1979 STATISTICAL REPORT 

Gray birds gathered us together in 1979. Their fleeting lives were long journeys. While we wondered at the mystery of their comings, and listened to the learned explanations, didn’t we delight in the fates that carried them to Massachusetts! 

We remember large, pale terns, gray fluffs of owls, Plum island’s remarkable grebe, one tiny warbler flitting like a dust mote beside an Ipswich pond, and a gray crane stalking a frozen cornfield. All birders were mad for gray in 1979. “A little madness in the Spring, is wholesome even for the king.” For birders it does nicely at any season of the year. 

In 1979 the Brookline Bird Club identified 299 species (plus two hybrids) and listed among these 21 write-ins on the 1977 Massachusetts Audubon Society Check List. A selective list of these write-ins follows: 

Whistling Swan                        Ipswich                                  1/1 

Arctic Loon                              Cape Ann                             1/6 

Great Gray Owl                       Amherst                                2/11 

Yellow-throated Warbler          Mt. Auburn                          4/24 

Lawrence’s Warbler                 West Newbury                 5/12 

Brewster’s Warbler                  West Newbury                 5/12 

Black-headed Grosbeak          Manchester                        5/19 

Bar-tailed Godwit                    Monomoy                            8/18 

Prothonotary Warbler               Nantucket                            8/31 

Say’s Phoebe                           Plum Island                         9/8 

Gull-billed Tern                        Salisbury                              9/15 

Royal Tern                               Manchester                        9/22 

Clay-colored Sparrow              Plum Island                        10/13 

Summer Tanager                        Manchester                       10/13 

Blue Grosbeak                           Truro                                  10/14

LeConte’s Sparrow                   Salisbury                              10/20 

Sabine’s Gull                             Plymouth                             10/28 

Avocet                                       Plum Island                        11/10 

Western Grebe                          Plum Island                        11/24 

Lucy’s Warbler                         Ipswich                               12/1 

Our Life List was enriched with Great Gray Owl and Lucy’s Warbler. This gives us 371 life species, and if we consider past sightings of escaped birds, hybrids, and those species lost in AOU rearrangement of 1973, our Life List stands at 391. 

We scheduled 260 field trips this season with 86 all-day outings, 121 early morning risers, 29 afternoon strolls, 19 evening walks, and 4 weekend excursions. There was also a Century Run during May. The BBC went White Mountain climbing, prowled for owls, sought nests, collected shells, examined wild flowers, hawk-watched, rediscovered Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine, and held 4 boat trips to view pelagics on the fishing banks, all with superb results. Six trips were storm cancelled. This year 30 leaders failed to file their reports. 

Our totals would have been higher had we not missed the following: 

King Rail                                        Boreal Chickadee 

Baird’s Sandpiper                           Short-billed Marsh Wren 

Western Sandpiper                        Loggerhead Shrike 

Red Phalarope                               Worm-eating Warbler 

Black Skimmer                              Common Redpoll 

Dovekie                                         Pine Siskin 

Barn Owl                                       Red Crossbill 

Acadian Flycatcher                       Connecticut Warbler 

Many walks were not reported; if you can document the sightings of any of these on a 1979 Massachusetts trip, please notify the statistician. 

Our Newburyport trips equalled last year’s performance with 246 species plus the much heralded Pikes Bridge Road company of Lawrence’s and Brewster’s Warbler hybrids. Introduced Bobwhite raised new coveys at Plum Island where Wilson’s Phalarope made history by nesting at the salt pans. Willet nesting was suspected in the refuge area. 

Cape Cod visits gave BBC 167 species, specializing in American Oystercatchers, Marbled, Hudsonian, and a Bar-tailed Godwit or two, terns, and pelagics. The Harwichport boat trips found 30 Fulmars, 10 Greater, and 25 Sooty Shearwaters on June 3rd, and on September 30th gained 30 Cory’s, 20 Greater, 3 Sooty, and 1 Manx Shearwater. 

Cape Ann-Manchester birders listed 157 species this year, including 5 Harlequin Ducks, 16 Black Guillemots, 7 Razorbills, and 1 Thick-billed Murre. An Arctic Loon was observed off Dolliver’s Neck, a Kumlein’s Gull at Brace’s Cove, and on January 14th, members counted 12 Glaucous and 60 Iceland Gulls. 

The Century Run logged 144 species on May 12th, gaining the season’s only Least Bittern and Goshawk. 

