Date: 3/9/25 8:58 pm
From: Barbara Volkle <barb620...>
Subject: [MASSBIRD] Mission Possible trip results 3/8/25
Thanks to Strickland Wheelock for this report.

Barbara Volkle
Northborough, MA
<barb620...>

*

Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2025 17:13:06 +0000 (UTC)
From: Strickland Wheelock <skwheelock...>
Subject: Mission Possible trip results 3/8/25


Mission Possible - folks sign up not knowing where the Mission will be
heading - goal is to chase the rarest bird within 2 hours of Drumlin
Farm & then from there, chase the next rarity near the target, then on
to the next - we have in the past ended up in VT finding a N Hawk Owl
[just never know] -trip is focused on not the numbers of species seen
for the trip but finding these rarities, teaching all the ID features,
enjoy the experience, then moving on to a new experience, etc. For the
leaders, we love the challenge to quickly put together a day gameplan
once we decide on our target - figure out what are the other rarities
near the target, where are they being found exactly, etc & to get back
to DF by 5 pm.
Easy target bird choose - the Tundra Bean-Goose - a super rarity from
the far north tundra being seen in Portsmouth RI!Before we could leave
the DF parking lot, a Lark Sparrow was feeding close to the cars for all
to enjoy [plus Bluebirds, etc] - a great start.From DF, we headed
straight to Portsmouth HS as a starting point to start our search as the
goose has been known to feed [along with Canada Geese] in a ball field
early - if not there, we would head to the reservoir & other fields in
the area to track this goose down.We arrived at the ballfield around
8:30 am & before we could get out of the cars, we spotted the goose
immediately among a small flock of Canada Goose feeding in the grass
close to us! We all could enjoy in detail all the features of this
unique goose from bill color & slope, the bright orange legs - every
detail knowing we might not ever see this species again.Made a quick
stop at Lawton Reservoir since we were so close to enjoy several C
Mergansers, distant Ruddy Ducks & Gt Scaup.But back to the next rarity -
chasing the Northern Lapwing in Jamestown. While we were scanning these
particular farm fields for the Lapwing among many Robins & several
Killdeers, we had a Sharp-shinned Hawk fly by, had several Black &
Turkey Vultures circle by [ great learning experience comparing the two]
- thanks to a tip, we quickly checked a nearby field and found that
stunning N Lapwing - watched it feed close by enjoying all its features
for a period of time.On to the next rarity - the Black-headed Gulls that
had been seen at Scarbough Beach. Once we arrived, found no Blk-h Gulls
resting in the fields or parking lots - went down to the beach to scan
enjoying 3 Gt Cormorants, Blk Scoters, Horned Grebes & Red-thr Loon when
to our excitement, a lone Blk-h Gull flew by landing somewhere back
behind the jetty. Off we went to discover a small group of Herring &
Ring-billed Gulls along with 4 to 5 Blk-headed Gulls - all easily viewed
by scope their size, their red legs & bills, but was really exciting was
seeing one with a complete black hood, a 2nd one with a partial black
hood coming in and at least 2 still in winter plumage with the black dot
behind the eye - what an ID education right in front of us - also of
interest was comparing the sizes of the 3 gull species side by
side.Before we left, we spotted a flock of N Horned Larks in the short
grass near the road - besides super close looks, we watched several
taking dust baths - nice ending to Scarbough Beach experience.Nex stop
was to be heading to Trustom Pond with the hopes of seeing the Tundra
Swan - on our way to Moonstone Beach, we made a quick stop at Perry's
Mill Pond hoping for the Eurasian Wigeon - unfortunately no Eurasian but
several Am Wigeon, Hooded Mergansers, Mute Swan, Ring-necked & Black
Ducks, Gt Blue Heron, D-c Cormorants.Onward to Moonstone Beach were the
group walked south along the beach to scan into the brackish pond at
Trustom - however the winds really ramped up making the many ducks &
this swan hiding along the far tree line & small islands - wind made the
viewing challenging but no Tundra Swan sighted but viewed some
Canvasbacks, Redheads, both Scaup, Bufflehead in the process.Made 1
final stop at Misquamicut Beach hoping for Snow Buntings or a Longspur
in the short grass in this now strong gusting winds - no luck on those
two but enjoyed a flock of N Horned Larks and several Brant in the
grass.Time to head back to DF - enjoyed a Bald Eagle soaring around as
we completed a very exciting trip to RI finding most all of their
rarities - such great looks on this sunny, cool & windy Sat. day Thanks
like always to Leslie Bostrom & Dan Fournier for their driving and
birding skills plus a hardy group of participants as we tracked down our
target species - in the end, we found only 56 species as our goal was
searching for rarities.
Next trip is Sat. 3/29 - RI Duck Bonanza - back to RI again with the new
goal of finding 20 to 25 species of ducks where we will be covering a
variety of different locations, ponds, bays, ocean to achieve our goal -
once we hit 25 duck species with Tufted Duck, Barrow's Goldeneye among
the many - love the challenge.

Strickland Wheelock
Uxbridge MA

 
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