Parker River NWR–Hellcat Dike, Essex, Massachusetts, US
Oct 10, 2021 7:10 AM – 6:10 PM
Protocol: Stationary
Checklist Comments:    Brookline Bird Club: Big Sit at Plum Island Hellcat Tower, Parker River NWR. Leader Nickilas Paulson. Mostly cloudy, fair temperate, cooling later, A few minor sprinkles, moderately windy atop the tower. Some others joining throughout the day, mostly I was pointing out the Snow Goose and Hudsonian Godwits.
86 species (+4 other taxa)
Snow Goose  3    One white juvenile at Bill Forward Pool most of the day. Another heading south in a flock of cormorants. One dark juvenile heading north.
Canada Goose  120
Mute Swan  5
Blue-winged Teal  2
Northern Shoveler  1
Gadwall  60
American Wigeon  8
Mallard  30
American Black Duck  240
Mallard x American Black Duck (hybrid)  2
Northern Pintail  25
Green-winged Teal (American)  80
Greater Scaup  5
Hooded Merganser  14
Red-breasted Merganser  6
Ruddy Duck  2
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1
Virginia Rail (Virginia)  1
Black-bellied Plover  13
American Golden-Plover  2
Semipalmated Plover  1
Hudsonian Godwit  4
Marbled Godwit  1    Larger godwit, long bicolored upturned bill. Buffy overall, more speckled back than Hudsonian. In mud flats during low tide early, disappeared after one of the Peregrines came through.
Red Knot  1
Sanderling  14
Dunlin  500
Least Sandpiper  2
White-rumped Sandpiper  5
Pectoral Sandpiper  1
Semipalmated Sandpiper  40
Western Sandpiper  1    A little larger and longer than Semipalmated with dropping bill. Possibly a second bird.
Short-billed Dowitcher  1
Long-billed Dowitcher  2
American Woodcock  1
Spotted Sandpiper  1
Greater Yellowlegs  64
Lesser Yellowlegs  7
Bonaparte’s Gull  8
Laughing Gull  2
Ring-billed Gull  20
Herring Gull (American)  60
Great Black-backed Gull  6
Common Tern  4
Common Loon  14
Northern Gannet  8
Great Cormorant  2
Double-crested Cormorant  160
Least Bittern  1    Singing before 7:30am. Cul cul cul.
Great Blue Heron (Great Blue)  13
Great Egret  68
Snowy Egret  1
Black-crowned Night-Heron  5
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  1    Juvenile in flight. Dark gray flight feathers.
Northern Harrier  3
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Downy Woodpecker (Eastern)  3
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  2
American Kestrel  1
Merlin  2
Peregrine Falcon  1
Peregrine Falcon (North American)  2
Peregrine Falcon (Tundra)  1
Eastern Phoebe  2
Blue Jay  7
American Crow  1
Black-capped Chickadee  4
Horned Lark  1
Tree Swallow  14
Marsh Wren (palustris Group)  7
European Starling  1
Gray Catbird  3
Northern Mockingbird  1
Hermit Thrush (faxoni/crymophilus)  1
American Robin  10
Cedar Waxwing  30
American Pipit  2
House Finch  3
American Goldfinch  1
White-throated Sparrow  3
Savannah Sparrow (Savannah)  11
Song Sparrow (melodia/atlantica)  8
Eastern Towhee  2
Red-winged Blackbird (Red-winged)  4
Rusty Blackbird  1
Common Grackle (Bronzed)  1
Black-throated Blue Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  50
Black-throated Green Warbler  1
warbler sp. (Parulidae sp.)  40
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S96091420

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