Nantucket Island was visited twice, giving us 138 species. On the August-September weekend, 35 Black Terns were counted. 

Ipswich birders found only 132 species this year, plagued with windy weather. A Red-breasted Nuthatch was seen on two trips. Piping Plover and Least Tern nests were observed and 8000 Tree Swallows were estimated on September 9th. 

Mt. Auburn birders were almost cheerless with 122 species but only one write-in, the Yellow-throated Warbler. Orange-crowned, Hooded, and Mourning Warblers were also encountered. 

Great Meadows walks found 104 species but saw just 1 Virginia and 1 Sora Rail. 

Martha’s Vinevard birders found 101 species and somehow counted 75 Red-eyed Vireos! Louisiana Heron, Arctic Tern, and 6 Grasshopper Sparrows were seen. 

Marblehead gave us 93 species including a Louisiana Waterthrush on April 2nd, previously reported there in May 1974.

Westport’s 80 species featured 14 Ospreys, Turkey Vulture, Marbled Godwit, and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. 

Plymouth Beach walkers discovered 78 species with 6 Common Loons and 80 Snowy Egrets on August 25th. 

Two trips to Maine netted 77 species; Squantum only 66 with much of the area no longer accessible; Lakeville-Bridgewater found 66; Rhode Island 66; Mystic Lake-Horn Pond 65 with 2 Hooded Mergansers, 2 Ruddy Ducks and Woodcock; Middlesex Fells 64 with Black-billed Cuckoo, Great Crested Flycatcher, Indigo Bunting, and 2 Broad-winged Hawks; Revere-Winthrop 62 with Long-billed Dowitcher, Marbled and Hudsonian Godwits, and 3 Black-headed Gulls; Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary 59 with Ring-necked Ducks, Woodcock, and Red-headed Woodpecker; Newton 54, Essex 51 with Great Horned Owl and Short-eared Owl; Natick 50; North Andover 50; Saugus 50; Fresh Pond 44; Quabbin 44; Ow] Prowl] 44; Dover 43; White Mountains 41; Marshfield 41; South Shore 41; Belmont 40; Mt. Tom 38; Nahant 38; Melrose 35; Pleasure Island 34; Wellesley 30; Lynn Boat 22; Boston Harbor 16; and Mt. Wachusett 10, with raptors only. 

Species gained per month in 1979 follow: 

January                92            May                         78            September       11 

February             14            June                        8               October               6 

March                 26            July                          4               November         4 

April                   44            August                  10            December         2 

Massachusetts high totals for a single day afield are given mention: 

January               48            Newburyport                    Stephen Grinley 

February             44            Newburyport                    Philip Arrigo 

March                 49            Bridgewater                       Dorothy Davis 

April                    72            Newburyport                    Joshua Murphy 

May                     102         Newburyport                    Herman Weissberg 

June                     102         GBBBC                                   Robert Stymeist 

July                       66            Newburyport                    Herman Weissberg 

August                  88            Newburyport                    William Drummond 

September        101        Newburyport                    Stephen Grinley 

October                88            Newburyport                    Oliver Komar 

November          73            Newburyport                    Brian Cassie 

December          54            Newburyport                    Ida Giriunas 

“On the thirty-second day of the thirteenth month of the eighth day of the week, 

“On the twenty-fifth hour and the sixty-first minute, we’ll find all things that we seek.” 

January Ist enticed ten members to Newburyport, while everyone else was at Salisbury looking for an absent Boreal Owl. A Clapper Rail, Little Gull, Long-eared Owl, and Northern Shrike provoked the brightest smiles, while a side visit to Ipswich for Mute and Whistling Swans, Gadwall and the dependable State Bird of Massachusetts, Black-capped Chickadee, raised our total to 41 species at day’s end. 

Squantum birders eyed 3 Double-crested Cormorants on January 7, right under their noses from the Long Island Bridge. For some members came the joy of seeing their first adult drake King Eider, at close range. 

January 13th seemed a good day to read bird books at home by the fireplace. Snow flurries and poor light plagued everyone but a roly-poly Snowy Owl sitting on a telephone pole next to Plum Island Bridge, looking snug and satisfied. Three Red-breasted Nuthatches were seen, in case you, like me, missed them in 1979. 

