From the fish pier, we headed out along the shore to Eastern Point. We pulled aside at a little lot when Ben spotted a bird sitting on the bay we were driving around. It turned out to be a Black Scoter, and Hope picked out two White-winged Scoters a little further out beyond a red buoy. Just as Mrs. Batcheller started up the Subaru, a female Red-breasted Merganser surfaced. About half a mile further on, I spotted a Common Merganser just offshore. Our scouting notes said to check for Wild Turkeys in the last mile before Eastern Point. Almost to the point and with no turkeys yet, Hope found one sitting up in a tree, our only Wild Turkey, worth three whole points, for the day. Eastern Point itself was a wash, with no new species added to the list and only two species there at all: Herring Gulls and Buffleheads. Mrs. Batcheller turned the car around and we headed off for Neils Pond.
Up until three days before the competition, Neils Pond had held a Thayer’s Gull, but when we got to it, there wasn’t even a single Herring Gull flying around the small opening in the ice, just a few Canada Geese and Mallards on the far shore. Continuing down to Brace Cove, we slipped out onto a dyke (past a “no trespassing” sign of course) and picked up three Gadwall swimming right along the shore. The five of us headed back to Fort Hill Avenue, our second shot for songbirds. Mrs. Batcheller pulled all the way to the end of the avenue as American Robins flew across the road, where she parked amongst some conifers. Rolling down the windows, we instantly picked up Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Tufted Titmice. A few moments later, Greg heard a White-breasted Nuthatch call, but the rest of us did not hear it. Just before Mrs. Batcheller turned the car back on, Ben and I heard a Red-bellied Woodpecker at the same time. Unfortunately, it didn't call again, and neither Greg nor Hope had heard it. Driving a few yards back down the avenue, the four of us birders hopped out of the car to walk a little ways along the road. Within moments, we had five White-breasted Nuthatches on the two trees in front of us. Titmice, chickadees, and juncos flitted about as the nuthatches crawled back and forth over the trees, but our real target species here was seen about two minutes later: a Gray Catbird, worth four points. Greg spotted a House Finch, but it dropped down before the rest of us could get our binoculars on it. Popping back into the car, we headed north towards Bass Rocks.
Ft. Hill Avenue
Photo Credit: Mrs. Batcheller
Bass Rocks are several rock outcroppings just offshore along the eastern edge of Cape Ann. We drove along the shore with our eyes to the water, and pretty soon we came across a rock dotted with cormorants. Upon closer inspection, they turned out to be Great Cormorants, but I managed to pull an immature Double-crested Cormorant, another four point bird, out of the Greats. Ben spotted our first Red-thraoted Loon for the day, and we valiantly tried to pull a Barrow’s Goldeneye out of the Commons near the rocks, but to no avail. The best shot at our other target species for the day was a little further along the shore at Elk’s Club. We reached the lot, and the four of us grabbed our scopes and headed across the road to start scanning the ocean. Within moments, we had picked up a Common Loon and a few Horned Grebes. Search as we may, all the gulls turned out to be either Herring Gulls or Great Black-backed Gulls. Though there had been a juvenile King Eider reported nearby, we couldn’t locate it, though a slightly differently-patterned immature Common Eider gave us a pause until it showed it’s beak to be greenish instead of orange. The highlight of Elk’s Club, however, was a Black Guillemot, a lifer for both Greg and Ben. Pretty satisfied with the alcid, we headed north again, this time towards Cathedral Rocks.
Watching the Guillemot
Photo Credit: Mrs. Batcheller
On our way to Cathedral Rocks, we noticed a group of cars out at the end of a jetty, and people standing with spotting scopes. Making a quick decision, our fearless leader Hope decided to investigate what was out at what we discovered was Granite Pier. Great call. Our first Ring-billed Gull bobbed by the lot as the four of us exited the car. As we were getting out our scopes, an elderly couple came over to tell us about the four Harlequin Ducksthat were right on the other side of Granite Pier. After seeing the beautiful ducks (two were males), Hope and Ben started scanning the ocean with their scopes as Greg and I set up next to the big group of birders with scopes. As we set up, the two of us heard one of the women in the group relaying directions to some Purple Sandpipers on rocks a fair distance away. Once we had our scopes set on the birds, we hustled Hope and Ben over to see them. All four of us got the sandpipers, then it was back into the car for another drive along the Cape Ann coast, this time up to Andrew’s Point.
We pulled into the lot at the northern tip of Cape Ann only to find two stunning male Surf Scoters bobbing right in front of the windshield. Because of the strong, biting winds from the day before, Greg and Hope had dubbed this area “Hell,” and it was even written into our schedule as “Andrew’s Point/HELL.” This day, however, it was anything but. The four of us headed out and set up our scopes to start scanning the ocean. Within a minute, Greg called out “I need someone to ID this alcid for me!” Amazingly enough, I had the most experience with Alcids out of the whole team, so I zipped over to Greg’s scope to take a look. My initial ID of the bird was a Common Murre, due to the markings. Hope, however, took a look and called it a Dovekie based on behaviour. Sure enough, it was lying low in the water in the traditional Dovekie shape. I raced back up to the car to grab Greg’s trusty Sibley, and, after a few minutes of debating back and forth, we all agreed that it was in fact a Dovekie, a bird that wasn’t even on the official checklist! Another group of people showed up as Greg called the bird in to Joppa Flats, and Ben and I tried to get them on the elusive alcid. Time was ticking away, and we hadn’t relocated it when we had to leave, already an hour behind schedule. Wishing the other birders good luck, we took off for Salisbury, finally leaving the Gloucester/Cape Ann area.
