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
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