The club took 66 trips or walks during the year, 48 in western Massachusetts, 11 to the Massachusetts coast, three to Vermont, two to Rhode Island, and one each to Connecticut and New Jersey. We also conducted two Christmas Counts, two Censuses, and Hawkwatch Counts in the fall and spring. For all these trips and projects our total species count was 270 in Massachusetts, 300 in the Northeast, and 207 in western Massachusetts. For the previous two years these totals were 263 and 269 in Massachusetts, 287 and 292 in the Northeast, and 200 and 205 in western Massachusetts.
| July-August 2003 | October 2003 | January-February 2004 | May 2004 |
| September 2003 | November-December 2003 | March-April 2004 | June-July 2004 |
On our first Hotline Trip ten of us headed for Plum Island to get 11 Glossy Ibis, a Little Blue Heron, and 400 Lesser Yellowlegs among 64 species. Nine members tallied 88 species on the Cape Cod weekend. Most of the 17 shorebird species were on Monomoy and South Beach, which also had Arctic, Forster’s, and Black Tern. The whales were few on Stellwagen, and the shearwaters were fewer (only one Greater), but we did estimate over 700 Wilson’s Petrels. Our traditional August trip to Plum Island lured 15 participants, who found 30 White-rumped and one Stilt Sandpiper, a Hudsonian Godwit, plus a surprise Upland Sandpiper. On the Nighthawk Watch there were 40 Common Nighthawks, many Wood Ducks, and 15 Green Herons. Eight people toured the Lower River for Great Egret, Green Heron, Pied-billed Grebe, and both yellowlegs among 47 species.
It was still summer so we paddled the Quinnebaug River in light rain, netting a Virginia Rail. Migrants and walkers were both scarce on the three Stebbins Refuge Walks, but the weekend trip to Longmeadow and Agawam recorded a Peregrine Falcon. Five observers detoured from the scheduled Plum Island trip to go to South Beach in Chatham, where we found thousands of shorebirds and terns. Highlights were a Golden Plover, 8 Whimbrel, 4 Hudsonian and 7 Marbled Godwits, 5 Roseate, 5 Forster’s, and a Black Tern. We got a good workout on the bikes at Gate 40 of Quabbin, and we also spotted an Olive-sided Flycatcher and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. The first annual Blueberry Hill weekend hawkwatch and pig roast was a big success with more than 50 people. The roasting was followed by a delicious meal, and a flight of over 300 Broad-winged Hawks, one of nine different raptor species. Hundred of ducks, hawks, shorebirds and terns were there for us when we visited Cape May. We tallied 126 species, including 8 Brown Pelicans, 5 Marbled Godwits, 75 Western Sandpipers, 4 Parasitic Jaegers, and 3 Connecticut Warblers. A trip to the Hatfield Meadows gave nine of us 66 Snow Geese, a Peregrine, 3 Golden Plovers, a Dunlin, and a Connecticut Warbler.
Another watch on Blueberry Hill also was part of the nationwide Big Sit, but wet weather moved in to dampen our species count and our spirits. Still, among the 31 species were Goshawk, Merlin, Screech, Great Horned, and Barred Owl. Another Cape Cod weekend rolled around, and brought another 88 species for 7 participants. Big finds were a Eurasian Wigeon, a Mourning Warbler, a Clay-colored Sparrow, and a Dickcissel. Our next Local Hotline took us to Ludlow, where we had 10 Ruddy Ducks, then to Amherst for Rufous Hummingbird.