Cape Ann birders watched a Short-eared Owl and a pheasant on Straitsmouth Island, listed 5 Harlequin Ducks, 60 Purple Sandpipers, 4 Ruddy Turnstones, and 14 Sanderlings. No alcids at all! 

Bill Foley reported vast flocks of eiders in Lynn Harbor on January 27. 

January closed with a wild Turkey hunt in Great Barrington. Two were seen, plus a Red-bellied Woodpecker at Southwick, Pine Grosbeaks, and an adult Bald Eagle. 

February winds raged and shivered members and despite the cheering throngs of longspurs at Salisbury on the 10th, Ruffed Grouse in West Newbury, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and more Pine Grosbeaks, the general comment was “Brrrr.” 

Seven walking bundles birded Plum Island on February 17. The temperature was zero. The wind was biting cold with a chill factor of minus forty degrees. Iceland Gull, Snowy Owl, and Rough-legged Hawk were etched with icy fingers on the list of 33 species. 

Four soggy members slogged through the rain on February 24, looking for two Surf Scoters seen the previous day. But Manchester was lost in the fog. 

March 3rd trippers found “hardly any ducks around Ipswich, except Blacks,” checked-off another Red-breasted Nuthatch and mourned, “Where are the blackbirds?” 

Nantucket birders fared well with Barrow’s Goldeneye in the Harbor, 2 Harlequin Ducks, 2 Carolina Wrens, and 16 Razorbills (spotted from the boat). 

Luck of the Irish’ Lesser Scaup swimming the Merrimac on March 17^th. 

Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary marshes bespoke winter but small patches of open water reflected sky. Wood Ducks chased overhead. Rusty Blackbirds squeaked from the thickets. Birders chased after, walking at top speed to keep warm. 

The Owl sleuths prowled out 2 Screech Owls in Topsfield, 2 Barred Owls at Crooked Pond, 2 Great Horned Owls in West Newbury, and a Snowy Owl at Plum Island. 

Lakeville birders exchanged smiles on March 25 where, despite heavy showers, there were Tree Swallows, Osprey, and Great Egrets. 

The winter being over, in order came Bill Drummond and a resurrected BBC walk into Quabbin at gate 43, formerly led by Brad Blodgett. Two Bald Eagles, 6 Turkey Vultures, and a Red- breasted Nuthatch were viewed, all on April Fool’s Day. 

On April 7th, Steve Grinley saw a Grackle at Rodgers Street which had a large amount of white in the head, tail, and wings. He said he saw one like it the previous year. (I saw one like it at Pike’s Bridge Road on April 13, 1980.) A Glaucous Gull sat whitely among the Herring and Ring-billed Gulls at the Rice Marshes, and a Catbird met the group at West Newbury. 

Looking up into clear, cloudless and birdless sky, Mt. Auburn birders noted elm and maple buds set to open on April 8th. Forsythia blossoms and Golden-crowned Kinglets glinted olive and gold in the sunshine. 

“Suddenly all the sky was hid, as with the shutting of a lid.” One by one rain drops began falling on Plum Island birders, just as the group began to admire a King Eider off Emerson’s Rocks on April 14. 

Rain, mingled with snow, splattered members at Squantum as they compared 30 Horned Grebes in various stages of breeding plumage. 

This year’s first Purple Finch was listed at Mt. Auburn on April 19th. Winter Wren and Palm Warblers were also entries on that historic day. Perhaps their ancestors watched the Redcoats coming! 

Marblehead walkers found a Louisiana Waterthrush, their first since 1974. 

BBC’s early spring was not euphoric. One leader commented, “Not a very good day for birds but some interesting people, one of the things that keeps me active in my limited way.” Another, finding only 7 Blue Gray Gnatcatchers, 2 Rough-winged Swallows, and 2 pairs of nesting Tufted Titmice, penned, “Boring Cold Morning!” 

At Marshfield, the echo was “No Warblers. Good Grief.” My favorite May field note has a Holmesian quality: “At least 1: means that at least 1 was identified and there was evidence of additional numbers.” Under this delightful mysterious category were listed Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Belted Kingfisher, Fish Crow, Indigo Bunting, and Lincoln’s Sparrow! 

Oliver Komar saw and heard singing a Mourning Warbler on May 24 as he and one companion toured Mt. Auburn. 

Great Meadows’ Willow Flycatchers were singing on May 28 as members counted 4 Mallard and 4 Wood Duck ducklings. A pair of Wilson’s Phalarope dallied at the Concord sewer beds. 

