Vernal Equinox Walk ~ 03-20-10

On March 20th I led my Vernal Equinox Walk for the Brookline Bird Club. I was joined by Mark Burns, Jane Lothian, Lenny Jackson, Joan and Larry Duprey, Dianna Fruguglietti, and Paul Ippolito. We spent the day on the Upper Cape and birded Salt Pond, Falmouth Thicket, Nobska Point, Sider’s Pond behind the Falmouth Town Hall, Little Pond, Great Pond, Mill Pond, Herring Pond, Muddy Pond, and Sandy Neck. We stopped at Scusset Beach before heading north to our carpool spot in Plymouth and we finished the day at Cumberland Farms in Halifax/Middleboro. It certainly felt like Spring with temperatures ranging between 44 df in the morning and 72 df in the afternoon! The winds were light and sunshine was abundant. We tallied 59 species between 9:00am and 7:30pm.

There were several highlights for the day but notables included seeing: KILLDEER at the Plymouth Rest Area (a first of the year for many of us); REDHEAD at Sider’s Pond; AMERICAN WIGEON at Little Pond; TREE SWALLOWS at Muddy Pond; NORTHERN GANNET, WHITE-WINGED- SURF- BLACK- SCOTERS at Sandy Neck; FISH CROWS in Sandwich; and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW (immature), NORTHERN HARRIERS, DUCKS, WOODCOCK, and a beautiful sunset at Cumberland Farms! Here is a special Thank you to Jim Sweeney who met us Cumberland Farms and shared his wealth of knowledge about the area and brought us to the best spots to see ducks and woodcocks at twilight!

Following is a complete list of the birds we saw:

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Red-throated Loon - 1
Common Loon - 6
Horned Grebe – 40
Red-necked Grebe – 7
Northern Gannet – 8
Double-crested Cormorant - 4
Canada Goose - 300
Brant - 45
Mute Swan - 35
Wood Duck – 30 (at Cumberland Farms)
Gadwall – 4
American Wigeon - 3
American Black Duck - 200
Mallard - 120
Redhead -1
Ring-necked Duck - 12
Greater Scaup – 350
Lesser Scaup - 40
Common Eider – 700
Surf Scoter - 50
White-winged Scoter - 20
Black Scoter - 17
Duck formerly known as Oldsquaw - 12
Bufflehead - 180
Red-breasted Merganser - 24
Northern Harrier - 9
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 15
Killdeer - 11
American Woodcock - 6
Ring-billed Gull - 190
Herring Gull - 200
Great Black-backed Gull - 20
Rock Pigeon - 1
Mourning Dove - 26
Downy Woodpecker – 7
Northern Flicker - 11
Blue Jay - 18
American Crow - 260
Fish Crow – 3
Tree Swallow - 9
Black-capped Chickadee - 36
Tufted Titmouse - 45
White-breasted Nuthatch - 3
Carolina Wren - 7
American Robin - 650
Northern Mockingbird - 5
European Starling – 1,000
Savannah Sparrow – 2
Song Sparrow – 70
White-throated Sparrow – 1
White-crowned Sparrow - 1
Northern Cardinal - 35
Red-winged Blackbird – 1,000
Common Grackle - 250
Brown-headed Cowbird – 9
House Finch - 27
American Goldfinch - 90
House Sparrow - 24

Wishing you all a Happy Spring!