Brookline Bird Club – America’s most active bird club!

Parker River NWR, Essex, Massachusetts, US
Oct 12, 2021 7:20 AM – 12:04 PM
Protocol: Traveling
7.5 mile(s)
Checklist Comments:    Mostly sunny. 64-72 degrees with winds South 2 mph to WSW 5 mph. Outgoing tide with low tide at 10:42 am.  With Brookline Bird Club walk led by Dave Williams. Stops at main pans, Wardens Maintenance area, where we walked the dike to North Pool Overlook from Wardens. Also stopped at Lot 7 Emerson Rocks, Hellcat dike, and Hellcat boardwalk to old blind, finishing along road by Goodno Crossing back to Hellcat parking lot.
54 species (+4 other taxa)
Snow Goose  1    Continuing immature at Hellcat Bill Forward Pool
Canada Goose  29
Mute Swan  13    12 in main pans and another Hellcat
Blue-winged Teal  1    Bill Forward Pool Hellcat dike
Gadwall  4    North Pool from Hellcat dike
Mallard  8
American Black Duck  83
Northern Pintail  5    Hellcat Bill Forward Pool
Green-winged Teal  20    Bill Forward Pool
White-winged Scoter  50    Lot 7
Wild Turkey  4    Just outside refuge entrance when I arrived about 7:15 am.
Horned Grebe  1    Lot 7
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  3
Mourning Dove  3
Black-bellied Plover  1    Calling several times at Lot 1 boat ramp
Killdeer  2    One in middle of Lot 1 parking lot and another on mud in pans
Semipalmated Sandpiper  2    Pans
Greater Yellowlegs  19
Lesser Yellowlegs  1    Standing next to a Greater Yellowlegs at Lot 1 boat ramp. Good comparison of body size and bill length.
Ring-billed Gull  3    Lot 7
Herring Gull  36
Great Black-backed Gull  4    Emerson Rocks Lot 7
Common Loon  1    Lot 7 Emerson Rocks
Northern Gannet  1    We were surprised to see an adult Northern Gannet on the beach at Lot 7. The Gannet was able to walk (waddle) but since it is so unusual to see on land, perhaps it was sick. No obvious injuries seen.
Double-crested Cormorant  3
Great Blue Heron  5
Great Egret  27
Northern Harrier  1
Cooper’s Hawk  2    1 large female chasing 3 crows roadside. At times it perched giving good looks at size similar to the crows. Another smaller Coopers Hawk seen perched not too far away but obviously smaller than the other Cooper’s Hawk.
Bald Eagle  1    Adult on Osprey platform  Lot 1 boat ramp
Downy Woodpecker  4
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  1
Peregrine Falcon  1    Flying over Hellcat parking lot
falcon sp.  1    A fast falcon flew over us at Hellcat parking lot but only a couple of us got a brief look. Probably a Merlin.
Blue Jay  4
American Crow  4    1 at Lot 1 and 3 being harassed by a large Cooper’s Hawk roadside
Black-capped Chickadee  6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  2    Hellcat boardwalk marsh trail
Golden-crowned Kinglet  5    Hellcat boardwalk trail toward old blind
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Marsh Wren  1    Scolding calls at old blind area at end of Hellcat boardwalk marsh trail
Carolina Wren  1
European Starling  25    On telephone wires outside refuge entrance
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  2
American Robin  9
thrush sp.  1    Seen quickly by leader Dave Williams along Hellcat marsh boardwalk trail, but we could not relocate
House Sparrow  2    By entrance to refuge
House Finch  2    Wardens
American Goldfinch  4
White-throated Sparrow  3
Savannah Sparrow  4    Wardens
Song Sparrow  10
Eastern Towhee  1
sparrow sp.  2    Possibly Saltmarsh or Nelson’s Sparrow at edge of marsh opposite Lot 1 boat ramp.
blackbird sp.  30    Flock flying at Lot 1. Probably Red Winged Blackbirds but not sure
Blackpoll Warbler  2
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  25
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S96091422

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