Dawn Chorus: Birds of Plum Island, Massachusetts in spring 2023

churchylafemme for Birds and Birdwatching

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday July 02, 2023 · 6:00 AM PDT

2023/07/02 · 06:00

Baltimore Oriole in a cherry tree, Plum Island MA, June 2023

This is a retrospective of the birds I saw in mid and late spring 2023 in one of my favorite places, Plum Island, Massachusetts, the seven-mile-long barrier island on Massachusetts’ North Shore. Most of Plum Island is part of Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (PRNWR), a critically important area for hundreds of species of birds and other wildlife. For more information about Plum Island and PRNWR, see the Daily Bucket I posted in November 2021 about them, here.

This past winter and early spring it seemed to me that there were far fewer birds than usual on Plum Island and the North Shore in general. Snowy Egrets were about a month late arriving, and there still aren’t as many Snowy or Great Egrets as I’m used to seeing there in spring and summer. And warbler migration barely seemed to happen. However, around mid-May I began to see more birds, including more Baltimore Orioles than I’ve seen in my entire life before, and even more numerous (as expected) Yellow Warblers, which have been serenading the island with their “sweet-sweet-sweet oh-so-sweet” song for months now. Also countless Gray Catbirds, which are sweeter than Yellow Warblers when it comes to letting you see them! They like to hop out in front of you and sing. The following are some of the pics and videos I took on Plum Island this May and June.

churchylafemme for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday June 27, 2023 · 7:00 AM PDT

2023/06/27 · 07:00

no image description available — Common Eider hen and duckling, southern Maine, June 2023

In early June 2023, I saw a small flock of Common Eiders (the largest sea duck in the Northern Hemisphere, renowned for their soft and insulating down, and a bird I have become very fond of) with at least six ducklings in Rockport, Massachusetts. The day after that, I went to look for Eiders a little further north in New Hampshire and southern Maine, suspecting that I might see more ducklings there, and saw more than I expected...larger flocks with at least one hundred ducklings, in groups of 30+ along the coast. This was by far the most Common Eider ducklings I had ever seen at one time.

churchylafemme for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday June 20, 2023 · 7:00 AM PDT

2023/06/20 · 07:00

Glossy Ibises and Snowy Egret, Rowley, Massachusetts, June 2023

Rough Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary in Rowley, Massachusetts is a 226 acre sanctuary on the mainland side of the Great Marsh on Massachusetts’ North Shore, about a mile as the crow flies from Plum Island MA (and happily for me, not far from where I live). MassAudubon says this about it:

Encompassing spectacular coastal woodlands, salt marshes, tidal creeks, and salt pannes, Rough Meadows supports an astonishing diversity of wildlife. The sanctuary, managed in collaboration with the Essex County Greenbelt, is part of the Great Marsh ecosystem. The area has been designated an Important Bird Area and Area of Critical Environmental Concern.

churchylafemme for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday June 06, 2023 · 7:00 AM PDT

2023/06/06 · 07:00

There are few places in the world that I find more beautiful in May and early June than Rockport, Massachusetts. Rockport is one of the four towns of Cape Ann, the rocky cape on Massachusetts’ North Shore. Overall (to recap what I said in Part One) there have seemed to me to be far fewer birds here than there should be at this time of year, and last year’s drought which lasted through summer and fall left quite a few dead trees and shrubs, especially along the shoreline. Aside from those troubling anomalies, this spring has seemed like a pretty normal one on Cape Ann. These are some of the photos I’ve taken in Rockport since late April.

churchylafemme for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday June 01, 2023 · 7:30 AM PDT

2023/06/01 · 07:30

Spring has been beautiful so far on Cape Ann, the rocky cape on the North Shore of Massachusetts. Last year’s drought here took a toll, and left many dead shrubs and trees along the shoreline… aside from that, this spring has looked pretty normal compared to other years, with the usual sequence of flowering trees including maples and willows, then oaks, apple and serviceberry, and now cherries, horse chestnut and locusts. It’s already starting to look like summer, with vegetation getting greener and lusher and wild roses blooming.

churchylafemme for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday November 30, 2022 · 7:00 AM PST

2022/11/30 · 07:00

Merlin at Old Granite Pier, Rockport MA, November 2022

Good morning Bucketeers. The following are some pics and videos I’ve taken the past month in the four towns of Cape Ann, Massachusetts: Essex, Gloucester, Manchester-by-the-Sea and Rockport. Overall, it has been a lovely, snow-less, overly dry (the drought continues) November, strangely lacking in birds (especially little birds that are usually common here, it has seemed to me) but with some nice surprises, such as a Merlin landing 20 feet away from me on a fishing pier. Buffleheads and Harlequins have arrived on Cape Ann, and there are more Common Eiders and Surf Scoters now. We got our first freeze here in northeastern MA so late that many cultivated and also wild flowers (roses, yellow mustard...) kept blooming around Cape Ann into mid-November.

churchylafemme for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 10, 2022 · 7:00 AM PST

2022/11/10 · 07:00

Good morning, Bucketeers. This is an update about Halibut Point State Park (which I wrote about in a Bucket in June) in the town of Rockport, on Cape Ann, Massachusetts.

Halibut Point is usually magical in autumn, and this year has been no exception. However, there has been a disconcerting lack of birds there this fall, especially of sea ducks (Scoters, Eiders, Buffleheads...) and hawks that I thought would be arriving there by now. And the drought which was extreme here for months has still been noticeable. I’ve never seen the vegetation there look (or sound) so dry, although the Cherry and Hickory leaves and native Greenbrier (which seems to me even more abundant than other years) have still been beautiful.

churchylafemme for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 25, 2022 · 7:00 AM PDT

2022/10/25 · 07:00

This October has brought some surprises on Plum Island, Massachusetts. The American Avocet who starred in my last Bucket came back to the Island in early October, and stayed until October 15. Several coyotes—a family, maybe—have been out and about in broad daylight, which is not common here. I usually only hear them at night, and only a few times a year. (As I’m writing this, late at night, coyotes just started howling outside my window.) Yesterday I noticed Saltmarsh Fleabane flowers blooming by some of the freshwater and tidal pools…it seems late for them.

churchylafemme for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday September 27, 2022 · 7:00 AM PDT

2022/09/27 · 07:00

Plum Island, Massachusetts at sunset, September 2022

September has been beautiful here on the North Shore of Massachusetts, despite the drought that has continued since April. We’ve gotten some heavy rain the past couple weeks… I expect that our drought status will be changed soon (as of the last update, it was still “extreme,” for just 6.8% of Mass.). There are still many signs of drought here. But Sunflowers, Butter-and-eggs, Asters and Goldenrod have been blooming in abundance since August, and I’ve started to see ripening Beach Plums and Winterberry also. Right now on Plum Island there are lots of Monarch butterflies, Tree Swallows (although far fewer than normal for this time of year, possibly because the drought has affected their insect and berry supply), Great and Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons, and various shorebirds, among many other birds. And two weeks ago I saw something magical (to me): an American Avocet.

churchylafemme for Birds and Birdwatching

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday August 07, 2022 · 6:00 AM PDT

2022/08/07 · 06:00

Some of the Common Eiders—a most uncommon sea duck, renowned for their soft and insulating down—who wintered south of Maine didn’t follow their friends and relations to Maine or Canada or further north, but have stayed for the summer here on the North Shore of Massachusetts and our neighbor, the New Hampshire Seacoast.

Since starting to learn more about them last year for a Daily Bucket, I’ve kept getting more fond of these ducks. I feel very lucky whenever I see them, since they don’t frequent many parts of North America. In this diary I will sometimes refer to them simply as “Eiders,” although there are other Eiders (such as King Eiders, another amazing duck which is here occasionally).

churchylafemme for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday June 28, 2022 · 7:00 AM PDT

2022/06/28 · 07:00

Halibut Point State Park is a 56-acre park on the coast of Rockport on Cape Ann, Massachusetts. It’s a place which is heaven on earth to me in spring and summer (also in winter—it’s lovely in the snow, and there are Harlequins and other sea ducks—and autumn!). The only time I don’t recommend visiting it is late winter/early spring before anything is in bloom (unless you’re there to see ducks :).

