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