New England for the Holidays - December 23rd - 30th, 2004

When my sister suggested hosting Christmas at her place in Vermont, it seemed like a good idea. I knew that the Massachusetts coast in winter was a routine Big Year location, and I figured I could strike a good balance between birding and catching up with family and friends. As it turned out, I mostly had to neglect my friends. The Vermont RBAs weren't listing anything I didn't think I'd see in Massachusetts, so my time in Vermont was purely family focused. My wife Courtney flew back home on Monday, and after dropping her off at the airport, I went straight to Newburyport and Plum Island. There had been a heavy snow storm the night before which seemed to be subsiding as I pulled into the National Wildlife Refuge HQ at the north end of the island.

My guide book suggested that a walk around the tip of the island to the jetty would almost certainly produce Iceland Gull and Purple Sandpiper, but all it produced was hundreds of Herring Gulls and a runny nose. It was special to see so many Common Eiders, White-winged Scoters and Common Goldeneyes concentrated at the mouth of the Merrimack River, but I was anxious to see my target birds as well. The river was a flowing sheet of ice and the jetty was barely visible in the roiling surf. I assumed the weather must have been playing a role in the whereabouts of the birds I was looking for.

Driving up to Salisbury Beach and the north side of the Merrimack River, I was thrilled to find two Short-eared Owls patrolling the parking areas. However, the snow was too deep to get out to the North Jetty, which was also barely visible beneath the crashing waves of water and ice. Not sure what else to do, I went back to the South Jetty with no better luck. Rather than dwelling on birds that seemed to be absent, I spent the remaining daylight hours enjoying what was there, and practicing my ID skills on the various ducks and gulls that were braving the harsh weather.

The next day brought considerably more luck. Following up on a local birders post, I decided to try the Gloucester area, where all three of my target birds had been reported in numbers. The weather was much improved but still freezing as I pulled up to the closed parking lot of Hammond Castle (where most anyone who grew up in Eastern Massachusetts will remember having taken a field trip). Great Cormotrants supposedly nested on the rock off the coast behind the castle and, sure enough, there they were.

My next stop was Jodrey Pier, where I instantly noticed a first-winter Iceland Gull napping in the inner harbor on one of the floating docks. I also noticed a much lighter gull further out in the harbor which seemed to me like a first-winter Glaucous Gull but which may have also been an Iceland Gull. Moving down Eastern Point, I observed several Black Guillemots in winter plumage which I had never seen before. At the lighthouse and breakwater, I finally found my Purple Sandpipers and got better looks at Great Cormorants. I had spent the entire previous day searching for these birds in vain, but on this day I had all three by 11 AM, and that with a liesurely pace and lots of picture taking. I was curious whether the location or the weather had more to do with this.

Feeling lucky, I headed down to Winthrop to try for the Common Black-headed Gulls which use to roost on Lewis Lake but I saw none there or on Winthrop Beach. According to recent Christmas Bird Counts, this is no longer a reliable spot for the gulls. After another jaunt up to Vermont for one of the nieces birthdays, my mother joined me back on Plum Island where I thought I'd try to find my three birds again in better weather. First, I showed my mother her first Short-eared Owls up at Salisbury, where I also saw two Great Cormorants out on a tower on the jetty. I was not able to find the Purple Sandpipers who should have been there at low tide, nor did I find any Iceland Gulls. We did, however, follow the directions of a birder who was finishing up a World Big Year to find a Snowy Owl perched on a structure in the middle of the marsh between Plum Island and Newburyport.

As I headed to the airport, I focused on how I spend the final day of my Big Year.