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