November-December 2003
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It was waterfowl time and the Berkshire Lakes started us out fine with a Red-necked Grebe, both scaups, all three scoters, and 10 Ruddy Ducks. A group of ten went on a new jaunt to Vermont, starting on Lake Champlain with Horned and Red-necked Grebes, Long-tailed Ducks, a Little Gull and 1000 Bonaparte’s Gulls, and climaxing at Dead Creek with 14 Rough-legged Hawks and 5000 Snow Geese. A visit to Cape Ann gave us 25 Gannets, 10 Harlequin Ducks, 25 Purple Sandpipers, and 8 Black Guillemots. On the way back we stopped at Stoneham for an Ash-throated Flycatcher. The South Shore turned out to be outer Cape Cod, where we garnered a Pacific Loon, a Common Murre, 3 Thick-billed Murres, 8 Razorbills, and a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Closer to home, Quabbin offered 5 Common Loons, 6 Horned Grebes, 7 Bald Eagles and 17 Wild Turkeys. On the Rhode Island trip we got Eurasian Wigeon, 2 Canvasback, more than 5000 scaup, and 8 Monk Parakeets. The Christmas Counts had decent weather. The tally in Springfield was 70 species, highlighted by 3 Ring-necked Ducks, a Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, 2 Peregrines, 2 Winter Wrens, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, a Yellow-breasted Chat, and 3 Snow Buntings. In the Westfield area there were 67 species, best being a Ring-necked Duck, 3 Greater and 5 Lesser Scaups, a Winter Wren, and 2 Towhees.
January-February 2004
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We started the year right on the Cape Cod trip with close looks at four Dovekie in Wellfeet harbor, then added 120 Razorbills, a Pacific Loon, hundreds of eiders and scoters, a Eurasian and 60 American Wigeons, and a Northern Shrike. Five members managed 2 Pintail, 200 Horned Larks, 50 Snow Buntings, a Baltimore Oriole, and 15 Pine Siskins on another Local Hotline trip to Northampton and Hadley. The Coastal Hotline to the Cape was superb, picking up Summer and Western Tanager, 2 Sandhill Cranes, over 2000 Common Eiders, hundred s of scoters, and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. The Rhode Island weekend encountered rough weather, but 11 eager participants achieved a fine list of 70 species, including 5 Tundra Swan, 20 Canvasbacks, 40 Harlequin Ducks, two Barrow’s Goldeneye, a Tufted Duck, 65 Purple Sandpipers, a Black-headed Gull and a Short-eared Owl. We squeezed in another Local Hotline for 15 people, most of them getting the elusive Bohemian Waxwings and Evening Grosbeaks. It was 16 of us on the Cape Ann and Plum Island weekend to enjoy a King Eider, an Eared Grebe, 130 Harlequin Ducks, hundreds of Buffleheads and Goldeneyes, 2 Rough-legged Hawks, 10 Black Guillemots, 11 Razorbills, and 5 Short-eared Owls.
Another Massachusetts Coast Hotline took us to the south shore, where we studied scoters and eiders at Sagamore, counted 80 Brant, and then were surprised by a Coot and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls in Plymouth. On the Connecticut Shore we got 25 Red-throated Loons, 1000 scaup, 200 Bonaparte’s Gulls, and 50 Monk Parakeets. The Local Ponds tour had good luck, as 11 of us found the Trumpeter Swan, then added 150 Snow Geese, 10 American Wigeon, 2 Pintail, and a Fox Sparrow. The Stebbins Woodcocks were again hard to hear in all the traffic, but East Longmeadow provided the full show of sights and sounds. A group of 14 on the Upper River Tour were happy to get one Pied-billed Grebe, 3 Snowy Egrets, 8 American Wigeon, 14 Green-winged Teal, 4 Gadwall, 5 Greater and 2 Lesser Scaup. At the spring Hawkwatch on Blueberry Hill we counted ten hawk species, including a Golden Eagle and 280 Broad-winged Hawks. Early arrivals like Pine and Palm Warblers were at Ashley Ponds. April finished up with a morning at Stebbins getting American Bittern and American Coot among the spring songbird arrivals. In the evening on the Rail Trail Walk in Amherst we heard Barred Owls and saw 2 courting Blue-gray Gnatcatchers.
