Wompatuck State Park - Hingham 5/9/2013

NEWS FLASH: Warbler Breakthrough

This morning, 12 SSBC members went on the Wompatuck SP migration trip led by Charlie Nims. AND, they made a major discovery: warblers are back! Despite the rain showers and flat light, we were able to tally 11 warbler species along with some other neat birds. The wet clothing and soggy feet were a nominal price to pay for some good birds. The warblers included: Northern Waterthrush, Ovenbird, Blue-winged, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, Pine, Yellow, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green, Palm and American Redstart.


The highlight, however, for most if not all of the group was a very cooperative Barred Owl. It was first discovered by Joe Scott at a distance of ~50 yds but still giving good views. Five minutes after it flew away, we encountered it again, right over the trail where everyone could get up close and personal views . A very happy group regardless of the weather.

Other highlights included a drumming Ruffed Grouse, Fish Crow, Veery (2), several Wood Thrush, Red-eyed Vireo and Baltimore Oriole.

Among the species homo sapiens, we had a nice sighting of and discussion with Ian Davies who is home from UMass.


Be sure to join us next Thursday, May 16th at 6:45 a.m. for our next Wompatuck SP walk. We meet in the parking lot across from the visitor center (Hingham).

Charlie Nims

Squantum Point Park May 8th 2013

Squantum Point Park May 8^th 2013

This was a walk offered jointly with DCR and Quincy Park Department’s Environmental Treasures program.

Maggi Brown of DCR and Sally Owen of Quincy introduced themselves and their programs to the group. Extra Binoculars were shared and then the group of 23 attendees headed out toward the spot where the Virginia Rails were seen last week. No luck today! Other than a Baltimore Oriole heard by only 2 members of the group nothing note worthy showed up until a large flock of migrating Blue Jays flew overhead.

When we got to the outermost point, we had scope and binocular looks at the resident American Oystercatchers. One of them stayed put feeding, while the other three kept circling and calling – a lovely spectacle to observe!

Yellow was the color of the day: Numerous Yellow Warblers,  as well as American Goldfinches and a Common Yellowthroat were calling along all the paths, so everyone had a chance at good looks in one spot or another. A brief drenching did not deter us, but unfortunately our persistence was not rewarded with a wider variety of birds.

A few of us then stopped again at the Kennedy Center (opposite of Moswetuset Hummock) on the way home. Here we had some great looks at two cute Killdeer chicks together with an adult.

Many thanks to Jill Goddard and Steven Whitebread for the photos

Below are the complete lists:

Quincy: Squantum Point Park, Norfolk, US-MA
May 8, 2013 6:00 AM - 8:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
Comments:     overcast, a brief shower temps about 60 F.  South Shore Bird Club Walk offered with DCR and Quincy Park Dept. Environmental Treasures Program
23 species

American Black Duck  3
Mallard  2
Double-crested Cormorant  1
Great Egret  1
American Oystercatcher  4
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Herring Gull  2
Mourning Dove  6
Blue Jay  45     Migrating overhead aprox. count.
Tufted Titmouse  1
Carolina Wren  1     Heard.
American Robin  4
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
European Starling  3
Common Yellowthroat  1
Yellow Warbler  17
Song Sparrow  2
Northern Cardinal  3
Red-winged Blackbird  12
Common Grackle  50
Orchard Oriole  1
American Goldfinch  6

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14061877

Quincy: Squantum Salt Pannes, Norfolk, US-MA

May 8, 2013 8:30 AM - 8:45 AM
Protocol: Stationary
Comments:     South Shore Bird Club Trip
High tide, overcast
8 species

American Black Duck  2
Great Egret  1
Snowy Egret  1
Osprey  1
Killdeer  3     two very small chicks and 1 Adult
American Robin  2
European Starling  2
House Sparrow  X

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S14061876
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Christine Whitebread

North Shore Century Run - 05/04/2013

The first Saturday in May is the club's annual North Shore Century Run.
An attempt to see or hear 100 or more species in a day.

This trip dates back to at least 1967, when Warren Harrington began leading this trip.
Twenty years later, I started to attend this trip, a year after getting bitten by the birding bug.
It was my favorite trip, then and still is today!

A small band of birders would meet in Marshfield, climb into Warren's van and head north.
It was a day of many stories, traditions, great laughs and good birding.

Starting in 2005, I began leading the trip. I have continued the follow the same route with a couple extras stops along the way.

As one might suspect, the timing of this trip is not prime time May. However, it can deliver an interesting assortment of winter hold overs and early spring migrants, along with a mix of weather from cold to heat.

Other times, you are kind of stuck in the middle. As was the case this year. A lot of the wintering ducks and other typical winter species had moved out, and the spring migrants had yet to show up in force.

