, the South Shore Bird Club held its 14th annual Plymouth County Duck Count. 35 birders spent the day counting waterfowl on freshwater ponds all over the county. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Since we’ve had a mild Fall, all of the ponds were completely open this year.

Although many people reported a slow day, our numbers were mostly within their normal range. Our overall total (4,709 ducks or 6,751 including all waterbirds) is a little above our 14-year average. Our counts of Ring-necked Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and Greater Scaup were all close to our all-time highs. We did not have any notably low counts this year.

We also had a few uncommon species make the list. Two Redheads were found on Ezekiel Pond in Plymouth. We’ve only had this species on the count once before and it was a single bird in 2010. The same group also had a Barrow’s Goldeneye on Silver Lake.

A Red-throated Loon was found on Blackmore Pond in Wareham. We've recorded this species only twice before on the count. We also had 8 Long-tailed Ducks (another new high count) in Lakeville and a Black Scoter in Pembroke. Although these 3 species can easily be found on the coast nearby, they are unusual for this event since we only cover freshwater ponds.

The species counts for this year are listed below. More details can be found in our trip report in eBird:

SSBC Duck Count 2023 - eBird Trip Report

And our totals for previous years are available at:

SSBC Duck Count Results

Canada Goose -          1,573

Mute Swan -                   320

Wood Duck -                    13

Gadwall   -                      187

American Wigeon -          89

American Black Duck  - 271

Mallard                     -   920

Northern Shoveler    -  1

Northern Pintail       -     7

Green-winged Teal   - 141

Redhead                    - 2 

Ring-necked Duck  - 1,155

Great Scaup            - 207

Lesser Scaup             - 80

Scaup sp.                  - 9

Long-tailed Duck       - 8    

Bufflehead               - 582

Common Goldeneye - 138

Barrow’s Goldeneye  - 1

Hooded Merganser - 650

Common Merganser - 64

Ruddy Duck -             183

Black Scoter              - 1

Common Loon - 13

Red-throated Loon - 1

Pied-billed Grebe - 36

Horned Grebe     - 4

American Coot   - 95

Great Cormorant  - 1

Double-crested Cormorant - 16 

Fall Roundup 2023 Summary

 This year we found a whopping 176 species of birds consisting of over 36,000 individuals from in just our small sliver of Massachusetts from Quincy, to Lakeville, to Plymouth! Despite what could have been a dicey day with the hurricane, the weather ended up with light winds and relatively clear skies, in some areas reaching 80 degrees.

The day saw good diversity and numbers of both migrant passerines and shorebirds, and of course there were several highlights. This year we had a count first with Black Vulture which is somewhat surprising that it was our first but nonetheless significant, and a clear indicator of their encroachment northward. Also a first was a Lawrence's Warbler, which is a hybrid between Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers. Both were found by the Inland team. Another notable observation was two Red-headed Woodpeckers on the count, one found by the Quincy team (Squantum) and another found by Hingham (World's End). Due to the proximity one might suspect they were the same bird, but thanks to the excellent photographs by each team there is irrefutable evidence of two birds! Check out photos on the eBird lists for the Quincy team here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150124957 and Hingham team here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S150100476 . In that same vein, two Black Skimmers were observed by both the Duxbury and Plymouth teams at different points in the day. As opposed to the Red-headed Woodpeckers, surely these skimmers were the same two birds milling around Plymouth and Kingston Bay throughout the day, so these birds were only counted once!

Species #individuals

Canada Goose 767

Mute Swan 130

Muscovy Duck 1

Wood Duck 94

Blue-winged Teal 9

Gadwall 2

Mallard 739

American Black Duck 65

Mallard x Black Duck (1)

Green-winged Teal 39

Ring-necked Duck 4

Common Eider 131

White-winged Scoter 1

Hooded Merganser 1

Red-breasted Merganser 1

Wild Turkey 51

Pied-billed Grebe 5

Rock Pigeon 318

Mourning Dove 184

Common Nighthawk 1

Eastern Whip-poor-will 3

Ruby-throated Hummingbird 31

Virginia Rail 7

Sora 5

Sandhill Crane 8

American Oystercatcher 17

Black-bellied Plover 237

American Golden-Plover 2

Semipalmated Plover 305

Piping Plover 5

Killdeer 32

Whimbrel 1

Ruddy Turnstone 23

Red Knot 39

Sanderling 434

Dunlin 13

Least Sandpiper 20

White-rumped Sandpiper 28

Semipalmated Sandpiper 693

Western Sandpiper 1

Short-billed Dowitcher 29

Wilson's Snipe 4

Spotted Sandpiper 15

Solitary Sandpiper 12

Greater Yellowlegs 134

Willet 2

Lesser Yellowlegs 26

Shorebird sp (167)

