Parker River NWR, Essex, Massachusetts, US
Sep 20, 2016 7:20 AM – 12:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling – Leader: Dave Williams
12.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Led BBC walk.  Started in “4 Pole” fog and by 8:15 it had lifted.  Dave Adrian found a Lark sparrow at the Wardens that he got us on.  Five Forster’s teens silently came out of the fog and flew down the river at the boat ramp.  The Black guillemot continues at Emerson Rocks.  The highlights, though, came from the BFP blind around noon.  Three, possibly four Buff-breasted sandpipers were straight out from the blind on the little, grassy island.  As well, there was a Baird’s sandpiper walking in and out of the grass, too.  We also had our second Am. golden plover of the day here, to.  There continues to be a lot of White-rumpled sandpipers here as well as  Dunlin, a single Red knot, and lots of BB plovers.
64 species

Gadwall  1
American Black Duck  29
Mallard  2
Green-winged Teal  7
Wild Turkey  1
Common Loon  1
Double-crested Cormorant  11
Great Blue Heron  10
Great Egret  46
Snowy Egret  45
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron  2     Right next toothed old Beaver lodge in the NP from the Hellcat dike.
Turkey Vulture  8
Osprey  1
Northern Harrier  2
Cooper’s Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
American Avocet  1     Continuing bird at SIP.
Black-bellied Plover  75
American Golden-Plover  2     One seen from the southern end of the Hellcat dike in BFP around 9:00.  At this time it was low tide and there were two machines mowing and almost no birds.
Around noon, we observed a second AMGP from the blind.  This bird had more color.
Semipalmated Plover  16
Killdeer  1
Red Knot  1     BFP
Sanderling  3     BFP
Dunlin  5     BFP
Baird’s Sandpiper  1     BFP
Least Sandpiper  3     SIP
White-rumped Sandpiper  20     Minimum.  BFP
Buff-breasted Sandpiper  3     Possibly four.  Moving in and out of the grassy island straight from the blind.  One bird took a bath, came out, shook like a dog, and then preened.
Semipalmated Sandpiper  125     SIP
Short-billed Dowitcher  4
Spotted Sandpiper  2     Both on the same, big rock at Emerson Rocks!
Greater Yellowlegs  43
Lesser Yellowlegs  2
Ring-billed Gull  3
Herring Gull  16
Great Black-backed Gull  3
Forster’s Tern  5     Seen at 7:40. They came out of the fog silently and flew down the river at the boat ramp.
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  5     On the roof of a house just north of the entrance gate.
Mourning Dove  6
Downy Woodpecker  1
Peregrine Falcon  1
Eastern Phoebe  6
Warbling Vireo  1     Singing at Goodenough.
Red-eyed Vireo  1
Blue Jay  4
American Crow  3
Tree Swallow  100
Barn Swallow  3
Black-capped Chickadee  5
Red-breasted Nuthatch  1
American Robin  5
Gray Catbird  9
Brown Thrasher  2
Northern Mockingbird  6
European Starling  3
Cedar Waxwing  2
Blackpoll Warbler  1
Palm Warbler (Western)  2
Lark Sparrow  1     Juvenile bird found by Dave Adrian at the Wardens.
Song Sparrow  4
Eastern Towhee  8
Northern Cardinal  2
House Finch  6     In the shrubs just north of the entrance gate.
House Sparrow  7     On the road just north of the entrance gate.