Whale watch boat with Humpback showing off for the eager crowd.

Eastern Massachusetts, September 2023

 

    Three distinct age-related plumages of the Northern Gannet (eldest to youngest)

This blog is dedicated to Florence LaRiviere, who worked to conserve the precious wetlands of San Francisco Bay. Tip of the hat to you, Florence!

    Whimbrel at Wellfleet Bay Audubon Sanctuary, Cape Cod, Mass. 

In September 2023 I visited Massachusetts twice. In my first visit I camped at Provincetown and birded and watched whales and also attended the 150^th anniversary celebration of the Nuttall Ornithological Club. In my second visit I participated in a Williams College mini-reunion for the class of 1974. For this I visited Plymouth, Duxbury, Annisquam, and Gloucester, camping out as well in Plymouth and Cape Anne. These are among the most historic and picturesque communities in a state known for history and beauty. I would love to spend more time in these places!

          Great Shearwater over Stellwagon Bank.

In Provincetown I camped at the Dune’s Edge Campground, managed by the Trustees. The campsites are nestled in a woodland of pine and oak, only a short bike ride from downtown P’town.

    Hermit Crabs display in the estuary mud.

I biked the trails north to Race Point Beach; walked the sandy hiking trail out Hatch’s Harbor to Race Point; waded the harbor flats with Dennis Minsky; and did two whale watches with the Dolphin Fleet. Here are a series of images from those four days out at the tip of Cape Cod.

 

    A handsome dark morph Parasitic Jaeger (juvenile)

    Curious Humpback Whale approaches the boat

    Breaching Humpback--this is what we all hope to see! 

    Breaching!

     Humpback Cannonball! 

    Loafing Black-legged Kittiwakes in Hatch's Harbor, Provincetown.

    Identify these terns, please! Note the bill color, bill width, and dark at bend of the wing...

The Nuttall Club event, in Burlington, was attended by about 150 people, mainly Nuttall members. I was an invited speaker. It was great catching up with a collection of the most accomplished of  Massachusetts ornithologists as well as other notable Nuttall members—Wayne Peterson, Brian Harrington, Trevor Lloyd-Evans, Stephen Brown, Peter Alden, Frank Gill, Jeremiah and Peter Trimble, Scott Edwards, P.A. Buckley, Jared Keyes, John Kricher, Ted Davis, and more. Fellow plenary speakers--in particular, Ted Floyd (the future of birding), Sara Morris (bird migration), Bette Loiselle (manakins and fruit), and Amanda Rodewald (data science for birds) gave superb presentations, each telling a compelling and distinct story about birds in our world.

    Black-bellied Plover flock at Plymouth, Mass. (Note dowitchers in very front)

After the Nuttall event, I drove to Delaware for the annual family summer vacation. I did regular beach-walks that produced eBird lists but few bird species of note. Caspian Tern appeared some days, usually as a singleton. And one day a Spotted Sandpiper appeared on the beach, marginally associating with a large flock of Sanderlings. Sanderlings were the star of the beach show, as well as an array of the usual gulls (Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed, Herring, Ring-billed, and Laughing).

    Great Black-backed Gull--look a delicious fish-head! 

A week later I drove back to Massachusetts, camping for two nights at the very bucolic and woodsy Pine Tree Lodge Campground in Plymouth. From here I walked the Plymouth Long Beach spit to the very end—a remarkable harbor-creating barrier beach. I birded both the Atlantic and bay sides. I missed the single Hudsonian Godwit that was hanging out there (other birders reported it to me that day).

    Piping Plover

Mainly I watched flocks of Black-bellied Plovers, and other commonplace shorebirds.

    Adult Peregrine Falcon hunting gulls and plovers

A single gorgeous adult Peregrine Falcon hunted shorebirds and gulls along the spit.

    Juvenile Northern Harrier carrying a vole. 

And a  Northern Harrier caught a vole in the grass while I watched.

    Mayflower replica in Plymouth harbor.

I had stellar views across the bay to the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock, set inside an ornate columned chamber. Dennis Minsky would want me to note, at this point, that the Pilgrims first touched land in Provincetown Harbor, not Plymouth. A tall plinth in P'town memorializes this "first arrival."

    The grand tomb encasing Plymouth Rock

A woman walking the Plymouth beach ahead of me plowed through large flocks of gulls, forming clouds of birds as they rose from the beach.

    walking Plymouth Long Beach amongst the gulls

I came upon two Piping Plovers on the beach, as well as a single Red Knot, and a Least Sandpiper.

    Red Knot

In the afternoon I walked part of the vast Duxbury spit, south towards Saquish Head. Mainly gulls and wind and pretty views. I found clammers doing their thing on the bay side.

    Hunting for a steamed clam dinner

On the following day the Williams group did a boat trip down the Essex River to its mouth. Not very birdy in late September—mainly Double-crested Cormorants and Herring Gulls loafing. But wonderful views of the Crane Mansion and Annisquam Light. And a single Harbor Seal.

    Loafing Double-crested Cormorants on the Essex River.

    Annisquam Yacht Club (photo courtesy Jeffrey Elliott)

Then we did a boat trip out of Gloucester in search of whales. We found a pair of adult Humpbacks, that’s it. I tent-camped at the Cape Anne Campsite across the water from Annisquam. The Williams group had cocktails and dinner at the Annisquam Yacht Club, and as the sunset we watched flocks of hundreds of cormorants pass overhead, going to some unknown evening roost.

A V of cormorants winging overhead (one of perhaps 40 Vs that went over and sunset; photo: Jeffrey Elliott)

Autumn in eastern Massachusetts is a most worthy place to invest time.

    Sunset in Annisquam (courtesy Jeffrey Elliott)