As such, and despite best efforts, we only manged 94 species for the trip. Looking back at old records, this happens every 12 -15 years or so.

Although the band of birders have gone their separate ways, I hope those who attend this trip still find it enjoyable and challenging.

Early morning Crooked Pond

Below is a list of the species seen or heard for this year.

American Robin	Crooked Pond
Tree Swallow	Crooked Pond
Song Sparrow	Crooked Pond
Swamp Sparrow	Crooked Pond
Northern Cardinal	Crooked Pond
Mallard	Crooked Pond
Pine Warbler	Crooked Pond
Wood Thrush	Crooked Pond
Canada Goose	Crooked Pond
Black-capped Chickadee	Crooked Pond
Winter Wren	Crooked Pond
Ovenbird	Crooked Pond
Chipping Sparrow	Crooked Pond
Mourning Dove	Crooked Pond
Downy Woodpecker	Crooked Pond
Tufted Titmouse	Crooked Pond
Brown-headed Cowbird	Crooked Pond
Double-crested Cormorant	Crooked Pond
American Goldfinch	Crooked Pond
Red-winged Blackbird	Crooked Pond
White-breasted Nuthatch	Crooked Pond
Brown Creeper	Crooked Pond
Great Blue Heron	Crooked Pond
Northern Flicker	Crooked Pond
Pileated Woodpecker	Crooked Pond
Red-bellied Woodpecker	Crooked Pond
Hooded Merganser	Crooked Pond
Wood Duck	Crooked Pond
Common Grackle	Crooked Pond
Broad-winged Hawk	Crooked Pond
Eastern Phoebe	Crooked Pond
Eastern Bluebird	Crooked Pond
American Crow	Crooked Pond
Black-throated Green Warbler	Crooked Pond
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	Crooked Pond
Blue-headed Vireo	Crooked Pond
Blue Jay	Lynnfield Marsh
Mute Swan	Lynnfield Marsh
Herring Gull	Lynnfield Marsh
Laughing Gull	Lynnfield Marsh
Osprey	Lynnfield Marsh
Northern Rough-winged Swallow	Lynnfield Marsh
Barn Swallow	Lynnfield Marsh
House Sparrow	Lynnfield Marsh
Killdeer	Lynnfield Marsh
Yellow Warbler	Lynnfield Marsh
Warbling Vireo	Lynnfield Marsh
Sharp-shinned Hawk	Lynnfield Marsh
Virginia Rail	Lynnfield Marsh
European Starling	Lynnfield Marsh
Carolina Wren	Lynnfield Marsh
Rock Pigeon	Route 95 South
Eastern Kingbird	Peabody
Orchard Oriole	Peabody
Chimney Swift	Peabody
Red-tailed Hawk	Peabody
Ring-billed Gull	Peabody
Northern Mockingbird	Peabody
American Black Duck	Peabody
Brown Thrasher	Peabody
Purple Sandpiper	Lynn
Common Eider	Lynn
White-winged Scoter	Lynn
Black Scoter	Lynn
Great Black-backed Gull	Lynn
Common Loon	Lynn
Red-breasted Merganser	Lynn
Eastern Towhee	Lynn
Yellow-rumped Warbler	Lynn
House Wren	Lynn
Brant	Lynn
Great Cormorant	Lynn
Bonaparte's Gull	Lynn
Greater Yellowlegs	Lynn
Turkey Vulture	Route 95 North
Great Egret	Plum Island
Merlin	Plum Island
Willet	Plum Island
Gadwall	Plum Island
Green-winged Teal	Plum Island
Snowy Egret	Plum Island
Marsh Wren	Plum Island
Purple Finch	Plum Island
Red-necked Grebe	Plum Island
Long-tailed Duck	Plum Island
Red-throated Loon	Plum Island
Northern Gannet	Plum Island
Dunlin	Plum Island
Bufflehead	Plum Island
Ruddy Duck	Plum Island
Wild Turkey	Newbury
Bobolink	Newbury
Barred Owl	Newbury
Baltimore Oriole	Wilmington

Mike Emmons

Fowl Meadow - Milton/Canton 5/5/2013

This trip started early (6AM) and it was cold, 37F! Ten people showed up anyways and the temperature slowly moderated under mixed clouds and calm winds. The spring migration has continued to be slow. The only migrant bird species in attendance this morning were Blue-headed Vireos (2). The group had nice looks at one right from the parking area to start. Migrant warblers were non-existant, but several species that typically breed at this location were on territory in varying numbers. Yellow Warblers are in, but Common Yellowthroats (2) and others like Gray Catbirds (1) and Baltimore Orioles (0) are nearly as common as Yellows at this point in May.

