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Members of the Athol Bird and Nature Club traveled to Newburyport and Plum Island for some early Spring birding with veteran trip leader Mark Taylor of Northfield.
The group at Burger King, Amesbury.
Photo by Mark Taylor.
(Use landscape mode to print the enlarged image.)
The birds recorded on the trip from Athol to Newburyport were: American Black Ducks, Ring-necked Ducks, Canada Geese, Red- tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, American Crows, and a flock of Cedar Waxwings.
The first stop, at a small wetland area in Newburyport, produced a Northern Mockingbird and Northern Cardinal.
The group's second stop, at a boat landing, gave good views of the Merrimack River in which Green-winged Teals, Mallard Ducks, Black Ducks, Double-crested Cormorants, Red-breasted Mergansers, Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Greater Black-backed Gulls, and a Northern Harrier were seen.
Moving on to the 'Sea Wall', another boat launch area which gives good views of Newburyport harbor and 'Joppa Flats', the members saw Great Cormorants, Bufflehead Ducks, Common Goldeneyes, Oldsquaws, Brants, Bonaparte's Gulls, and Greater Yellowlegs.
On the way out to Plum Island, a quick stop at the Mass. Audubon Joppa Flats Wildlife Sanctuary produced two Great Blue Herons and a Eastern Meadowlark at the Plum Island Airport.
Once on Plum Island, the group headed directly to 'Hellcat' where there are great views of water, wetlands, dunes, and wooded areas. Here the group found 10 Mute Swans gracefully swimming with arched necks. Also seen were Great Egret, Tree Swallows, Hairy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadees, a singing Winter Wren, and while the members were observing a sleeping Raccoon in a tree, Red Caldwell spotted an early Black and White Warbler. The 'find' of the trip by far.
On to an area called 'The Pines', where a Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher (another good find) and a Eastern Phoebe were observed. This stop also produced fine looks at many American Kestrels hunting over the field opposite the parking area.
At the next stop on the way out to the tip of Plum Island, which is a State Park, an Osprey was seen on a platform nest.
During a search of the beach area in the State Park looking for Piping Plovers, a pair of Northern Pintail Ducks were spotted flying overhead. Extremely windy conditions prevented any sightings of Piping Plovers though.
On the return trip to the mainland, Jacob Morris-Siegel spotted a pair of Gadwalls at the 'Salt Pannes'.
At the last stops of the afternoon in Newbury, off of Scotland Rd. and Cherry Hill Reservoir, the group had fine looks at Blue-winged Teals, Green-winged Teals, Common Snipe, a soaring Red-tailed Hawk, Ruddy Ducks, and Common Merganser eating a fish.
In Westminster, on the way back to Athol, the final bird of the day was a Pied-billed Grebe, seen in Round Meadows Pond off of Rt. 2.
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