Eastern Point–General Area, Essex, Massachusetts, US
21-May-2023 06:30 – 10:20
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:    Brookline Bird Club walk with leader and two participants
57 species
Canada Goose  3
Gadwall  1
Mallard  17
Wild Turkey  3
Mourning Dove  2
King Rail  2    One rail heard grunting at 6:45 from in front of a low stone wall behind a patch of shrubbery across from the Mass Audubon marsh near the tip of Eastern Point. Heard grunting twice more in the next five minutes, then a pair of King Rails walked from behind the shrubs and slowly crossed the road into the marsh, near the exit road from the yacht club, about 20 feet away from two observers, John Nelson and niece Kelley Newton. Distinguished from a Clapper Rail by more brightly ruddy (not tan) neck and breast, sharply contrasting black and white lines on flanks, and deep, resonant grunts (not keks) a bit reminiscent of a bullfrog. In many visits I’ve never seen a King Rail or a report of a King Rail at Eastern Point.
Semipalmated Plover  8
Herring Gull  X
Great Black-backed Gull  X
Double-crested Cormorant  42
Great Egret  1
Cooper’s Hawk  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  2
Downy Woodpecker  3
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1
Eastern Phoebe  2
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Red-eyed Vireo  4
Blue Jay  18
American Crow  6
Black-capped Chickadee  4
Tufted Titmouse  2
Barn Swallow  18
White-breasted Nuthatch  3
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  5
European Starling  12
Gray Catbird  48
Wood Thrush  2
American Robin  8
House Sparrow  10
House Finch  4
American Goldfinch  5
Chipping Sparrow  2
Song Sparrow  8
Eastern Towhee  1
Baltimore Oriole  4
Red-winged Blackbird  12
Brown-headed Cowbird  2
Common Grackle  6
Ovenbird  3
Northern Waterthrush  3
Black-and-white Warbler  1
Common Yellowthroat  6
American Redstart  8
Northern Parula  2
Magnolia Warbler  3
Bay-breasted Warbler  2
Blackburnian Warbler  1
Yellow Warbler  24
Chestnut-sided Warbler  2
Blackpoll Warbler  1
Pine Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Black-throated Green Warbler  3
Northern Cardinal  6
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  1
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S138807996