Date: 1/17/25 6:30 pm From: Matt S. <accipiter22...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] January 17, 2025 - Parker River NWR Newburyport - Double lifer day! Rough-Legged Hawk, Short-Eared Owl. Narrowly missed Swainson's Hawk. Also, continuing large numbers of grebes.
January 17, 2025 Parker River NWR
Chilly, windy
I got up about 20 minutes later than I intended, with the intention to head
straight to the south end of Parker River and work my way back, hoping to
finally pick up a rough-legged hawk. As soon as I got to the refuge I
checked the groups, and of course a Swainson’s had been seen 20 minutes
earlier, near the southern point. Of course it would not be seen again
today. There is a world out there were I have seen like 700 species in
Massachusetts, including archaeopteryx somehow. If I had just gotten to
spots 5 minutes earlier or later. But I digress.
Hunting for the Swainson’s was fun, a bunch of people were staked out, some
over in Ipswich and scoping the back side of PI. I went all the way around
Sandy Point, and others were up in the tower. The bird ghosted, but the
hunt itself was enjoyable. After that I hit lot 7, where there were some
golden eye and a ton of grebe, there have been quite a few this winter,
more than I can recall seeing around these parts. As I worked my way back,
at Cross Hill there was a bunch of Canada Geese at the top, which I have
never seen before, a hawk was hovering on the other side, and from my
perspective it made it appears though it was only a few feet above them.
As I drove away, someone mentioned a Rough-Legged Hawk hovering there, and
when I looked at my pictures I realized that what I had dismissed as a
harrier was actually a light-morph RL. I hung around for a while more
observing it; I think the white on the tail, in my mind was the white-rump
on a harrier. I was impressed with how “delicate” or dainty the wing-work
of the hawk was. It was quite dexterous the way it angled and folded its
wings as it hovered. The tips of the wings at times looked almost angelic
the way they folded up or over, particularly here:
https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/629234886
After a while observing the hawk, I headed back out, coming to a bunch of
cars at the side of the road. They said they were on a short-eared owl, so
obviously I pulled over. Whoever spotted it…wow. It looked like a lump of
stone maybe 60’ from the road. I recall my wife and I driving through
Parker one day years ago and she said “what’s that?” pointing to something
at the far side of the Marsh practically into Newbury I guess it would be.
I stopped, looked, and it was a tricolored heron. Some people just see
things easier. The short-eared owl was facing the Sun, basking, basically,
and I found it curious that even on chilly days like this there can still
be heat-shimmer, as my photos all displayed it. Scoping gave the best
view, and a lot of folks got to observe the owl.
Those two birds were my targets really for this winter (really the past
several) and after a couple dozen winter trips to parker, and missing a
Roughie by less than a few minutes other times, it feels good to finally
get to observe one. I am also at the point where there are not many
“regular” or “semi-regular” birds left that I have not seen here. Dovekie
(somehow), black vulture, and Lapland Longspur are about it, and the latter
is being seen in spots currently. Most of the other gaps in my Mass
birding are pelagics, and a good portion of them are not that common. I
would like to get to 400 birds seen in Massachusetts before I kick the
bucket someday. Or, failing that, perhaps a combined 400 between me and my
daughter if she ends up liking birding.
That’s all for now, a double-lifer day, when I did not think I could still
get one without doing a pelagic trip!
Matt S.
Newton, NH
<Accipiter22...>
---
Parker River NWR, Essex, Massachusetts, US
Jan 17, 2025 9:52 AM - 11:26 AM
Protocol: Traveling
9.78 mile(s)
14 species
Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 14
American Black Duck (Anas rubripes) 13
Common Eider (Dresser's) (Somateria mollissima dresseri) 43
Black Scoter (Melanitta americana) 1
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) 4
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) 4
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) 1
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) 1
Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) 1 LIFER
Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) 1 LIFER. South of pannes
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 8
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) 1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 6
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 2
