The Pleasures of Plum Island

 Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island 6-26-14

June 26, 2014: It just so happened that Chris planned his visit during the same time when my family gets together for the Annual Adams Family Road Race. It is a family thing we do every year and now that I had moved back east, of course I had to show up! But, since Connecticut is a four hour drive from where I currently live in Brunswick, Maine, who says we had to drive it all at once! We got up early, packed the car and headed south to Bird our way there! I knew before he ever arrived that I really wanted to take Chris Rohrer to Plum Island. I had hoped that we could meet up with Dawn Fine there, but my plans became up predictable and, in the end, it just didn’t work out. Still, I could not wait for these Arizona Guys to see Plum Island! In a little over two hours we pulled through the gate and parked in the first parking lot.

Our first surprise was finding Purple Martins in a martin house right by the restroom building! And yes, there were Purple Martins in it! The guys walked up the boardwalk to scan the beach, but all they saw were gulls and humans, so they came back. We keep our eyes and ears open for seaside sparrows but did not find any. However, at the edge of the parking lot, we did find a few birds.

What is that beyond Chris’ big head with his new hat?

 

Female Purple Finch!

 

Cedar Waxwing in a Cedar tree!

Imagine THAT!

Farther down the road…

…a Common Yellowthroat!

And then a big surprise,

Mute Swans!

In all the time I lived in Andover, Massachusetts, I never birded Plum Island in the summertime. I knew they shut much of it off for the nesting birds, including most of the beach, so I never tried. It was quite a revelation to bird here in summer. Of course, we did have to use bug spray! But it was worth it to see…

…a Common Tern!

 

Willets were everywhere!

We hiked out to the dike and the marsh in hopes of finding an American Bittern.

Chris and Micheal scan the grasses for birds.

While we did not see any bitterns, we did see these birds:

Black-bellied Plovers and Short-billed dowitchers across the cove.

 

Black-bellied plovers after they landed.

 

Eastern Kingbird

 

Canada Goose parent

 

Juvenile Canada goose (gosling)

It is a long six mile drive to the end of the road, which starts out paved but turns to dirt. there are numerous pull-offs and parking lots with hiking trails, but any that led to the beaches on the east side of the island were blocked off to protect nesting birds. At the end of Plum Island one reaches Sandy Point State Reservation. Here there is another mile of dirt road to drive to the parking lot at the end. sandy Point is where I saw a snowy owl years ago, as well as several shorebirds and terns during migration when I went birding with the Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp one fall. While I knew we would not see the hoards of shorebirds we saw then, I still hoped we would see something. We did.

Chris hiking the sand at Sandy Point

Piping Plovers and their babies!

There’s the momma on the right, can you find the teeny baby on the left?

I did not want to get too close as it really upset the parents.

Then, in the sand dunes behind us I found Least Terns!

Notice the thin yellow bill and the white “headlight” on the forehead?

This is our smallest tern and it is very graceful when it flies!

I believe they are nesting at this site, but once again, I did not want to get too close and disturb the nests!

We got over 45 species on Plum Island this day. We entered two counts into eBird. One for Plum Island, and one for Sandy Point State Reservation. Afterwards we drove into town to eat, then got back on the road and arrived at my Mom’s house well after dark.

Here is a list of all the birds we saw on Plum Island on June 26, 2014. Many of them were Life Birds for Chris and Micheal.

1. Canada Goose
2. Mute Swan
3. Gadwall
4. American Black duck
5. Mallard
6. Wild Turkey
7. Double-crested Cormorant
8. Great Blue Heron
9. Great Egret
10. Snowy Egret
11. Glossy Ibis*
12. Osprey
13. Black-bellied Plover
14. Semi-palmated Plover
15. Killdeer
16. Willet
17. Shot-billed Dowitchers
18. Herring Gull
19. Great Black-backed Gull
20. Least tern
21. Common Tern
22. Rock Pigeon
23. Mourning Dove
24. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
25. Eastern Kingbird
26. Blue Jay
27. American crow
28. Purple martin
29. Tree Swallow
30. Barn Swallow
31. American Robin
32. Gray Catbird
33. Northern Mockingbird
34. European Starling
35. Cedar Waxwing
36. Common Yellowthroat
37. American Redstart
38. Yellow Warbler
39. Eastern Towhee
40. Song Sparrow
41. Northern Cardinal
42. Bobolink*
43. Red-winged Blackbird
44. Common Grackle
45. House Finch
46. Purple Finch
47. American Goldfinch

*These species are new to my Massachusetts Life List

Then, at Sandy Point we saw these 16 species:

1. Double-crested cormorant
2. Great Egret
3. Osprey
4. Piping Plover
5. Willet
6. Herring Gull
7. Great black-backed Gull
8. Least Tern
9. Gray catbird
10. Cedar Waxwing
11. Common Yellowthroat
12. Yellow warbler
13. Song Sparrow
14. Red-winged Blackbird
15. Common Grackle
16. American Goldfinch

Links:

• Our Big New England Birding Adventure (all posts related to this subject)
• Las Aventuras (Chris’ blog)