A Green Snake and 3 White-tailed Deer surprised members at Plum Island on May 27, with sudden appearances. A Common Nighthawk flew over at noon. A Laughing Gull followed. Olive- sided Flycatcher and Mourning Warbler were also gained. 

The fragrance of the wild roses at Plum Island was one memory of last spring. Perfume drifted on the air and I recall two foreign visitors stopping and asking what the delicious scent was and where it came from. 

A Great Horned Owl was mobbed by 20 crows on May 30th at Mt. Auburn. Other than that “we had little to crow about.” 

This year’s Greater Boston Breeding Bird Census listed 102 species and admitted finding nests or fledglings of 51 species. They didn’t say whose nests and children they found so I cannot tell you. 

Ipswich Beach is one of BBC’s favorite walking places. On June 17th the rewards were 9 Common, 2 Roseate, 12 Least, and an Arctic Tern, plus 5 Piping Plovers. 

A Scarlet Tanager’s nest was observed on Barker Road, North Andover, June 24. 

A Ruff was seen poking about the Plum Island salt pans on July 2nd. And two adult Wood Ducks swam with 8 ducklings in the Hellcat North Empoundment. 

Eliot Taylor’s July 4th trip drove through the gypsy moth defoliated area in Sherborn where the trees looked like a winter woods or worse, since even the pines were needle-less, “needle-less to say.” After supper at the Sherborn hamburger stand, members walked through newly cut hayfields on the Hildreth Farm, to see 25 Bobolinks and Meadowlarks. Then they drove to Framingham and counted 104 Chimney Swifts entering the 50 foot chimney to roost for the night. 

A Snowshoe Hare appeared to birders on the second White Mountain Climb. Two adult Spruce Grouse with 5 chicks were seen. Also on record were 3 Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, 11 Winter Wrens, Wood, Hermit, 20 Swainson’s, and 15 Gray-cheeked Thrushes, 11 Warbler species, and 12 White-winged Crossbills. 

Astonished birders spied a beaver at Plum Island on July 16 and learned that several were transported there by the management. At dusk Judge Jodrey took everyone to a concert at Ice House Pond. Featured were Whip-poor-wills— accompanied by a particularly mellow bull frog. 

During August’s steamy heat wave, we watched 6 Cedar Waxwings feeding with 4 Common Gallinules in the lily pads at Great Meadows. Two Spotted and 2 Solitary Sandpipers, Northern Waterthrush, a sunlit Indigo Bunting, and a Bonaparte Gull were listed. 

Birders spent an hour and a half at Plum Island salt pans hoping for a Bar-tailed Godwit. They did find a Buff-breasted Sand- piper on the flats south of Hell Cat Dike. Uncountable clouds of Tree Swallows filled the sky. 

It poured misery on Revere, and 15 Laughing Gulls teased birders who logged only 18 species on 8-12. 

The Monomoy trip was cancelled by the same storm, but birders took the option to walk Morris Island, then journey to Barnstable and Plymouth. No one grumbled over the 20 Cory’s and 45 Manx Shearwaters that flew past. No one minded seeing 8 American Oystercatchers, 15 Northern Phalarope, and 5 Parasitic Jaegers either! 

Bob Timberlake shared his Plymouth Beach walk with but 2 members on 8-25. They saw 2 adult Black Terns, Golden Plover, and 2 color dyed and several banded sandpipers. 

The last hours of August brought a wave of warblers to Nantucket’s Moth Ball Pines. An adult male Prothonotary led the list of 21 warbler species. High counts were 85 Cape Mays and 35 Bay-breasted Warblers. This trip also saw 14 Oystercatchers, a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, and 35 Black Terns. 

On September 2nd an immature Yellow-crowned Night Heron was verified at Mt. Auburn by Cliff Marks, when it flew with 4-5 inches of yellow legs trailing its tail. 

Marblehead Neck trippers drew lots to report what was described as “another uneventful trip.” Since they saw Yellow and Black-billed Cuckoos, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, 2 Philadelphia Vireos, Golden-winged, Blue-winged (and 9 other) Warbler species and 2 Red Knots, one guesses they rued the lack of Connecticut Warbler which was there but kept in hiding. 