Blue-headed Vireo

 Early into the walk we pass by marsh/meadow habitat, which is slowly succeeding into swamp. Here we had nice looks at a Green Heron in flight and several Swamp Sparrows singing from the cattails. A little further down, a Wilson's Snipe was flushed from the side of the raised path and gave brief views. This is an uncommon bird in the area and is slightly late at this date. Warbling Vireos were singing, but frustratingly distant and hard to see. As we made our way down the habitat transitioned into red maple swamp. We heard the songs of Northern Waterthrush, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and Blue-winged Warbler and had nice looks at a few of them. Many of the resident birds were seen carrying nesting material and one of our sharp-eyed observers found a Gnatcatcher nest! The drama was unfolding above us as the pair of Gnatcatchers were furiously trying to drive off 3 Brown-headed Cowbirds.

Towards the end of the trail we ran into a few Black and White Warblers, some of which will stay to breed in the swamps here. Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles were their typical vocal selves, but one call coming from the swamp sounded slightly different, like the "squeaky gate"call of a Rusty Blackbird. Common Grackles, however have a very similar call and we wanted a visual. Eventually, a couple of people had brief looks and were able to confirm that it was a late Rusty Blackbird (pale-colored eye and short, squared-off tail).

Blue-winged Warbler

*Compare and contrast this year's trip list to the 2012 trip on this Blog.


Canada Goose 7 -   With goslings
Wood Duck 2
Mallard 4
Common Loon 1 - migrating high overhead
Great Blue Heron 2
Green Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Buteo sp. 1
Wilson's Snipe 1
Herring Gull (American) 10
Mourning Dove 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 4
Downy Woodpecker 5
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 1
Blue-headed Vireo 2
Warbling Vireo 5
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 4
Black-capped Chickadee 3
Tufted Titmouse 8
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Carolina Wren 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 4
Veery 1 - Heard only; 'veer' call.
American Robin 13
Gray Catbird 1
Ovenbird 1
Northern Waterthrush 2
Blue-winged Warbler 3
Black-and-white Warbler 4
Common Yellowthroat 2
Yellow Warbler 21
Pine Warbler 2
Eastern Towhee 4
Song Sparrow 17
Swamp Sparrow 6
Northern Cardinal 6
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 3
Red-winged Blackbird 45
Rusty Blackbird 1 - Calling from swamp, brief views. Getting late.
Common Grackle 40
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
American Goldfinch 5

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

*Pictures by Steven and Christine Whitebread

Vin Zollo

Wompatuck State Park, Hingham - 4/28/2013

It was a pretty good trip. I think there must have been around 15 people, a good mix of SSBC & BBC members. Glenn d'Entremont recorded the numbers for me. Since the gates were locked we walked in from the parking lot across the street from the visitors center at 6:30AM and got back to the cars around 10:00AM, at which point Glenn had to leave. I then took some folks down to Holly Pond Loop Road and then onto Picture Pond. Here is his list, with my additions:

Canada Goose 5

Mallard 4 

RUFFED GROUSE 1 

Broad-winged Hawk 1 

Red-tailed Hawk 1 

Mourning Dove 2 

Red-bellied Woodpecker 5 

Downy Woodpecker 9 

Hairy Woodpecker 2

PILEATED WOODPECKER 1

Eastern Phoebe 10 - There is a HUGE tree that was toppled over the winter and it sure looks like one of the Phoebes is going to nest on the overturned/upended roots, which I am pretty sure would be a very natural location.

Blue-headed Vireo 1 

Blue Jay 7 

Fish Crow 1 

Black-capped Chickadee 10 

Tufted Titmouse 12 - pair building nest in a hollow in the crotch of a white pine.

