Massachusetts - June 2010

A conference in Boston meant myself and Dara Fitzpatrick took an extra few days for a bit of American birding.

Dara insisted on the true American Road Trip experience, complete with sporty red convertible. 😂 This made us more Thelma and Louise than Dukes of Hazard, but was fun nonetheless.

The Dude Mobile

We arrived in Boston, picked up the Dude Mobile and made our way North to the town of Newburyport. On the drive up we saw birds like our first Red-Tailed Hawk, Red-Winged Blackbird, Turkey Vulture etc.

Red-Tailed Hawk

Turkey Vulture - "T.V"

We checked into the historic and rather nice, Clark-Currier Inn and headed to a riverside restaurant for food.

We enjoyed a deluxe Surf & Turf meal of lobster and steak, whilst we watched Cliff Swallow, Tree Swallow, Northern Rough-Winged Swallow, Chimney Swift, Purple Martin, Black Duck, Blue-Winged Teal, American Wigeon, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, American Crow, Fish Crow, Laughing Gull, Ring-Billed Gull and Bonaparte's Gull among a range of other species on the estuary.

The aim was to work the Plum Island area (the lambs, Clarice) for a couple of days, which is a fantastic area for birding comprising estuarine, wetland, scrub, grassland and woodland habitats which would provide us a good chunk of the resident summer species in Massachusetts.

We woke early and gorged on a spectacular breakfast, knowing that we would likely be going most of the day without a food stop.

Plum Island is a long, sandy peninsula with not much in the way refreshment amenities, so after filling the food tank, we started out in that direction. 

First stop was Joppa flats, where we saw Least Tern, Semi-Palmated Sandpipers, White-Rumped Sandpiper, Mourning Dove, Common Grackle, Song Sparrow and House Finch. 

Mourning Dove 

Common Grackle

Song Sparrow 

From here we made our way down along the peninsula, checking out the various habitats and seeing many good birds.

Bobolink - these were in good numbers in the grassland areas, along with Meadowlark.

Cedar Waxwing - exceptionally common in scrub

American Robin 

Grey Catbird 

Great White Egret

Northern Mockingbird 

Eastern Towhee

Orchard Oriole 

Baltimore Oriole

Real highlights included White-Winged Scoter, Orchard Oriole, Yellow-Billed Cuckoo, Black-Billed Cuckoo, Brown Thrasher, Willow Flycatcher, Willet, American Herring Gulls and, at the very tip of the peninsula, nesting Piping Plovers.

Willow Flycatcher 

American Herring Gulls - always a great species to take in, especially if you're from Wicklow, South Dublin or Monaghan 😂

Yellow Warbler - very common in scrub land.

Kildeer - the commonest wader in the area

Piping Plover - much rarer by contrast. Subject to nest protection actions. Great looking birds.

Willet

After a long and enjoyable day, we returned the the Clark-Currier and settled in to the riverside restaurant again for a feed and a few beers

We proceeded out early the following morning into slightly different, young growth and farmland habitat. 

American Woodcock - a fortunate turn down a wooded land produced a family of American Woodcock with young.

American Redstart

Northern Cardinal

Common Yellowthroat

Field Sparrow 

Chipping Sparrow 

Great Crested Flycatcher 

Eastern Kingbird

Purple Finch

Blue-Winged Warbler

This kind of habitat was enjoyable to wander through, and produced many different Sparrow species for us, including American Tree Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow etc.

Greater Yellowlegs 

Double-Crested Cormorant 

That afternoon we made our way west towards inner Massachusetts and Quabbin reservoir.

It was time to get into real, mature forest habitat in search of breeding Warblers and other forest birds.

We got ourselves a slightly dodgy bnb in a slightly dodgy backwoods town (which apparently prided itself with hosting the largest gun shop in Massachusetts, stated on a large billboard as we entered the town).

There was only one sports bar style place to eat in the whole town, and I said to Dara "If there's a banjo playing in there when we go in we leave" 😂

There actually was a guy playing the banjo in there, but we settled in for some food anyway.

The following morning, after breakfast, we scored our first Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds on a feeder. 

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Into the woods themselves we instantly hit birds like Wild Turkey, Pine Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Black-Throated Blue Warbler, Red-Breasted Nuthatch, White-Breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Brown Creeper, Veery, Hermit Thrush and a range of other goodies.

Wild Turkey

Prairie Warbler

Chestnut-Sided Warbler

Pine Warbler

Magnolia Warbler 

Black-Throated Blue Warbler

Rose-Breasted Grosbeak

Quabbin

A fortunate meeting with another birder in the woods informed us that there were Evening Grosbeaks visiting a nearby feeder. These were most desirable, so we made our way directly there.

Evening Grosbeak

Another nearby woodland trail produced Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker, Ovenbird, Wood Thrush, Hooded Merganser, Wood Duck, Bald Eagle, Cooper's and Sharp-Shinned Hawks, Brown Cowbird and others.

White-Breasted Nuthatch 

Scarlet Tanager

Ovenbird

Red-Bellied Woodpecker 

Eastern Wood Pewee

After a couple of successful days birding the woods, we made our way back to Boston for our conference.

I managed a few hours birding here and there between sightseeing and socializing, particularly at Mt. Auburn Cemetery where I saw Northern Flicker and some other good birds.

An enjoyable break and an area I wouldn't say no to revisiting.