Plum Island (please use more refined location), Essex, Massachusetts, US

May 2, 2026 6:41 AM – 7:21 AM

Protocol: Traveling

0.245 mile(s)

Checklist Comments:    My Brookline Bird Club Birding By Bike Trip. 

Weather: 49-55°F, Cloudy, Occasional rain. 

We rode our bikes along the main refuge road between Parking Lot #1 and Hellcat. A splinter group continued to the Pines. We met at 630AM and birded until 1PM, dodging rain drops along the way.

70 species (+1 other taxa)

Snow Goose  1    Flew overhead at Hellcat.

Brant  12

Canada Goose  6

Mute Swan  1

Gadwall  8

Mallard  7

Green-winged Teal  4

Long-tailed Duck  1

Bufflehead  8

Wild Turkey  1

Mourning Dove  9

Clapper Rail  1    Continuing bird.

Killdeer  7

Semipalmated Plover  5

Willet  21    Willets heard and seen from Parking Lot #1 to Hellcat.

Greater Yellowlegs  10

Least Sandpiper  4

American Herring Gull  28

Great Black-backed Gull  3

Common Tern  10

Common Loon  3

Northern Gannet  1

Double-crested Cormorant  7

Glossy Ibis  15

Snowy Egret  2

Great Egret  14

Great Blue Heron  2

Osprey  5

Cooper’s Hawk  5

Accipitrine hawk sp. (former Accipiter sp.)  1

Northern Harrier  2

Belted Kingfisher  1

Downy Woodpecker  2

Hairy Woodpecker  1

Merlin  6

Blue-headed Vireo  1

Blue Jay  2

American Crow  5

Black-capped Chickadee  13

Tree Swallow  26

Purple Martin  5

Barn Swallow  9

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  1

Marsh Wren  3

European Starling  4

Gray Catbird  2

Brown Thrasher  7

Northern Mockingbird  5

Veery  2

American Robin  12

House Sparrow  2

Purple Finch  9

American Goldfinch  12

Chipping Sparrow  4

White-throated Sparrow  7

Savannah Sparrow  3

Song Sparrow  6

Swamp Sparrow  3

Eastern Towhee  18

Orchard Oriole  1

Red-winged Blackbird  11

Brown-headed Cowbird  4

Common Grackle  15

Northern Waterthrush  3

Black-and-white Warbler  4

Northern Parula  1

Northern Yellow Warbler  1

Black-throated Blue Warbler  1

Palm Warbler  2

Yellow-rumped Warbler  16

Northern Cardinal  2

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S332095013

Bring Back Bobolinks!

Bring Back Bobolinks! This year the BBC is introducing new Endangered Species Program. Each year we plan to focus on a single bird species facing serious threats in Massachusetts and elsewhere. With this effort we

Bring Back Bobolinks!

Bring Back Bobolinks! This year the BBC is introducing new Endangered Species Program. Each year we plan to focus on a single bird species facing serious threats in Massachusetts and elsewhere. With this effort we

Bring Back Bobolinks!

Bring Back Bobolinks! This year the BBC is introducing new Endangered Species Program. Each year we plan to focus on a single bird species facing serious threats in Massachusetts and elsewhere. With this effort we

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Upcoming Field Trips

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    Adding to our Bobolink conservation series. Observe and appreciate Bobolinks in breeding habitat! Bobolinks are nesting throughout the airport. We will walk the runways less than 2 miles walking total.  This area is all grasslands, around 400 acres.

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    Joint with Mass Audubon BNC. Join us to observe resident birds and spring migrants in a unique urban habitat that is a favorite for many bird species, including uncommon and rare flycatchers, swallows & warblers. Birders of all levels will enjoy this walk. The trails are generally flat and easy to walk. A water bottle,

  • Bring Back Bobolinks: Bobolink Walk at Appleton Farms Ipswich with the Grasslands Survey Team (New!)

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    New addition to our Bring Back Bobolinks conservation series. Rani date July 2 - check with leader in case of rain. Join new BBC members and Trustees Grassland Birds Monitoring Project volunteers Andy and Tina Haubert on their regular survey at this well known location for breeding and nesting Bobolinks.  We’ll observe field marks, song,

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    Join Glenn on a 5-to-6-mile walk through a very birdy area with species ranging from Broad-winged Hawk to Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Blue-headed Vireo, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Baltimore Oriole, and lots of stuff in between. (Maybe a moose or a bobcat!) Co-sponsored with the South Shore Bird Club.

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