Laughing Gull 3410

Ring-billed Gull 824

Herring Gull 3150

Lesser Black-backed Gull 1

Great Black-backed Gull 338

Gull sp (440)

Caspian Tern 1

Black Tern 1

Roseate Tern 1

Common Tern 936

Forster's Tern 4

Tern sp (200)

Black Skimmer 2

Common Loon 10

Northern Gannet 2

Great Cormorant 4

Double-crested Cormorant 2157

Great Blue Heron 137

Great Egret 251

Snowy Egret 109

Little Blue Heron 1

Green Heron 1

Black-crowned Night-Heron 34

Black Vulture 2

Turkey Vulture 53

Osprey 26

Northern Harrier 14

Sharp-shinned Hawk 3

Cooper's Hawk 20

Bald Eagle 21

Red-shouldered Hawk 18

Broad-winged Hawk 1

Red-tailed Hawk 40

Eastern Screech-Owl 33

Great Horned Owl 25

Barred Owl 10

Belted Kingfisher 27

Red-headed Woodpecker 2

Red-bellied Woodpecker 68

Downy Woodpecker 119

Hairy Woodpecker 24

Pileated Woodpecker 1

Northern Flicker 103

American Kestrel 3

Merlin 8

Peregrine Falcon 8

Eastern Wood-Pewee 8

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 2

Least Flycatcher 3

Eastern Phoebe 67

Great Crested Flycatcher 1

Yellow-throated Vireo 1

Blue-headed Vireo 4

Philadelphia Vireo 4

Warbling Vireo 8

Red-eyed Vireo 40

Blue Jay 590

American Crow 337

Fish Crow 43

Common Raven 24

Black-capped Chickadee 456

Tufted Titmouse 274

Horned Lark 6

Tree Swallow 3303

Bank Swallow 3

Barn Swallow 130

Cliff Swallow 2

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 6

Red-breasted Nuthatch 18

White-breasted Nuthatch 159

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 6

House Wren 56

Marsh Wren 3

Carolina Wren 201

European Starling 997

Gray Catbird 455

Northern Mockingbird 47

Eastern Bluebird 46

Hermit Thrush 1

American Robin 3998

Cedar Waxwing 82

House Sparrow 272

American Pipit 58

House Finch 147

American Goldfinch 182

Chipping Sparrow 117

Clay-colored Sparrow 1

Field Sparrow 11

White-throated Sparrow 1

Sharp-tailed Sparrow sp 1

Savannah Sparrow 61

Song Sparrow 276

Lincoln's Sparrow 7

Swamp Sparrow 49

Eastern Towhee 68

Yellow-breasted Chat 1

Bobolink 186

Eastern Meadowlark 1

Red-winged Blackbird 824

Brown-headed Cowbird 60

Common Grackle 5113

Ovenbird 3

Northern Waterthrush 2

Golden-winged Warbler 1

Blue-winged Warbler 1

Lawrence's Warbler (hybrid) (1)

Black-and-white Warbler 24

Tennessee Warbler 4

Nashville Warbler 24

Connecticut Warbler 4

Mourning Warbler 1

Common Yellowthroat 96

American Redstart 50

Cape May Warbler 4

Northern Parula 26

Magnolia Warbler 19

Bay-breasted Warbler 2

Blackburnian Warbler 1

Yellow Warbler 11

Chestnut-sided Warbler 2

Blackpoll Warbler 60

Black-throated Blue Warbler 1

Palm Warbler 93

Pine Warbler 69

Yellow-rumped Warbler 7

Prairie Warbler 8

Black-throated Green Warbler 27

Wilson's Warbler 11

Warbler sp (63)

