Sunday, March 29, 2020

SSBC Social Distancing Virtual "Walks" March 28th


Note: To those who are unfamiliar, these social distancing “walks” are not in-person walks but rather a group chat where members share their experiences for the morning and stay connected. South Shore Bird Club is strict about (and very impressed by its members) adhering to social distancing guidelines, which includes avoiding populated areas, large groups, and close social interaction. We fully support members enjoying the healing and mindfulness that nature can provide and want to foster a social environment for those who may feel isolated- these walks are intended to achieve both of these goals with safety at the forefront of our mission.

On Saturday, March 28th 2020 South Shore Bird Club’s first Social Distancing "walk" was held with many participants joining in on a group text to chat and tell each other what they’d been seeing and reporting their eBird lists to the SSBCsocialdistancing eBird account. As a group we observed 110 species with 5627 individuals over 46 checklists. Many people went out into the field, which was likely attributed to the beautiful weather we experienced. Although as a group we consisted of many, we all played our part by not birding in groups and to keep our person-to-person contact as close to zero as possible. I would like to emphasize that the purpose of this is not to encourage those to go out birding in the field, but rather an avenue to be social with those that we unfortunately can’t spend time with in person. Enough with that though, on to what we saw!

The day started early, with three participants reporting two owl species from their yards predawn. Brian has recordings of the Great Horned Owl he heard, which can be found here: https://ebird.org/massaudubon/checklist/S66328453/ .  This was shortly followed by Christine and Steven at Passanageset with two Sandhill Cranes flying in around sunrise, and Beth seeing two more at Burrage.


Sandhill Cranes by Steven Whitebread
Pete reported some ducks at Cumbies along with a dozen Killdeer and a flock of snipe. Joe and Charlie added a whole different state to the equation observing Pileated Woodpecker, and a Merlin in New Hampshire

Lisa and Brian observed phoebes and Carolina Wrens starting to focus on nest-building, while Lynn observed a Pileated Woodpecker which appeared to be making a nesting hole.

From a non-bird standpoint, Brian observed a Dekay’s Brown snake, Joe and Charlie a coyote, and I observed several right whales at Race Point.

Right whale
Carol and I observed rails calling, Carol hearing a Clapper Rail over at Egypt Lane in Fairhaven, and Chelsea and I hearing Virginia Rails call as we ate the sandwiches we packed for lunch atop the hill at High Head in Truro.

Kathy observed a Winter Wren and Red-breasted Nuthatch singing at Wompatuck.

Pete played his part as a responsible social distancer, by choosing to not go to Great River after finding the parking lot to be very busy.

Shorebirds by Lisa Schibley


A brief summary of our observations for the day-
On the duck front there were Wood Ducks, Northern Pintails, Pied-billed Grebes, a coot and a Redhead. Waterfowl were clearly on the move with more than 500 Red-breasted Mergansers, over 200 Red-throated Loons, and over a hundred Common Loons. Accompanying them were the arrival of shorebirds like oystercatchers, Piping Plovers, Killdeer, and snipe, waders like great blues on nest, and Great and Snowy Egrets showing up. Eastern Phoebes, Tree Swallows, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Chipping Sparrows, Double-crested Cormorants and Ospreys are becoming more abundant, while there are still remnants of wintering birds like Razorbills, Iceland Gulls, and juncos. Semi-hardy lingerers seemed to make it all the way through the winter this year, with Winter Wren, Hermit Thrushes, Fox Sparrows, and a catbird reported. Questionable lingering warbler species like Pine and Palm Warblers were reported, and yellow-rumps were observed to be molting into breeding plumage.  Other notable species were four Bald Eagles and eight ravens reported for the day, and one simply odd observation looking at the data is nearly 300 Song Sparrows were observed!

I hope everyone had fun and look forward to continuing this tradition as long as we are unable to meet up as a group. Announcement of the next trip will be made on the Google Group. Oh yeah, I hadn’t mentioned it yet but props to all those birding in their yard!

Best,

Nate


A complete list of the birds we saw:



Species Name Species Count Checklists reporting
Brant 194 4
Canada Goose 314 19
Mute Swan 82 8
Wood Duck 5 2
Gadwall 14 2
American Wigeon 9 1
Mallard 118 18
American Black Duck 56 12
Mallard/American Black Duck 6 1
Northern Pintail 2 1
Green-winged Teal 82 6
Redhead 4 4
Ring-necked Duck 316 3
Greater Scaup 8 1
Common Eider 255 8
Surf Scoter 92 7
White-winged Scoter 110 4
Black Scoter 15 1
Long-tailed Duck 63 4
Bufflehead 233 13
Common Goldeneye 13 3
Hooded Merganser 22 5
Common Merganser 10 4
Red-breasted Merganser 617 8
Wild Turkey 4 2
Pied-billed Grebe 6 4
Horned Grebe 7 3
Rock Pigeon 17 4
Mourning Dove 42 18
Clapper Rail 1 1
Virginia Rail 2 1
American Coot 1 1
Sandhill Crane 4 2
American Oystercatcher 3 3
Black-bellied Plover 2 1
Piping Plover 5 3
Killdeer 25 5
Sanderling 30 1
Dunlin 4 2
Wilson's Snipe 12 1
shorebird sp. 1 1
Razorbill 8 1
large alcid sp. 4 1
Ring-billed Gull 117 9
Herring Gull 215 10
Iceland Gull 20 1
Great Black-backed Gull 31 8
gull sp. 2 1
Red-throated Loon 201 2
Common Loon 119 7
Northern Gannet 31 3
Great Cormorant 14 1
Double-crested Cormorant 2 1
Great Blue Heron 34 6
Great Egret 6 4
Snowy Egret 1 1
Turkey Vulture 3 2
Osprey 16 9
Northern Harrier 7 4
Cooper's Hawk 3 3
Bald Eagle 4 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 1
Red-tailed Hawk 10 8
Great Horned Owl 2 2
Barred Owl 1 1
Belted Kingfisher 3 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 13 10
Downy Woodpecker 20 14
Hairy Woodpecker 3 3
Pileated Woodpecker 1 1
Northern Flicker 27 14
woodpecker sp. 2 2
Merlin 1 1
Eastern Phoebe 15 9
Blue Jay 80 21
American Crow 92 23
Fish Crow 6 4
Common Raven 8 6
Black-capped Chickadee 66 20
Tufted Titmouse 52 18
Horned Lark 2 1
Tree Swallow 42 4
Golden-crowned Kinglet 3 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch 1 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 17 10
Brown Creeper 3 2
Winter Wren 1 1
Carolina Wren 20 12
European Starling 58 11
Gray Catbird 1 1
Northern Mockingbird 9 7
Eastern Bluebird 6 4
Hermit Thrush 2 2
American Robin 356 26
Cedar Waxwing 4 1
House Sparrow 38 8
House Finch 20 9
American Goldfinch 64 16
Chipping Sparrow 2 1
Field Sparrow 5 3
American Tree Sparrow 2 2
Fox Sparrow 2 1
Dark-eyed Junco 47 11
White-throated Sparrow 16 8
Savannah Sparrow 1 1
Song Sparrow 290 34
Swamp Sparrow 5 2
Eastern Towhee 1 1
Red-winged Blackbird 256 28
Brown-headed Cowbird 25 9
Common Grackle 164 20
blackbird sp. 30 1
Palm Warbler 1 1
Pine Warbler 5 3
Yellow-rumped Warbler 21 5
Northern Cardinal 60 25