Yeup, 4 more Lifers (White-rumped Sandpiper, Stilt Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper & Whimbrel), bring my Life List total to 249 species of birds seen to date!! Thanks be to my excellent buddy Kirk Marshall and fellow birder extraordinaire Eric Labato for such an awesome day of birding (though it had a wee bit of a rough start). What I mean by that is Kirk's scope he purchased earlier this spring already is having issues. The prism near the eyepiece was off-kilter, for it had lost its adhesive that kept it in place. Kirk pulled a MacGuyver and jimmy-rigged his scope, using part of a Q-Tip to wedge it in-between the prism and the inner casing. It worked, though he will try to properly amend his beloved scope later!
Anyhow, thanks to posts from Eric Labato from Plum Island (Parker River NWR) over the past couple of days, Kirk and I had our sights set on a few target species, that being the Stilt Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper and the Whimbrel. But this is not the only thanks we must give Eric, for we met up with him at Hellcat on the boardwalk leading to the observation blind. His expertise and observation skills were invaluable as the 3 of us proceeded to hit up the Dune Loop at Hellcat, The Pines and Bill Forward Pool Observation Platform. It was at BFP that we came upon the aforementioned Stilt and Baird's Sandpipers! They were intermingling with White-rumped Sandpipers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, and a pair of Black-bellied Plovers. A pair of Pied-billed Grebes were nearby, as well as a Belted Kingfisher of which I thought was kinda a bit out of place with all those shorebirds around! But in nearly one fell-swoop, all aforementioned shorebirds took off in flight thanks to a strafing run by a Peregrine Falcon that had been buzzing back and forth in between the Pines and Hellcat! Always a treat to see such an impressive, speedy raptor!
But the first Lifer of the day was also the best bird of the day, seeing 6 Whimbrels at the Salt Pannes before making our way down to Hellcat. What a striking, remarkable and rather large shorebird with down-curved bill, prominent black head stripes and gray legs! Simply lovely! A great day of birding that was finished off with a nice meal at the Agawam Diner in Rowley! I hope everyone else's Labor Day weekend has been good so far! Happy birding to all my friends!
Location: Parker River NWR
Observation date: 9/5/10
Notes: Birded with Kirk Marshall and Eric Labato. Pied-billed Grebes, Stilt Sandpiper, Baird's Sandpiper, Black-bellied Plovers, White-rumped Sandpipers, Belted Kingfisher and about half of Semipalmated Sandpipers seen at Bill Forward Pool Observation Blind at around Noon time before being strafed repeatedly by an impetuous Peregrine Falcon; Willet, other Semipalmated Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers and Whimbrels seen at Salt Pannes; Killdeers seen at Plum Island Airport while trying to find Buff-breasted Sandpiper (no luck).
Number of species: 38
Canada Goose - Branta canadensis 32
American Black Duck - Anas rubripes 10
Pied-billed Grebe - Podilymbus podiceps 2 (Bill Forward Pool)
Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus 8
Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias 4
Great Egret - Ardea alba 9
Snowy Egret - Egretta thula 6
Turkey Vulture - Cathartes aura 1
Peregrine Falcon - Falco peregrinus 1 (In between The Pines, BFP and Hellcat)
Black-bellied Plover - Pluvialis squatarola 2 (Bill Forward Pool)
Killdeer - Charadrius vociferus 4 (Plum Island Airfield)
Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca 8 (Salt Pannes)
Willet (Eastern) - Tringa semipalmata semipalmata 1 (Salt Pannes)
Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes 5 (Salt Pannes)
Whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus 6 (Salt Pannes)
Semipalmated Sandpiper - Calidris pusilla 21 (BFP & Salt Pannes)
Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla 3 (Salt Pannes)
White-rumped Sandpiper - Calidris fuscicollis 13 (Bill Forward Pool)
Baird's Sandpiper - Calidris bairdii 1 (Bill Forward Pool)
Stilt Sandpiper - Calidris himantopus 1 (Bill Forward Pool)
Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis 4
Herring Gull - Larus argentatus 6
Great Black-backed Gull - Larus marinus 1
Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Archilochus colubris 1 (The Pines)
Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon 1 (Bill Forward Pool)
Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata 2
American Crow - Corvus brachyrhynchos 5
Tree Swallow - Tachycineta bicolor 8 (Dune Loop at Hellcat)
Barn Swallow - Hirundo rustica 1 (The Wardens)
Black-capped Chickadee - Poecile atricapillus 5
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis 1 (Dune Loop at Hellcat)
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis 1
Gray Catbird - Dumetella carolinensis 2
Cedar Waxwing - Bombycilla cedrorum 1 (The Pines)
Eastern Towhee - Pipilo erythrophthalmus 1 (heard only near Lot 2)
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 2
American Goldfinch - Spinus tristis 3
This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)
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