After a long, complicated Summer, we thought it was a really good idea to get away for a few days. We decided to rent a place on Plum Island, off the coast of Northern Massachusetts, for the week. Plum Island is home to Parker River Wildlife Refuge, one of the single best birding spots in the Northeast.
Birding Plum Island and surrounding areas did not disappoint. It included three life birds as well as some amazing looks at birds we'd seen before.
Life bird #1 was not on the refuge itself. We went across the river, to Crane's Beach, to track down a group of Black Skimmers that had been in the area. Not only did we find them, we got incredibly close looks at them. Take a look at the bills on these birds-- only birds I've ever seen with a lower mandible significantly bigger than the higher one:
This was a mile and a half walk (each way) on sand to track these birds down, but it was well worth it. The birds were hanging out with a group of gulls, and we were nervous about approaching them, when suddenly a guy on the beach just walked right by them. I took a bunch of photos, afraid that they would fly off. They kind of flew up, never going above 5', and then flew over in our direction, getting close enough to get the photos above.
Also, along the beach, we encountered a fairly amazing sand castle display. I grabbed a few photos with my cell phone and merged them into a single shot:
(more detailed version of one of the castles here)
We also got some pretty nice looks at a seal that hopped onto shore as we were walking by. We felt kind of bad, because immediately after it hopped into shore, it spotted us and turned around and hopped back into the water. Hopefully it found a spot more to its liking.
The only other non-Plum Island spot I'll mention is Salisbury Beach, which is nice but not so great in September, so we didn't stay long. I did, however, get this nice photo of a Savannah Sparrow there (the distinct pale yellow eyebrow helps distinguish this from other birds, as well as the overall striping pattern throughout the bird's neck and chest):
To the Island itself: Parker River Wildlife Refuge is most of the Southern end of Plum Island. There's a single road that leads down to the end, which while not technically part of the refuge, I still classify it the same. The mornings took me frequently to Sandy Point and the other beach ends of the Island, immediately outside of the refuge, and got me some very nice birds, such as this Bonaparte's Gull:
Gulls, by the way, are tricky. In spring, they're easier: the Bonaparte's gull has a distinctly black head and black beak, which helps differentiate it from a similar bird, the Laughing Gull which has distinct red on its beak. In Fall? Yeah, I needed help with this one.
I also wrote up a story about Herring Gull Feeding Behavior, based in part on this photo:
Unlike the other links, that one points to a blog entry about it on my birding blog (to which any of you are welcome to contribute), The Curse of the Northern Hawk Owl.
Other great sights on the beach side involved Sanderlings and Dunlins:
Sanderlings are small shorebirds that can show up during migration on the East Coast of the United States in fairly large numbers. They look a bit different from other sandpipers; they're more stout and have thicker beaks. They're the birds in the photos above that look all black and white.
Dunlins are fairly gorgeous birds in full breeding plumage, but even in winter and non-breeding plumage, they're beautifully dark and striking.
The refuge itself is structured as a series of stops along the road. The Salt Pannes is a good spot for all sorts of Waterfowl, but the pools just south of it can get you some amazing looks at egrets and other birds. These two photos...
Great Egret
You can see it better in the larger version of the photo as well as in this version, but that bird has a small fluke-type thing in its mouth.
Snowy Egret
...were taken just south of the Salt Pannes. The Snowy Egret's smaller than the Great Egret, but the best way to recognize it is by those bright orange-yellow "clown" feet.
Also by the Salt Pannes was this Greater Yellowlegs:
There's something great about being out so early in the morning; I was routinely getting to the refuge by 6:30 (much easier when you are staying at a spot within walking distance), so I'd not only get really nice looks at early birds, but also at birds with great light hitting them directly.
Walking past the Salt Pannes, for the next mile or two, there are a lot of trees that can sometimes be loaded with warblers and other birds. That's where I spotted my second life bird for the week, a Philadelphia Vireo:
I wasn't sure what it was at first, but close-ups showed the hooked beak of the vireo, and it didn't really fit any other vireo.
I also got a red-eyed vireo during the week as well as a blue-headed vireo:
The Blue-headed was a treat as I rarely see them, but later in the week, I managed to get another one closer to home.
The Blue-headed vireo came at the hellcat boardwalk. Hellcat has some great birding-- a boardwalk takes you through an area that, in the Spring, can be rich with warblers, orioles, tanagers, eastern towhees, thrushes (hermit, swainson's, wood, veery) kinglets (both ruby- and golden-crowned) as well as a large variety of sparrow (white-crowned, white throated, savannah, song, lark, clay-colored, lincoln's, american tree & chipping). I spotted it while trying to photograph golden-crowned kinglets. I didn't get the kinglets, but I do adore the blue-headed vireo.
But the best treat from the boardwalk was this:
If you click on it, you'll get the info on what bird it is, but I'm going to leave this up as an advanced bird quiz.
We almost missed this bird-- it was perched in a tree above us, and I almost walked right by it but my sweetie told me to stop and look up. I took photos, waited a bit, made sure other birders knew about it as well, and then came back and took more photos in the afternoon. It apparently was roosting there for the day.
I'm going to include one more bird, which is a mystery raptor. I ID'd it one way, and lineatus disagrees, so I'll just not say anything and let you guys tell me what you think:
Oh, and having a rooftop deck and beach access, how could I possibly resist taking a few shots of Plum Island at night:
A few quick things to close, all of which are shameless self-promotional plugs:
These are all smaller versions of the images. Clicking on them gets you to larger, higher quality, ones with more details about the photos, as well as links that will take you to other related photos.
Also, it's the time of year where I start promoting my calendar again. If anyone's interested in purchasing my 2011 calendar of birds and birding, there's a preview here:
My cards site is Chickadee Cards. I have lots of note cards available for sale, which make great holiday cards as well.
Finally, a personal note: I am a web designer, developer and programmer, and I'm extremely good at what I do. If you know anyone looking to have a site designed, tweaked or developed, feel free to contact me.
As usual, this is an open birds, birding and nature thread.