Plum Island (please use more refined location), Essex, Massachusetts, US
Aug 25, 2019 8:12 AM – 1:32 PM
Comments:    BBC – Plum Island – Leader: Neil Hayward
57 species (+1 other taxa)
Canada Goose  30
Blue-winged Teal  3
Gadwall  2
Mallard  50
American Black Duck  3
Green-winged Teal  3
Common Eider  4
Wild Turkey  6
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  5
Mourning Dove  1
American Avocet  1    Continuing at Bill Forward pool. Seen from dike.
Black-bellied Plover  10
Semipalmated Plover  365
Common Ringed/Semipalmated Plover  1    Pans, feeding with flock of SEPLs. Thick breast band, especially at sides of breast, and thick across front of breast. Hint of eye-ring, but for the most part dark / lacking. Black on face meets bill at the gape, and not just above gape as in SEPL (the most reliable field-mark I’ve used in AK for separating the two). I’m hesitant to call this CRPL as: bill is not particularly long, and neither is the supercilium very bold. I didn’t notice any obvious difference in size between this bird and others. Silent and no observation of feet. Poor digiscoped pics.
Piping Plover  6
Killdeer  1
Sanderling  8
Baird’s Sandpiper  1
Least Sandpiper  13
White-rumped Sandpiper  17
Semipalmated Sandpiper  275
Western Sandpiper  4    At pans. At least 4, perhaps 5. All that I saw had rufous on scapulars but not on head. Larger size and longer bill than nearby Semipalmated Sandpipers.
Short-billed Dowitcher  13
Long-billed Dowitcher  2
Spotted Sandpiper  3
Greater Yellowlegs  30
Lesser Yellowlegs  22
Ring-billed Gull  19
Herring Gull  12
Great Black-backed Gull  18
Least Tern  6
Common Tern  1
Northern Gannet  6
Double-crested Cormorant  33
Great Blue Heron  2
Great Egret  3
Snowy Egret  28
Turkey Vulture  1
Osprey  4
Northern Harrier  1
Merlin  1
Eastern Phoebe  1
Eastern Kingbird  5
American Crow  1
Common Raven  2
Tree Swallow  10000
Barn Swallow  4
European Starling  21
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Robin  1
Cedar Waxwing  3
House Finch  4
American Goldfinch  2
Eastern Towhee  1
Bobolink  1
Red-winged Blackbird  1
Common Grackle  1
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59360881

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