Wednesday Morning Birding Report, September 5, 2018

Hello, Wednesday Morning Birders!

In David Moon’s absence while on holiday, Susan Yurkus joined me in coleading this week’s Wednesday Morning Birding program. Buoyed by Tom Wetmore’s early-morning report of two sandpiper’s of interest at North Pool Overlook, we headed there directly in hopes of seeing a Buff-breasted Sandpiper and a Baird’s Sandpiper — and see them, we did (thanks, Tom!)! Yes, we had good looks at these two uncommon pipers normally seen in drier habitats. Yes, good looks until a Cooper’s Hawk made a strafing run across the pool and put all shorebirds into the air. The “Coop” was unsuccessful in its foraging mode and landed in a nearby cherry tree—it was an adult bird and judging by its size, a female. While at the overlook, a Belted Kingfisher perched atop the island cedar.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper – John Linn

Cooper’s Hawk – Mike Densmore

With high tide having been at 8 a.m. on the Merrimack River, we made tracks for Hellcat and Bill Forward Pool before the tide receded to the point of the Joppa mud flats being exposed prompting shorebirds to depart from the Hellcat pools for more productive feeding grounds. We spent a bit of time looking for a reported Least Bittern in the marsh to the west of the Bill Forward Pool dike, but to no avail. The pool yielded three Baird’s Sandpipers and five White-rumped Sandpipers. Recall, of the five so-called “peeps,” Baird’s and White-rumped are the two long-winged and largest of the peeps. These are the pipers with particularly long primary flight feathers, which extend beyond the tail feathers and will actually cross each other. The long primary flight feathers are indicative of a long-range migrant. When I was in Tierra del Fuego in Chile in December 2013, Baird’s and White-rumped were quite common on their wintering grounds. That’s a long haul from nesting grounds in the high Arctic.

Baird’s Sandpiper – Mike Densmore

Also present in and around Bill Forward Pool and in the North Pool seen from the Hellcat dike, were some Short-billed Dowitchers and a number of both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. A few of us picked out a couple of Least Sandpipers tucked back in the usual corner of grassy flats in the North Pool. And, of course, there were a few Semipalmated Sandpipers and Plovers in the mix. While we were standing there, four Black-bellied Plovers came calling and winging into Forward Pool. Love that plaintive call “PEEoooeee.” Two Ospreys could be seen perched atop the Pines nesting platform.

Short-billed Dowitchers – John Linn

Short-billed Dowitcher – Andrea LeBlanc

A few of the group paid a short visit to the beach at parking lot #7 and saw a single Piping Plover and two Sanderlings. In the vicinity of the parking area were about 10 Cedar Waxwings and a couple of Northern Mockingbirds, but, overall, there was little in the way of land birds on this day. Parking constraints pushed us to parking lot #6 from where we walked to the Stage Island Pool water level control structure. There weren’t many shorebirds, perhaps because of a combination of the falling tide and simply the fact that the major share of the migration is over. But, we did get good looks at a couple of Lesser Yellowlegs and a number of Greater Yellowlegs along with a few Semipalmated Sandpipers and a lone Least Sandpiper. Twenty-five or so Mallards, mostly juvenile birds, were loafing on the flats just across the pool from us. A couple of Great Egrets were also present. A juvenile Bald Eagle was spotted aloft over Plum Island Sound.

Great Egret – Andrea LeBlanc

Double-crested Cormorant (juvenile) – Patti Wood

Great Egret – Patti Wood

Great Egret & Greater Yellowlegs – John Linn

A visit to the blind at Bill Forward Pool yielded zero in the way of shorebirds. That was disappointing! A lone Song Sparrow flitted across our field of view as we searched in vain for shorebirds.

Next week, David Larson will join me for Wednesday Morning Birding. We hope to see you at Joppa! C’mon down!
All the best!
Dave Weaver

Here’s our list:
Canada Goose (~ 20) – Bill Forward Pool.
Mallard (~ 30) – mostly Stage Island Pool.
Double-crested Cormorant (~ 50) – various.
Great Blue Heron (3) – 1, BFP; 1, N. Pool fm Hellcat dike; 1, SIP.
Great Egret (~ 25) – various.
Osprey (4-5) – 2, Pines platform; 2, platform n. SIP; 1 overhead Hellcat.
Bald Eagle (1) – juv seen over PI Sound from SIP.
Cooper’s Hawk (1) – ad, probably female; strafed North Pool Overlook
putting up Buff-breasted and Baird’s Sandpipers.
Black-bellied Plover (6) – BFP.
Semipalmated Plover (~ 6) – BFP
Piping Plover (1) – seven beach.
Greater Yellowlegs (~ 30) – some N. Pool fm Hellcat dike; mostly SIP.
Lesser Yellowlegs (~ 10) – ~ 9, N. Pool fm Hellcat dike; 1, SIP.
Sanderling (2) – seven beach.
Semipalmated Sandpiper – some, various.
Least Sandpiper (3) – 2, N. Pool fm Hellcat dike; 1, SIP.
White-rumped Sandpiper (5) – BFP.
Baird’s Sandpiper (4) – 1, NPO; 3, BFP.
BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER (1) – NPO.
Short-billed Dowitcher (8) – 3, BFP; 5, N. Pool fm Hellcat dike.
Ring-billed Gull (2)
Herring Gull (~ 6)
Rock Pigeon (2)
Mourning Dove (1)
Belted Kingfisher (1) – perched atop NPO island cedar.
Peregrine Falcon (1) – flyby over dunes headed south between lots #1 & 2.
Eastern Phoebe (1) – SIP.
Blue Jay (1)
American Crow (1)
Tree Swallow (~ 5)
Barn Swallow (1) – NPO.
Gray Catbird (1)\
Northern Mockingbird (2) – lot #7.
Cedar Waxwing (~ 10) – vicinity of lot #7.
Song Sparrow (1) – BFP blind.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *