Rough Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary (Mass Audubon), Essex, Massachusetts, US

Jul 20, 2024 7:00 AM – 8:55 AM

Protocol: Traveling

1.774 mile(s)

Checklist Comments:    BBC walk led by Davey Walters. 63-75°F, clear skies. Low tide 05:59, high tide 11:28. From Sawyer’s Island, we watched the tide come in, covering the banks of the creek and fingers of Plum Island River, pushing shorebirds toward us and the shallower inshore pannes.

61 species (+2 other taxa)

Mallard  1

Mourning Dove  3

Virginia Rail (Virginia)  1    Grunting from treestand in marsh.

Killdeer  3

Semipalmated Plover  22

Short-billed Dowitcher  1

Spotted Sandpiper  1

Lesser Yellowlegs  38

Willet (Eastern)  8

Greater Yellowlegs  13

Lesser/Greater Yellowlegs  5

Least Sandpiper  35

Semipalmated Sandpiper  25

Herring Gull (American)  16

Least Tern  10    Several juveniles.

Common Tern (hirundo/tibetana)  18    Several juveniles.

Double-crested Cormorant  15

Snowy Egret  1

Great Egret  9

Great Blue Heron (Great Blue)  10

Glossy Ibis  1

Osprey (carolinensis)  7    Nest with 3 young just off Sawyer’s Island; adult brought a fish at long interval.

Red-bellied Woodpecker  2

Downy Woodpecker (Eastern)  2

Hairy Woodpecker (Eastern)  1

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  3

Eastern Wood-Pewee  2

Eastern Phoebe  3    One seeming to attempt morning flight off Sawyer’s Island.

Great Crested Flycatcher  1

Eastern Kingbird  2

Warbling Vireo (Eastern)  4

Red-eyed Vireo  1

Blue Jay  3

American Crow  2

Black-capped Chickadee  4

Tufted Titmouse  2

Bank Swallow  4

Tree Swallow  400    Largely hatch years.

Barn Swallow (American)  8    Mostly hatch years.

White-breasted Nuthatch (Eastern)  4

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (caerulea)  2

Marsh Wren (palustris Group)  2

Carolina Wren  5    Family group on Sawyer’s Island.

European Starling  75    Flocks of hatch years in marsh.

Gray Catbird  4

Eastern Bluebird  5    Adults feeding juveniles on power line.

American Robin  10    A few hatch years.

Cedar Waxwing  13

House Finch  3

American Goldfinch  6

Chipping Sparrow  1

Saltmarsh Sparrow  5

Song Sparrow (melodia/atlantica)  6

Bobolink  1    At least one in morning flight.

Orchard Oriole  1    Male seen briefly

Baltimore Oriole  2

Red-winged Blackbird (Red-winged)  26

Common Grackle (Bronzed)  21

Common Yellowthroat  4

Yellow Warbler (Northern)  2

Northern Cardinal  3

Indigo Bunting  2    Countersinging males on territories in field by lot.

bird sp.  1    Likely Great Horned Owl seen in flight very briefly near parking lot.

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S189388227