1977 STATISTICAL REPORT 

The Brookline Bird Club identified 296 species of birds in Massachusetts during 1977, including 17 additions to the Massachusetts Audubon Society Check List as follows: 

McCown’s Longspur               Bridgewater                1-16 

Sandhill Crane                        Bridgewater                1-22 

Red-bellied Woodpecker        Southwick                   2-13 

Gyrfalcon                                Newburyport              3-5 

Steller’s Eider                          Scituate                       4-3 

Yellow-throated Warbler        Mt. Auburn                  5-3 

Kentucky Warbler                   Newburyport              5-14 

Turkey                                     Martha’s Vineyard      5-27/28 

American Oystercatcher         Martha’s Vineyard      5-27/28 

Acadian Flycatcher                  Martha’s Vineyard      5-27/28 

Curlew Sandpiper                   Newburyport              5-28 

Northern Fulmar                     at sea, off Chatham    6-5 

Caspian Tern                           Plum Island                 6-27 

Sabine’s Gull                           Lynn Boat Trip            8-28 

Yellow-headed Blackbird        Nantucket                   9-2/5 

Common Puffin                      Gloucester Boat Trip   10-30 

Fulvous Whistling Duck           Plum Island                 11-20 

With snow two feet deep, the temperature 12 degrees above zero, and our scheduled leader halfway to Hawaii, substitute leader Eliot Taylor extended the January 16th Weston trip to Bridgewater, thereby gaining McCown’s Longspur for our BBC Life List. Our second Life Bird was the Steller’s Eider, distantly glimpsed by Mt. Auburn trippers—who side-lighted their April 3rd cemetery walk with a run to Scituate.

Missing from our 1977 check list are Leach’s Storm Petrel, European Widgeon, King Eider, Clapper Rail, Red Phalarope, Razorbill, Long-eared Owl, Loggerhead Shrike, Worm-eating Warbler, Dickcissel, and Lark Sparrow. 45 trips were not reported to me this year. If you attended a BBC trip which saw any of these missing birds, please drop me a note and I’ll adjust the records. 

We scheduled 284 field trips in 1977; 99 morning, 85 all day, 74 afternoon, 21 evening, and 5 weekend trips. Nine weather cancellations were reported. A few Spring reports were not received until Fall. Thank-you to the majority of leaders who submitted excellent, detailed reports this year. 

Forty visits to Newburyport totaled 255 species in 1977, an increase of 9 over last season. Five trips were not reported, 1 was rained-out, and 1 trip extended from Ipswich. Amazing is the fierce pride and determination of some leaders to bird on Plum Island. In January a beautiful Black-headed Gull with striking red bill and red legs was the reward for braving snow, icy streets, and brutal 4 degree cold. In February, 12 members walked 6 miles on Plum Island’s closed-to-traffic, icy roads. Dressed for the Arctic, they nearly roasted in 50-degree sunshine. They found no crossbills, just a dead Hermit Thrush in the new pines. April 9th was “colder than Hattie” and the wind blew so wildly that members couldn’t hold their scopes upright. It was drizzling and pouring on the 24th with 50-mph gust rocking the cars and the Gannets, which appeared along the surfline. On June 6th, evening trippers clad in winter attire, met a Willet at Hellcat. It rained greenhead flies during the 90-degree heat of July, rained rain in August, and was foggy in September, with poor visibility ending one trip. A very cold December leader suggested the BBC “ban winter birding”, but the calling power of Plum Island is already in his blood and he’ll be back! 

Listing 178 species, Cape Cod trips reported 7 visits to the mainland, 2 sea voyages, and 3 excursions to Monomoy Island. Two trips were unreported. October 16th trippers spent 4 hours at the Truro chicken farm, gaining Peregrine Falcon and Western Kingbird. 

The Springtime trip to Maryland and Virginia gained 148 species. 

Ipswich and environs produced 136 species with leaders reporting all 11 trips. Trekking Ipswich beach during the June 11th Nor’easter, John Nove reported the largest Least Tern Colony was destroyed by the tide storm and the other two seemed abandoned. Piping Plover nests were also washed away. His June 20th trip found that many of the Least Tern nests had been re-established. 

