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January
3-6, 2002
Winter Birding at Cape Ann
by Carena Pooth
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Hartford was rubbing its eyes in the gray
dawn. Crows materialized from bare trees lining the road, the reluctant
holdouts of an overnight roost. The highway hummed beneath us with
predictable monotony. Our destination was Cape Ann, Massachusetts
and our chatter reflected our upbeat mood as we approached this winter
birding hotspot. |
Like other gatherings of RTWBC friends, this was to be an informal
weekend with just enough planning and coordination (courtesy of Binnie
and Dotty) to afford us an optimal birding experience with a minimum
of fuss and an abundance of merriment. Without having established
a formal plan for meeting, we were pleased and just a bit amazed
to find all four cars traveling together by the afternoon of the
first day. Three of those cars had traveled from Dutchess County,
while the fourth one had made its way south from Maine, bringing
our friends Joan and Stan DeOrsey. Another club member residing in
Maine, Carol Jack, met us at Nubble Light on the second day of the
trip, and Chet's son and daughter-in-law (Bert and Debbie) joined
us at Mad Martha's for lunch and spent the rest of the day with us.
The remaining cast of characters included John Balint, Binnie Chase,
Rosa Corbeels, Dotty Fleury, Carol and Ken Fredericks, Barbara and
Allan Michelin, Carena Pooth, Peggy Rudis, and Chet Vincent.
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The specific points on our itinerary are legendary in the annals
of birding in the northeast: Halibut Point, Salisbury Beach State
Park, Plum Island (aka Parker River NWR), and Joppa Flats in Massachusetts;
Nubble Light and Ogunquit in Maine; and a host of other stops along
the way. Although the ABA Birdfinding Guide to Eastern Massachusetts
served as our primary book reference, we were happy to rely on Dotty's
expert guidance, built on the experience of many previous visits
to the area. Carol and the DeOrseys, as local residents, helped light
the way as well. |
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We had our share of surprises. The weather was glorious, negating
any fears we might have had of shivering in brutal winds or staring
at walls of fog in search of our quarry. Sparrows were few but
Harlequin and Long-tailed Ducks were everywhere.
Along the wooded trail to Halibut Point, we came
upon a Hermit Thrush that was clearly struggling to get through
the winter.
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Joppa Flats yielded both Common Snipe and Lesser Yellowlegs. And
on our last visit to the flats, we finally spotted a Northern Flicker,
our first and only woodpecker of the trip. Only one warbler (a Yellow-rump,
of course) was seen on the entire trip. |
 Birding
at the coast allowed us to see many birds that we don't often (or
ever) see on our home turf. On this trip, we were thrilled not only
by the number of species we saw, but also by the abundance of individuals
within many species. Along with the Harlequins and Long-tailed Ducks,
huge flocks of Red-breasted Mergansers and Common Eiders were to
be seen nearly everywhere we went. We also saw a good number of Buffleheads
and some Common Goldeneyes. And although White-winged Scoters are
considered common in that part of the world in winter, we saw Black
and Surf Scoters in good numbers as well. At Joppa Flats we identified
a lone female Northern Shoveler bouncing around with a bunch of other
ducks. We even saw a few Northern Pintails at Plum Island; this species
is considered uncommon there in winter. As a bonus, there were three
otters cavorting near those pintails! |
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We saw several other uncommon birds at Plum Island. In late afternoon,
two Merlins were spotted in a high-speed chase in the distance. We
also saw two Snowy Owls that afternoon, sitting pretty on the grass.
Our search for Short-eared Owls in the early evening was unsuccessful,
but we watched two Snowy Owls flying low from far left to far right
across the field before us. That same day, we had been treated to
a classic flock of Snow Buntings, repeatedly wheeling through the
air and landing again in unison at the shore of a small pond. And
a walk through the wooded area at Hellcat Swamp was rewarded with
a flock of about 40 Common Redpolls.
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We started our mornings at Salisbury Beach State Park. We searched
in vain for Saw-whet Owls in the stocky pine trees lining the parking
lot drives. But we were in the right place at the right time after
all: we had multiple sightings of both White-winged and Red Crossbills
there. Scope views of these birds allowed us to study the plumages
of both males and females of both species, and to get a good look
at those strangely intersecting bills.
A trip to the coast in winter always holds promise of auks, and
we were able to add Dovekie, Common Murre, Razorbill, and Black
Guillemot to our our
list.
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Two individual birds really captured our attention. At Nubble Light,
Carol Jack greeted us with the news that she had a Great Cormorant
waiting for us on a rocky ledge out in the water. We got good looks
at this bird, but another Great Cormorant later caught our collective
eye much closer to shore. This individual was engaged in what looked
like an exhausting struggle with a rather pudgy fish that was about
half the size of the bird. The cormorant kept trying to position
the fish in such a way as to swallow it, but the finned creature
was just too big and unwieldy. |
A little later that afternoon, we found ourselves at the Cliff House in
Ogunquit, squinting at a very distant duck swimming with many Common
Eiders. This was a male King Eider in full adult plumage. The day before,
we had seen an immature male King Eider at Halibut Point. At the Cliff
House we were lucky enough to find someone with a powerful spotting scope
focused on the mature male, so a number of us got a good look. On our
second visit to this spot, we lined up our spotting scopes along the
top of the ledge and Dotty set up her Questar as well. It was tough to
find the bird among all those other ducks, bobbing up and down between
the waves, but most of us got a good enough look to see its colorful
plumage. |
| Other interesting birds we saw on the trip included Common and
Red-throated Loons, Horned, Red-necked, and Eared Grebes, Northern
Gannet, Northern Harrier, Purple Sandpiper (scores of them!), and
Bonaparte's Gull.
We stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Amesbury, which was very comfortable.
The staff went out of their way to have our complimentary breakfast
set up extra early for us. Our meals at local restaurants (including
the inimitable Mad Martha's) were great and always supplemented
with an extra helping of mirthful conversation. We had a lot
of fun not only finding all those great birds but also just having
a good time together as a bunch of friends. Oh, and those delicious
snacks to keep us all afloat…thanks to all whose thoughtfulness
and generosity allowed us to share these great treats!
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A great logistical brainstorm of this trip was to use FRS (Family
Radio Service) radios to communicate (whose idea was that, anyway?).
These radios work like the walkie-talkies in the days of yore, except
that they have a range of 2 miles and can be set to use specific
radio frequencies. We set our four radios to use the frequency established
as the birders' channel by the American Birding Association. By doing
this, we even picked up conversations from birders not in our group,
and we were able to steer them in the right direction to find the
crossbills. Most of all, when traveling in a group in several cars,
these radios allow everyone in all cars to benefit from the extra
eyeballs spotting birds along the way. Similarly, when the group
splits up on foot, it's easy to let everyone know if there's something
exciting to see. The radios even help keep errant cars in the caravan
on track from time to time. |
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On Sunday, we left by late morning because the weather forecast
held some vaguely ominous predictions of mixed precipitation or
snow. Part of the group made a successful detour to the Wachusett
Reservoir in West Boylston, MA to see the Tufted Duck there, which
was species number 84 on our checklist for the weekend. Everyone
arrived home safely with great memories of a whirlwind winter weekend
of wings. (Groan suppression respectfully requested.)
Wings
Over Dutchess, March 2002
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