White-breasted Nuthatch 5

Brown Creeper 3 

Winter Wren 4 

Carolina Wren 1 

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3 

Veery 2 

Hermit Thrush 4 

American Robin 13 

European Starling X 

Ovenbird 3 

Northern Waterthrush 1 

Black-and-white Warbler 8 

Pine Warbler 12 

Yellow-rumped Warbler 6 

Eastern Towhee 11 

Chipping Sparrow 20

Song Sparrow 2 

Northern Cardinal 9 

Red-winged Blackbird 1 

Common Grackle 6 

Brown-headed Cowbird 11 

PURPLE FINCH 2 

House Finch 1 

American Goldfinch 5 

Eddie Giles

Wompatuck State Park, May 2, 2013, 7 AM

On a gorgeous sunny morning that started out in the mid-40's but warmed up rapidly to the mid 60's, thirteen bird club members set out in search of new migrants.  Alas, it was very quiet in terms of bird song and bird activity.   While waiting for the main gate to open, we walked the interior paths from the parking lot across the bridge and over to Gate 9 and returned to the parking lot.  Black-and-white warblers were calling in several places, but took their time in showing themselves to us.  A few of us got a fleeting look at a perched ovenbird.  An American redstart flitted at a distance and a common yellowthroat called from the tangle but didn't make an appearance.   Singing lustily, a purple finch serenaded us and gave us a brief glimpse as he flew to another tree and disappeared.  A red-eyed vireo inched along a branch of a pine tree along the main road, but few people got to see it.  On the other hand, a soaring broad-winged hawk afforded us excellent views on two occasions.  We then drove to the Pleasant Street area where very little activity was observed, so we drove on to the end to walk the path to Picture Pond.  In terms of bird life, the area was eerily quiet, but a jackhammer provided more noise than any of us cared to cope with.  We stopped at the gate leading to Holly Pond just to listen and were rewarded with the song of a well-hidden northern waterthrush.
Sally Avery
31 species

Canada Goose  4
Turkey Vulture  2
Broad-winged Hawk  1
Mourning Dove  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Downy Woodpecker  6
Eastern Phoebe  4
Red-eyed Vireo (Red-eyed)  1     Flitting in a pine tree along the main road
Blue Jay  4
American Crow  1
Black-capped Chickadee  11
Tufted Titmouse  7
White-breasted Nuthatch  2
Carolina Wren  1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  7
American Robin  9
Gray Catbird  2
Ovenbird  6
Northern Waterthrush  1
Black-and-white Warbler  7
Common Yellowthroat  1
American Redstart  1
Pine Warbler  5
Eastern Towhee  11
Chipping Sparrow  10
Song Sparrow  1
Northern Cardinal  9
Brown-headed Cowbird  8
Purple Finch  1
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  5

Mayday @ Squantum

Wednesday May 1, 2013 06:30 to 09:30 Squantum

4 Members met on a beautifully sunny morning to explore Squantum Point Park. We first walked the bayside trail, where some of us heard a Yellow Warbler amongst the Cardinals, Grackles and Robins. The tide was receding, so we hoped for the resident Oystercatchers. They were not in those mudflats however. Along the Neponset we spotted several Brant and a single Greater Yellowlegs as well as one Great Egret.

We then followed the "hidden" path towards Boston Scientific. This thicket can often be very productive. Today it yielded more Yellow Warblers and a Kinglet. On the return we hit the Jackpot: TWO VIRGINIA RAILS and a BROWN THRASHER!

3 of us then moved on to Squaw Rock Park where we found two Yellow-Rumped Warblers and watched two Oystercatchers while enjoying great views over the bay towards Boston.

View from Squaw Rock towards Boston

 

 

American Oystercatcher, Chickadee and Blue Jay; Photos by Josh Fecteau

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way home 2 of us stopped behind the Kennedy Center for great looks at Killdeer and Osprey

Below is the complete list of all 43 species we saw today.

Quincy: Squantum Point Park, Norfolk, US-MA
May 1, 2013 6:30 AM - 8:30 AM
Brant  21
Canada Goose  3
American Black Duck  1
Mallard  2
Green-winged Teal  3
Bufflehead  3
Great Egret  1
Virginia Rail  2
Greater Yellowlegs  1
Ring-billed Gull  1
Herring Gull  13
Great Black-backed Gull  2
Mourning Dove  8
Downy Woodpecker  X
Blue Jay  3
Black-capped Chickadee  3
House Wren  1     Heard.
Carolina Wren  2     Heard.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
American Robin  32
Northern Mockingbird  2
Brown Thrasher  1
Yellow Warbler  5
Song Sparrow  6
White-throated Sparrow  4
Northern Cardinal  8
Red-winged Blackbird  7
Common Grackle  45
Brown-headed Cowbird  4
Baltimore Oriole  1     Heard.
American Goldfinch  7

Quincy: Squantum, Squaw Rock Park, Norfolk, US-MA
May 1, 2013 8:45 AM - 9:30 AM
Brant  5
Mallard  6
Red-breasted Merganser  40
Double-crested Cormorant  54
American Oystercatcher  2
Herring Gull  35
American Crow  2
Black-capped Chickadee  6
White-breasted Nuthatch  1     Heard.
American Robin  3
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Song Sparrow  5
Northern Cardinal  3
Red-winged Blackbird  7
Common Grackle  3
Brown-headed Cowbird  1
American Goldfinch  2
House Sparrow  5

Quincy: Squantum Salt Pannes, Norfolk, US-MA
May 1, 2013 9:40 AM - 9:50 AM

Great Egret  1
Osprey  1
Killdeer  2
Tree Swallow  1
American Robin  2
Northern Mockingbird  1
Red-winged Blackbird  4
House Finch  2     On gutter at Kennedy Center: Male dancing in front of female - cocking his tail!.

That dance was the highlight of my day!
Christine Whitebread