Westport trips advanced to 121 species although only 4 of the 6 scheduled walks reported. The November 13th group saw 2 Barn Swallows swooping across the beach as they watched 28 Snow Geese on the front lawn of a large Acoaxet estate. 

Mt. Auburn birders weren’t as gleeful this year, listing only 117 species during 39 reported trips. One visit was rain cancelled, but 14 walks failed to report. Bests were the Yellow-throated Warbler of May 3rd, Kentucky Warbler of May 23rd, and the Gray-cheeked Thrush of May 25th.

In 6 trips, Manchester reported 116 species, plus side trips to see the Magnolia Harlequins and the Red-bellied Woodpecker at Eastern Point. A Dickcissel was in the area on the day preceding the February 19th trip. 

Members reported all 10 Cape Ann trips this year and the count increased thereby to 109. Virginia Albee’s December 4th trip reported a pigeon in the famous Screech Owl hole in the Lanesville Cemetery and a dog-walker informed them that “a kid shot the ow] during the week.”

Six Marblehead walks were held (one was rained out), giving a superb tally of 108 despite an unsuccessful search for the Black and Gray Warbler in Peabody. 

The Lancaster-Bolton area was twice covered, with 108 species. Harold Merriman’s May walk gained 102 species, which no other club member showed up to share. He saw Bobwhite, Wilson’s Phalarope, Pileated Woodpecker, Pine Warbler, Indigo Buntings, and a Lincoln Sparrow. Best were excellent views of a singing Mourning Warbler and a Brewster’s hybrid which sang like the Golden-wing. 

Martha’s Vineyard weekenders also found 108 species. One Sooty represented the shearwater tribe, 13 Turkeys, 3 Barn Owls, a Red-headed Woodpecker, and an Acadian Flycatcher were observed. 

Great Meadows leaders did an especially fine job of covering their area but fell back to 107 species. All 17 reports were received. 

From Nantucket came 108 species. A Peregrine Falcon chased the pigeons at Bartlett Farm. A Gray-cheeked Thrush here was the second of but two sightings of the species by BBC in 1977.

Half of our South Shore trips responded (5), and listed 82 species. Leaders were dismayed by unusually low attendance and wondered if members wish to keep this area on the schedule.

Bridgewater-Lakeville and environs was certainly popular. We gained 78 species during 6 visits. The waterfowl and hawk counts were major drawing cards. A Winter Wren appeared as well.

Fresh Pond’s 70 species were gained from 9 visits. One trip was snowed out. Mrs. Emery feels that the scaup routinely listed here as Lesser Scaup are indeed Greater Scaup. Some clarification from leaders would be helpful. 

One trip to Dorchester and Thompson’s Island equalled 70 species. 

Sixty-eight was the Broadmoor-at-Natick tally and all 5 trips reported. Mike Duffy gained a Yellow-billed Cuckoo and a Lincoln Sparrow on October 2nd. 

Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary gave us 66 species from 4 reported trips. Three visits did not respond.

Middlesex Fells walks listed 64; among them were Broad-wing Hawk, Black-billed Cuckoo, and 2 pairs of Blue-gray Gnat-catchers. 

The Mt. Greylock campout listed 60 species this June, a Pileated Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, 2 Olive-sided Flycatchers, Winter Wren, and 13 Warbler species including Mourning Warbler. Two-hundred Robins led the thrush count which petered out to 2 Wood Thrush, 2 Swainson’s Thrushes, and 6 Veerys. 

Squantum birders gained 58 species during 6 visits. One report is missing. 

The Charles River tour discovered 53 species, mainly on Novitiate land in Newton. A singing Orchard Oriole was a life bird for 3 participants. 

Sherborn’s one trip gained 52 species, highlighted by a pair of Bluebirds on Russett Hill Road, and 15 Bobolinks in the fields at Pleasant Street and Western Avenue. 