Andrew's Point Crowd
Photo Credit: Mrs. Batcheller
Salisbury was about an hour away, and I had the front seat for the entire drive. I took off my boots and thawed out my feet in front of the vents from which issued blessedly warm air. Ben pulled out a loaf of garlic bread, our first food for the day, and the five of us tore into the bread, devouring it within moments. On the drive, we picked up several more Red-tailed Hawks, Rock Pigeons, and European Starlings. We met up with my dad in the town of Essex and he pulled in behind us, following us north. Finally, we reached Salisbury, where we headed straight for Salisbury Beach State Park, where a Sage Thrasher had been reported on and off prior to the competition. We struck out on the thrasher (it wasn’t seen by anyone that day) and pretty much everything else except an American Tree Sparrow. The RV area was dead with the exception of a Bald Eagle that flew over the car, saving us a ten-minute detour upriver to find them around Cashman Park. At the beach itself, the coolest thing was the ice flowing out of the river, where it ground against other pieces of ice and created what looked like a vast field of pack ice, prompting us birders to joke about Ivory Gulls. On our way out of Salisbury, we checked a blackbird roost in the marsh along the road, but there was nothing there. Crossing back over into Newburyport, our next destination, suggested by me the night before, was the sewage treatment plant.
None of the others had been to the sewage plant, but I had gotten seven species of gulls right off it, including my life Iceland Gull and my ABA Black-headed Gull. Ben’s iPhone got us in the general area, and then I managed to find the entrance where I had gotten in a few years before. Sure enough, we pulled into the single parking space, scoped the gulls, and found an adult Iceland Gull, our only one for the day. We searched around for more birds, but didn’t come up with anything new. From the sewage plant, we headed out for Joppa Flats. We pulled in there to check the rare sightings and use the restrooms. The first thing we noticed on the board was that another team, the Bloggerhead Kingbirds, had also found a Dovekie off of Andrew’s Point, making us feel more secure about our sighting. We had also gotten the three-point bonus for finding it first, something the Bloggerheads didn’t get. We found out about the most recent Snowy Owl sighting and then continued on to Plum Island and Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.
Iceland Gull
Photo Credit: Ben using his iPhone
We decided to drive straight on down to the south end of the refuge, a place where I had found Long-tailed Ducks before, and then work our way north. On the drive south, we picked up a Northern Harrier, but no Short-eared or Snowy Owls. We pulled in to the southernmost lot and trekked out to the beach. Scanning the water resulted in the usual species: Common Eiders, the typical gulls, Great Cormorants, Horned Grebes. While checking the eiders for King Eiders, I found a single Long-tailed Duck. I got the other three on the bird then we rushed back to the car and drove north towards Hellcat Swamp.
Arriving at Hellcat Swamp, a Hairy Woodpecker called as we opened the doors of the Subaru. Marching out along the dyke, which was sadly devoid of larks, we set up our scopes to search for a Snowy Owl. There was a man up in the observation tower, and my dad went up to talk with him. A few moments later, he called us up to tell us the other man had found the Snowy Owl. He directed us to the bird, and soon all four of us had the pure white Snowy Owl in view.
Snowy Owl
Photo Credit: Ben digiscoping with his iPhone
Leaving Hellcat, my dad stopped to talk with a trio of birders headed out onto the dyke. He gave them the location of the Snowy Owl, and they told him about a Short-eared Owl that had flown in front of their car. Dad hurried up to tell us this news, and we set off in search of the Short-eared Owl and some other birds.
We pulled into Lot 3 without getting a Short-eared Owl. I looked up the road as the others were pulling out their scopes, and a bird took off from a fence post near the curve in the road. It was a Short-eared Owl! The others got on the bird, and we added it to our list. The four of us then jogged out to overlook the ocean. Ben and I misidentified a Horned Grebe as a Red-necked Grebe, but aside from that single bird and a few gulls, there was nothing out there. On our way back to the car, we met up with Greg’s parents, and they fell in behind my dad, forming a little caravan. From Lot 3, we drove north to Lot 1, where we once again headed for the ocean. This time, however, there were two Red-necked Grebes floating close to shore. We were up to fifty-eight species for the day.
Without any likely birds left on Plum Island besides Horned Larks, we drove back towards Salisbury, where we planned to check out the blackbird roost when the birds were actually coming in to roost. Just as we were passing the airstrip, Hope and I called out at the same time. We had seen a flock of small birds settle on the tarmac. Mrs. Batcheller pulled over, and we leapt out of the car, binoculars blazing into action. Horned Larks! A small plane taxied down the strip, spooking the birds into flight. With all of them in view, we could tell that there were only larks and nothing else in the flock. One bird shy of sixty, the four of us dove back into the car and our little caravan continued on to Joppa Flats. Here, we reconvened with Greg’s parents and my dad, but then the three of them headed off to the church where the lists would be compiled and the winners announced. Mrs. Batcheller and us four young birders continued on to the blackbird roost.
With only one more species needed to get sixty, the four of us were alert as anything, without which we would have never caught the Downy Woodpecker flying over the car. At the blackbird roost, we waited for a little bit, tossing stones at the frozen river, until the birds started flying in. Hope picked out three Red-winged Blackbirds, taking us to sixty-one species. And we still didn’t have a House Finch. With half an hour left for the counting period, we drove along the roads of Newburyport and Salisbury in search of our little brown nemesis, but it was not to be. We ended the competition with sixty-one species and one hundred and one points; the only one point species that we missed was a House Finch.
The Blackbird Roost
Photo Credit: Mrs. Batcheller
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