Date: 11/13/24 4:53 pm From: Barbara Volkle <barb620...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] Bristol County scouting trip
Thanks to Strickland Wheelock for this report.
Barbara Volkle Northborough,MA <barb620...>
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Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 22:34:50 +0000 (UTC) From: Strickland Wheelock<skwheelock...> Subject: Bristol County scouting trip
This Weds [11/13], Leslie Bostrom & I fairly quickly scouted a portion of Bristol County to come up with a gameplan to maximize the species to be seen, introduce folks to some new birding locations in a day's time for our trip from Drumlin Farm on Sat 11/23. The challenge today was a strong cold breeze on the sunny day which kept many passerines buried in the brush, but in protective stops, lots of action.We made a quick stop in Seekonk at a pond to enjoy around 200 ducks that was a mix of many Gadwalls & Am Wigeon including a beautiful male Eurasian Wigeon, Hooded Mergansers, Green-w Teal, Mallards, etc=C2=A0Our 1st stop for passerines was in a wooded location filled with berries near water and a brushy field - here are a few birds we encountered - many Robins but at least 9 Hermit Thrushes, both Kinglets, Purple Finch, Brown Creeper, Screech Owl, 2 Sapsuckers plus 3 other woodpeckers, Killdeer flying over, Bluebirds, many Wht-th Sparrows, 1 surprise a Blk&Wht Warbler, Wild! Turkeys, Goldfinches, etc.Short distance down the road we stopped by the water to enjoy Brant, both Loons, C Eider, Bufflehead along with a Pine Siskin mixed in a flock of goldfinches.Further down the road, we checked out a pond that is out of the way to enjoy around 400+ ducks - large flocks of Ruddy Ducks, Greater & Lesser Scaup, Ring-n Ducks, Am Wigeon, Bufflehead, Hooded Mergansers, Black Ducks, Mallards, etc - overhead of these ducks and swans, an adult Bald Eagle soared low over the pond checking the food options. By the water, 7 Snow Buntings flew up and landed close by to enjoy - given all that, we will visit that location!Given the success of the 2 other ponds, tried a 3rd where we observed both Common & Hooded Mergansers, several C Goldeneyes, Bufflehead....Given time restrictions, we checked out one of my favorite shrub thickets and had many Wht-thr Sparrows, 1 Fox Sparrow, Catbirds, Cardinals, Carolina & Winter Wren, Mockingbird, 1 Sapsucker, Ruby-cr Kinglet, ! Hermit Thrush, etc - cold wind was still blowing.One of the pr! emier bir ding locations in Bristol County is Gooseberry Neck which we know well so we didn't walk to the Point - just drove out the causeway and observed several Harlequin Ducks, Wht-winged & Black Scoters, C Eiders, Long-tailed Ducks, Bufflehead, Common & Red-thr Loons.Surprisingly in 4 hrs of scouting in this challenging windy cold weather, we accumulated 71 species that included 20 species of ducks - that total didn't include any shorebirds, grebes, only 1 raptor, no Mourning Dove - given another 4 hrs of birding Gooseberry Neck and other locations on a nice day, certainly would have recorded 80+species in mid-Nov.