One visit to Pine Bank, Melrose found 51 species, among them 3 Solitary Sandpipers, Great Crested Flycatcher, 12 Warblers, and a White Crowned Sparrow. 

Other areas adding to our total acquisition were Mystic Lake and Horn Pond, 46; Brooksby Farm, Peabody, 46; Arnold Arboretum, 44; Belmont, 42; Newton, 36; Wellesley, 39; Needham, 39; Lynnfield Marsh, 38; Revere, 34; Mt. Wachusett, 30; Nahant, 30; Quabbin, 26; Reading, 25; Lynn Boat, 23; Leverett Pond, 21; Wayland, 19; Mt. Tom, 18; and Mt. Watatic (in the rain), 11—but including 10 Sharp-shinned and 1 Red-tailed Hawk, an Osprey, and a Peregrine Falcon.

Massachusetts High Totals for the month, for a single day in the field are given special mention:

January            63                    Falmouth                                 Clark 

February         52                    Newburyport                          Hale 

March              58                    Cape Cod                                Campbell

April                 78                    Newburyport                          Grinley 

May                 160                  Century Run*                          Stymeist 

121                  Newburyport                          Weissberg 

June                 62                    Plymouth, Marshfield             D’Entremont 

July                  68                    Lancaster-Bolton                    Merriman 

August             81                    Plum Island                             Giruinas

September      91                    Newburyport                          Grinley 

October           82                    Plum Island                             Hale 

November       74                    Plum Island, Salisbury            Hale 

December       54                    Newburyport                          Miliotis 

Species gained per month during 1977 follow: 

January            106                  May                 95                    September      4

February         12                    June                 8                      October           3 

March              11                    July                  4                      November       3 

April                 36                    August             12                    December       2 

Leaders commented upon the small attendance on some trips this year in contrast to the throngs at Newburyport. Of 168 trips which did report attendance, 102 listed 10 or fewer participants and 53 reported 5 or less, including the leader. Nine all-day trips had from 1-5 members attending. On 6 trips the leader was the only participant. If you are weary of cavalcade birding, consider widening your horizons by venturing into new areas for birding. In this spirit, this year’s highlights feature many trips to less-traveled ways. 

The blessed morn has come again; 

The early gray 

Taps at the slumberer’s window-pane 

And seems to say, 

Break, break from the enchanter’s chain, 

Away! Away! 

“Old January, wrapped well, in many weeds to keep the cold away” came on a chill northwest wind, paling the neutral landscape with light snow. Three members kept tryst with the New Year at Squantum and entered a White-crowned Sparrow at the airport feeder and an adult Little Gull, from the end of Long Island, upon the checklist. Other finds were 320 Brant, 600 Common Eiders, a Goshawk, Short-eared Owl, 45 Horned Larks, and 7 Song Sparrows; 22 species and a great beginning. 

On January 8th, Judge Jodrey became the year’s first solitary observer, due to a snowstorm at Cape Ann. His list of 27 included 10 Cowbirds, an array of feeder birds, and all the bobbing sea ducks he could count between snow flakes. 

On January 16, 5 members scoured Falmouth, Mashnee Island in Buzzards Bay, and East Sandwich. Most ponds were iced over, but birders enriched the list with Red-throated Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, 6 Great Blue Herons, a rich panoply of waterfowl including 10,350 scaup, Sharp-shinned Hawk and Merlin, Common Snipe, Glaucous Gull, 6 Thick-billed Murre, and a number of lingering passeriformes. 

Nahant birders examined a large loon as the month ended. It appeared “sharply black and white with the black extending down over the eye. The bill was upturned and a pretty, pale green. 

February began its cold rule as cold birders, back at Long Island on the 6th, picked up a Thick-billed Murre—dead—and acquired the skull. Sixteen Black-legged Kittiwakes joined the list.

Hunting the Boston Harbor Islands on February 19 were a Red-tailed Hawk and a Kestrel; an adult Northern Shrike kept changing its perch in the bushes and trees by the Jordan Marsh Warehouse. 