Paul and Julie Roberts logged 970 raptors on 9-9, and 551 on 9-16. All from Mt. Wachusetts: the two trips totaled 9 Turkey Vultures, 165 Sharp-shinned, 1 Coopers, 9 Red-tailed, 3 Red- shouldered, 1225 Broad-winged, and 8 Marsh Hawks, 50 Osprey, 1 Merlin, 8 Kestrels, and only 42 unidentified species. 

On 9-15 leaders moaned, “Access to Squantum Airport prohibited. Use of Moon Island Causeway and Long Island Bridge prohibited. Clam Bake at Squaw Rock.” 

The lovely Gull-billed Tern hawked over Salisbury Marshes on 9-15 and then reappeared at Plum Island on 9-22. 

Mirthful birders on October 6th listed (off Plum Island) ¼ ton Great Black-backed Gulls, 1 ton Herring Gulls, and 1/2 ton Ring- billed Gulls. Although 2 Peregrines were best birds, it proved to be a herony day with 9 Great Blue, 1 Green, 5 Little Blue, 1 Louisiana, 4 Black-crowned Night, and 1 Yellow-crowned Night Heron, plus 8 Great and 87 Snowy Egrets and 3 Glossy Ibis.

On October 8th Great Meadows was chilly and windy. Merlin, Kestrels, 2 Osprey, 3 Sharp-shinned and 2 Red-tailed Hawks were seen. 

One Ipswich Sparrow, For Auld Lang Syne, was listed near Emerson’s Rocks on October 13th. Flapping over Plum Island’s dunes came 52 Black-crowned Night Herons, while a Peregrine tailed a Rock Dove at the Warden’s area. A side trip to Manchester gathered in a Summer Tanager, another Orange-crowned Warbler and a Screech Owl. 

Blue was the color of October 14th; bright blue the weather; bright blue 2 Blue Grosbeaks and 10 Indigo Buntings gained at Truro. 

November 3rd rained steadily all day as 6 members birded Plum Island, blotting their lenses and chasing 3 flocks of Snow Buntings. They tried to catch a good look at one dark and different bird, but could not. Twenty Gannets gleamed white against a dark gray sea, 9 Snow Geese and a Forster’s Tern added interest and beauty to a dark day. 

Brian Cassie tried to collect shells at Plum Island on 11-4 but the extreme high tide made birding more successful. Five American Bitterns were sighted at one time, 6 in all, plus 32 Great Blue Herons and a bevy of other birds seeking high mounds in a flooded marsh. 

One of Fall’s treasures was an Avocet that spent 11-12 on the Plum Island Marsh. Members scratched its name on the road-side with a large arrow pointing at the bird. 

Later in November the notables were Razorbills and a Western Grebe off the seaward jetties at the north end of Plum Island. Thick-billed Murres were seen off Emerson’s Rocks. Short-eared, Long-eared, and the New Pines Saw Whet Owl were seen on 11-24. Snow Buntings continued to flurrie near the Polio Camp and Water Pipits were glimpsed behind the Old Pines and elsewhere. 

“Thou waitest late, and com’st alone

When woods are bare and birds are flown,

And frosts and shortening days portend

The aged year is near his end.”

Birders came to Cape Ann in December, to view the European Widgeon at Niles Pond. A Snowy Egret drifted alone. In late morning an exuberant Herman Weissberg located members at Pebble Beach, Rockport. In excited bursts he relayed news of Luey’s Warbler near Clark’s Pond, Ipswich, for which many extend warmest thanks. While we watched diminutive Lucy in a multiflora rose bush, someone gazed away across the street, where perched a brilliant Western Kingbird in a sumac grove. 

Revere-Winthrop birders turned to shore birds on 12-2. They counted 300 Purple Sandpipers, 900 Dunlin, Killdeer, Black- bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Yellowlegs, long-billed Dowitchers, and 200 Sanderlings. 

A lone towhee was scratching at Plum Island as birders turned their zest to area Christmas Counting. 

1979 came to a quiet conclusion on a sunshiney December 30th behind Manchester Town Hall. A Hooded Merganser drake swam with the town Mallards. According to Leslie Wetterlow, he behaved most aggressively when people tossed bread upon the water, stayed plump and sleek, and there spent the winter. BBC members readied their new check lists and prepared to meet wintry weather, which seemed a little slow in coming. 

“deep in brambly hedges dank 

small birds nipped about to say 

Brother, the Spring is not so far away.” 

Mary Lou Barnett, Statistician