Day 322: November 18th – Gloucester and Rockport

A picture perfect fall day in New England

       Cold?  Definitely!  But the 30 degree temps that we awoke to quickly rose up into the 40s and the lack of any stiff winds made it quite nice.  We met this morning at the famous Gloucester Fisherman’s Monument also known as “Man at the Wheel”.  The statue stands as a testament to the lives and deaths of the many Gloucester fishermen who have lost their lives pursuing their livelihoods as commercial fishermen.  We’ve come to bird these beautiful and bountiful waters, but it’s hard not to imagine what these brave men endured over the ages. 

       Our first bird of the day is the Common eider, the bird I most often think of as the emblematic species of the New England coastal waters in winter.  The handsome males, young males, males in eclipse phase, and females are all present, but their distinctive wedge-shaped head and bills make identification of these birds and easy task.

       After spending some time scanning the waters with our scopes and bins, we head north to Andrew’s Point in the hopes of Black guillemot and the most elusive of the winter birds, the Dovekie, a diminutive auk that breeds on the islands of the high arctic.  Generally, these birds are found far out at sea, but the recent storms have brought good numbers in towards shore in the recent days.  Are we too late, or are some stragglers still around?  We’ll soon find out.  What we do find is a good number of the handsome Harlequins which we saw here on Friday as well as more eiders.

       After some time and some good sightings of Surf scoters, we come to the realization that the Dovekies have probably moved out and will elude us once again.  We move back towards Gloucester fisheries pier and then out to Newburyport and the Massachusetts Audubon Eastern Point Wildlife Refuge.  These last stops of the morning proved very productive in sightings of more eiders,

       Buffleheads,

       Red-breasted mergansers,

       Greater scaup, and the ultimate prize of the day, the Black guillemot.

       A final stop at Niles Pond produced several new species for the trip including the Ring-necked ducks, American coots, and great looks at a duck earlier spotted, the Long-tailed du6ck.

       In summery, by the time we bid one another adieu, we had tallied 66 species including many which were “life-birds” for several members of the group.  Others were birds which many of us had seen only once or twice before and in many cases birds were recorded which we had not seen in many years.  The long drive north to visit this historic and beautiful part of our country proved to be well worth the effort and time invested in coming to Cape Anne in search of winter migrants.  A special warm thanks to our group leaders Al and Barb Merritt who have led this tour for over 30 years.  Their expertise and knowledge of the area were well displayed on this remarkable field trip.