Scarlet Tanager 2

Northern Cardinal 193

Rose-breasted Grosbeak 3

Indigo Bunting 2

Dickcissel 3

Passerine sp. (1)

SSBC's Assawompsett Ponds Complex IBA Breeding Bird Survey

 The SSBC Assawompsett Ponds Complex Important Bird Area (IBA) breeding bird survey was held July 25th, 2023. For the second year in a row, we had to shift the date from initially being scheduled on a Saturday to the following day on Sunday. You can pick the day, but you can't pick the weather! As a result, we lost a few surveyors due to scheduling conflicts, but still had a good turnout with 8 participants representing 5 survey parties. The survey was split up into 7 distinct sections, and some finished their surveys early allowing for each designated survey area to be covered. The five parties surveying covered a total of 33 miles on foot and a total time of 28 hours was spent surveying (total of all hours surveying by each party).

IBA Survey Area

Our efforts resulted in the observation of 78 species and a total of 1,970 individuals. The habitat here is mostly forested and as a result woodland species were well-represented, with high numbers of Ovenbirds and Pine Warblers as one might expect. Other woodland birds which are uncommon in the area were also detected like several Broad-winged Hawks, Pileated Woodpeckers, Northern Parulas, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and an Acadian Flycatcher. Of particular interest during our survey were Common Loons of which we detected a minimum of two, and Bald Eagles which we were only able to detect a single immature bird of (a known nest was observed to be unoccupied). Results can be found in the table below as well as in this eBird Trip Report: https://ebird.org/tripreport/141197 . Highlights presented in bold, species with asterisks have commentary on count below the table.

Canada Goose	51
Mute Swan	11
Wood Duck	1
Mallard	18
duck sp.	1
Mourning Dove	34
Yellow-billed Cuckoo	1
Chimney Swift	11
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	15
Common Loon	4*
Double-crested Cormorant	9
Great Blue Heron	15
Green Heron	1
Osprey	5
Cooper's Hawk	1
Bald Eagle	1
Red-shouldered Hawk	4
Broad-winged Hawk	4
Belted Kingfisher	8
Red-bellied Woodpecker	17
Downy Woodpecker	22
Hairy Woodpecker	10
Pileated Woodpecker	3*
Northern Flicker	12
Eastern Wood-Pewee	36
Acadian Flycatcher	1
Eastern Phoebe	14
Great Crested Flycatcher	43
Eastern Kingbird	13
Warbling Vireo	4
Red-eyed Vireo	39
Blue Jay	29
American Crow	27
Fish Crow	7
Black-capped Chickadee	84
Tufted Titmouse	100
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	2
Purple Martin	16
Tree Swallow	53
Bank Swallow	25
Barn Swallow	12
swallow sp.	5
Red-breasted Nuthatch	14
White-breasted Nuthatch	44
Brown Creeper	16
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	10
House Wren	9
Carolina Wren	50
European Starling	16
Gray Catbird	133
Eastern Bluebird	5
Veery	75
Hermit Thrush	10
Wood Thrush	11
American Robin	40
Cedar Waxwing	59
House Sparrow	17
American Goldfinch	28
Chipping Sparrow	57
Field Sparrow	1
Song Sparrow	30
Swamp Sparrow	9
Eastern Towhee	29
Orchard Oriole	2
Baltimore Oriole	3
Red-winged Blackbird	51
Brown-headed Cowbird	35
Common Grackle	28
Ovenbird	160
Northern Waterthrush	4
Black-and-white Warbler	3
Common Yellowthroat	20
American Redstart	11
Northern Parula	5
Yellow Warbler	48
Pine Warbler	112
Prairie Warbler	1
Scarlet Tanager	19
Northern Cardinal	35
Rose-breasted Grosbeak	1
Total:	1970

* Common Loon: minimum of two. Two birds were observed on Great Quittacas vocalizing frequently, while two individual detections were heard only while surveying along wooded trails which may have been the same individuals. Pileated Woodpecker: Minimum of two, one observation from Betty's Neck of a bird heard calling from the forest on the eastern shore opposite the pond, on which the party surveying the area heard a bird drumming. The previous week a surveyor heard a pileated which was on Betty's Neck, so that bird may have gone detected and there may be as many as 3 birds (or 3 pair!) in the area.