Halibut Point was mostly woodland before 1700, then a farm, then a granite quarry, then briefly the site of a World War II artillery tower, then in 1981, a protected state park. It was originally called ‘Haul-about Point,’ “as this is the location on the North Shore where the prevailing winds shift and sailors would need to change the direction of the sails in relation to the wind.” A letter to the editor in the Gloucester Times says this was known in the area for generations… “and so, the mapmakers, wisely knowing the strange speech of locals of ‘Glosta,’ thought that what they really were saying was halibut, the fish.”

Entrance sign, June 2022. The arrows point to the parking lot (a new much larger parking lot...I thought the old small one was nicer)...the main path at Halibut goes in a loop...both ends of the path are to the left of this pic.

churchylafemme for Backyard Science

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday April 19, 2022 · 7:00 AM PDT

2022/04/19 · 07:00

The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.

We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.

Spring is slowly springing here on the North Shore of Massachusetts. The flowering trees on Plum Island aren’t blooming yet, but green grass is starting to replace the gold. Forsythia, magnolia trees, daffodils, crocuses, and a few tulips are blooming along town streets. I’ve seen two wildflowers, yellow Coltsfoot and white Bittercress, blooming on the edge of a forest. Great Egrets have returned, along with the first Tree Swallows, Double-crested Cormorants, Yellowlegs, and lots of Osprey. It’s been mostly in the 40’s and 50’s (with a couple days of high 60’s), and windy. These are some pics I’ve taken the past few weeks on Plum Island.

Brant Geese on the ocean, late March 2022

Mute Swans...the grasses on Plum Island seemed to me unusually golden all fall and winter, and there is still a lot of gold now

American Kestrel...really hope I see this one again and can get a less fuzzy pic

Great Blue Heron on a town pond, North Shore MA

A pair of Long-tailed Ducks had a large expanse of the river to themselves, since the Common Goldeneyes and some other ducks have left

Myrtle Warbler...second warbler of the season!

I’m not sure what this is...when it flowers I might know

A few days ago, I got out of the car on the Refuge road on Plum Island to try to get pics of a Belted Kingfisher that was hovering and diving on the river next to the road, and ended up getting a video of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet (with its red spot showing!) in a small tree. The Kinglet then flew past me across the road, almost brushing my shoulder! I also saw a Golden-crowned Kinglet for the first time ever, along with more Ruby-crowneds. And a Palm Warbler (the first warbler I’ve seen this spring, and one of my favorite birds) did a photo shoot with me while hunting insects flycatcher-style.

YouTube Video

That same day, I saw at least 75 Northern Flickers, 100+ Dark-eyed Juncos, and 80+ Robins, in trees and along the roadside. I got this video of a Flicker…it’s a bit dark, but you might notice that its eyes were flashing when it blinked (reminding me of what I’ve heard about American Dippers, which have white feathers on their eyelids). I haven’t found much information about this phenomenon in Flickers, except for this American Birding Association page which says that hatch-year backcross male Northern Flickers have grey lids with “spectral reflectance.” Maybe this bird was one of those.

YouTube Video

April’s Pink Moon over Plum Island, 4/15/2022

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk...it was flying down the Refuge road (fortunately people drive slowly there) and kept landing in the lower branches of different trees, with impressive maneuvering

Dunlins (I think)...there have been flocks of them on the Salt Pannes

Great Egret, looking like it would rather be back at Lenny’s place

White-winged Scoter on the ocean...there are still some other sea ducks there too, in smaller numbers than in winter: Harlequins, Buffleheads, Long-tailed Ducks, Black Scoters, Common Eiders

I saw an unusual Crow in Newburyport. 💛Slava Ukraini💙

It’s 50° F, rainy and windy on the North Shore this morning. We’ve been under a Gale Watch since 1 a.m., but the wind is supposed to start dying down soon. Hope all of you who are in the path of this storm (or other interesting weather) are staying safe.