Reading’s Feeding Stations gave us the year’s first Pine Grosbeak on February 20th, plus 31 Purple Finches. 

A Great Meadows exploration on the 21st featured a Winter Wren thread the tangle of deadfalls along the stream and counted 7 Robins upon thawed ground near the outflow.

Highland Farm walkers reveled in “the first of the warm Saturdays” on the 26th. A lovely day was spent on snowy Belmont Hill with Eliot Taylor on hand to gather in the Chickadees, “which everyone enjoys all over again.” 

A late-in-the-month Newburyport trip, sans leader, drew lots and Dick and Dora Hale won the honors. Red-winged Blackbirds, tuning up for Spring, drove out winter glooms, and a pair of Wood Ducks and 2 Green-winged Teal lent an exotic vibrancy to the muddy bank of the Merrimack River. 

On March 5, Newburyport was invaded by an army of birders. It was 2:30 p.m. at the Water Street Boat Ramp. The large group had walked to the coal yard to hunt a Glaucous Gull. Herm Weissberg stayed behind and while scoping Woodbridge Island, saw everything going up. Jim Barton also watched as a white-phased Gyrfalcon flashed over the marsh sending clouds of ducks, gulls, and geese into the sky. At least the main group did get a Redhead, Snowy Owl, 2 Barrow’s Goldeneyes, and the Glaucous Gull. 

An early Lesser Yellowlegs stalked the Newburyport area on March 12th. 

Natick trippers saw a Snapping Turtle, fresh square holes made by the Pileated Woodpecker in a Hemlock Tree, and gained another White-crowned Sparrow at Broadmoor’s feeding station, where it had spent the winter. 

The highlight of April 2nd’s Newburyport trip was a fine and extended view of a Short-tailed Weasel on Pikes Bridge Road, found by Alan Smith of Revere. 

“Soon o’er their heads blithe April airs shall sing A thousand wild flowers round them shall unfold.” Keble 

Rev. John Holman found that April was still fooling, as the uncertain glory of April 2nd flung sleet and snow into faces watching Fresh Pond. A Pied-billed Grebe surfaced, Ring-necked Ducks and Canvasbacks were lustre-less, a Phoebe endured, and Redwing Blackbirds and Grackles sat in black flocks in the trees. 

On April 9th, Rev. Holman gained a Tree Swallow at Horn Pond, Woburn, and added 6 Rusty Blackbirds before pleading, “Where is Spring?” 

April 18th presented Hammond Pond, Chestnut Hill birders with hope in a flurry of 25 Yellow-rumped and 50 Palm Warblers. 

Few hawks braved awful weather on 4-23 to watch birders at Plum Island. Present were 10 Glossy Ibis, 5 Ruddy Ducks, 2 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and a black and white Warbler. 

The August Boat Trip to Stellwagon Bank gained 500 Greater, 25 Sooty, and close encounters with 8 Manx Shearwaters. Northern Phalarope, 3 Parasitic and 5 Pomarine Jaegers, 20 unidentified jaegers and an adult Sabine’s Gull kept binoculars busy. Calm seas prevailed and no one was seasick. 

Nantucket birders saw a Brown Bat, hanging like a pine cone in the Moth Ball Pines when they stopped for a Yellow-breasted Chat. 

Jim Berry’s September 10th walk at Ipswich flushed a 4 Marbled Godwit at Eagle Hill to see the cinnamon wing linings.

Mt. Wachusett, Princeton was the site of a hawk watch on September 18th. Turkey Vulture, 22 Sharp-shinned, 5 Red-tailed, 345 Broad-winged, and 3 Marsh Hawks, 12 Ospreys, and 6 American Kestrels were the reward. 

Gloria Hotz often sends unusual observations along with Manchester reports. On September 24th her group noted a pair of Gray Catbirds at Allen’s Pond. One had typical black eyes and the other had brilliant amber eyes, like a thrasher! 

A thrilling spectacle for Plum Island birders on October! came with 5000 Double-crested Cormorants, passing overhead strings of three to four hundred. 