A big flock of 24 eager birders greeted May at Stanley Park, where 68 species featured Yellow-throated Vireo, a Swainson’s Thrush, 8 Parulas, 2 Nashville and 3 Black-throated Blue Warblers and a Louisiana Waterthrush. The next day 63 species were noted in Longmeadow, and in the list were Winter Wren, 15 Gnatcatchers, a Nashville Warbler, 6 Parulas, and 20 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. Warblers were pretty good on the Wednesday walks at Stebbins, but shorebirds were better. The pool on West Road enticed Semipalmated Sandpipers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, and a Black-bellied Plover. Also recorded were a Sora, Tennessee, Canada and Blackpoll warblers. Ten birders found 63 species in Granville and Blandford. Highlights were an American Bittern, Least Flycatcher, Winter Wren and 15 warbler species. The Ruffed Grouse drummed at Robinson Park for all 22 of us to hear, and other singers were Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanagers, Indigo Bunting and Baltimore Orioles. The 28 workers on the May Census ground out 147 species in 180 hours. The good numbers and rare species were numerous, but special were a Green-winged Teal, Northern Harrier, 2 Merlins, Black-bellied and 2 Semipalmated Plovers, a Dunlin, a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, 2 Marsh Wren, 3 Gray-cheeked Thrush, 7 Worm-eating Warblers, a Mourning Warbler and an Orchard Oriole. The Cerulean Warblers had deserted Quabbin, so we had to wait until the Skinner State Park walk to get them, along with Worm-eating Warbler. An extra treat was a visit to the nearby rail trail in Amherst for a Prothonotary Warbler. Brigantine and Cape May in spring is always amazing, and it was again for 10 members of the Allen and Hoffmann Bird Clubs. Nine Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were seen, a species rarely found even in bird-rich Cape May. Other prizes were a Caspian Tern, 3 Prothonotary Warblers, a Hooded Warbler, 3 Yellow-breasted Chats, 5 Seaside Sparrows, and many hundreds of Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Red Knots, Dunlins, and Black Skimmers. It was windy in the Tyringham Valley, but 8 hikers still found 71 species, including a Snipe, Black-billed Cuckoo, 3 Alder and Willow Flycatchers, and 92 warblers of 13 species. The Covey WMA walk in Belchertown also had a Black-billed Cuckoo as well as an American Bittern.
The first ever Breeding Bird Census of the new Little River IBA (Important Bird Area) was a huge success. Thirteen observers in the field for 72 hours recorded 3400 individuals of 119 species. Rare species were a Common Loon, Goshawk, 2 Soras, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Saw-whet Owl, Olive-sided Flycatcher, 3 Acadian Flycatchers, 2 Wormeating and a Mourning Warbler. There was only one House Sparrow. The next trip went to Granville and lured out the Acadian Flycatcher, Winter Wren, and Blackburnian Warblers. Kayaking on the Quaboag produced 3 American Bitterns, 2 Virginia Rails, and a Common Loon.The evening trip to Montague Plains gave us Whip-poor-wills, Bluebirds, and a Grasshopper Sparrow. Our pioneering hill town trip was to Chesterfield, where we collected a Hooded Merganser, 4 Alder Flycatchers, 6 Ravens, 4 Bluebirds, and 5 Purple Finches.October Mt. in June gave us great looks at Virginia Rail, Northern Waterthrush and Mourning Warbler, part of 66 total species. There was rain and wind again on Greylock for the Northern Berkshires trip, but we listed 70 species. Super finds were a Northern Harrier, an Olive-sided Flycatcher, 5 Swainson’s Thrush, 3 Blackpolls, and a Mourning Warbler. The Knightville trail along the Westfield River gave a select few bikers 49 species. Highlights were an Osprey and 4 Spotted Sandpipers, and 8 Least Flycatchers. The birds and barbecued ribs of Southern Vermont came next. We started the day with Mourning Warbler and thought we had ended the birds with Blackpoll, but then we spotted the Merlin being dive-bombed by Barn and Cliff Swallows at the base of Stratton Mt. We heard 4 Swainson’s Thrush but nary a Bicknell’s. The year ended on a high note in Plainfield, where a special treat among the 53 woodland species were 5 singing Winter Wrens.