No one braved the pouring rain to join Steve Grinley at Westport on October 9th so he decided to “go it alone”. He surveyed a lone Osprey fishing in the river, counted 141 and 27 Mute Swans at Acoaxet, and watched the gulls following a fishing trawler in rough seas off shore. A few Gannets passed as did an unidentified shearwater. Seven Laughing Gulls came along, and a flock of Dunlin. Everything got progressively wetter—Common Loon, Kingfisher, and a very wet Great Egret sitting in the marsh at Dartmouth. So a wet and depressed Steve turned and went home. 

Another Osprey was seen catching a fish at Fresh Pond on October 15th, as flocks of Canada Geese headed South. Twelve Lesser Scaup were studied and their dusky sides noted, 25 Killdeer were viewed together, and 15 Semi-palmated Plovers kept company with a lone Common Snipe. 

“Orleans to Truro and back” was the slogan on October 16th. A Peregrine Falcon perched on a wire long enough for all to view him/her through the scope. A Western Kingbird added to the fun and members counted Savannah, Sharp-tailed, Vesper, Chipping, White-throated, White-crowned, Swamp, and Song Sparrows. 

A Gloucester October boat trip enticed 128 people out to sea for a dark phased Northern Fulmar, Common Puffin, 10 Greater Shearwaters, Gannets, and Black-legged Kittiwakes. The list ended with one Snowbunting but doesn’t say whether by land or by sea. 

November 6th gave us a grand total of 40 Common and 70 Red-throated Loons! 

One of the hazards of leading a larger group is that everyone doesn’t see all the birds. How frustrating it was on November 5th to have 12 pairs of Shovelers at the roadside edge of the Plum Island salt pans, only to have them all fly away as the cars pulled up! Seventeen Red-breasted Nuthatches investigated the new pines as a fruitless search was made for a Saw Whet Owl. Peregrine Falcon and Northern Shrike raised spirits, but a Gull-billed Tern, reported by Ruth Emery and George Wilson, could not be found in the fading light at Salisbury. 

Delight of the November 20th Plum Island trip was an immature Bald Eagle with heavily mottled wing linings, dark beak and head, and basal 3/4 of the tail white with a dark terminal band. A Fulvous Whistling Duck was stationed at the feeder on the Hellcat boardwalk. One hundred and five Pine Siskins added a sprightly touch. 

On December 3rd at Lanesville, 14 Snow Buntings landed in a plot of short green grass, bringing life bird excitement to one trip participant. A Red-headed Woodpecker at Eastern Point added to the delight. 

Watchers at Revere and Winthrop were busy on December 4th, counting 22 Horned Grebes, 35 Purple Sandpipers, 64 Dunlin, 325 Sanderlings, 21 Laughing Gulls, 150 Bonaparte Gulls, and a Water Pipit. 

A Sharp-shinned Hawk was bombing an adult Red-tailed Hawk at Salisbury on the same day. Fifty Evening Grosbeaks and 4 Pine Siskins were spotted at Plum Island, and a Common Redpoll and 8 White-winged Crossbills were added to the checklist. 

December 17th bathed Wayland in wintery sunlight. A corn field of 50 Tree Sparrows rendered icicle tunes prophetic of frostier days. Three flocks of geese passed overhead toward their nightly bivouac near Heard’s Pond. The sky gradually filled with wings as lines of gulls made their late afternoon flight to Boston Harbor. 

The final trip of 1977 was a morning visit to Manchester and Magnolia on December 31st. Harbor Seals basked on the rocks in Manchester’s Outer Harbor and at Rafe’s Chasm, 5 Harlequin Ducks played in the surf. Members said their “Good-byes” until next year and prepared for another beginning. 

Checking the annual list there were a few empty spaces. Echoing Wordsworth, one was apt to sigh: 

“To seek thee did I often rove 

Through woods and on the green; 

And thou wert still a hope, a love; 

Still longed for, never seen.” 

Ah, but just wait until next year! 

Mary Lou Barnett, Statistician