Charlestown Area Hotspots
9/5/2015
Leader – Dan Berard
Participants – 10
The meeting location for this trip and nearby locations really allows us to be flexible and cater the trip based on what the birds are doing. The previous night saw consistent southerly winds which can be difficult for warblers, but can often be good for other migrants such as vireos, flycatchers, grosbeaks etc. This combined with good timing for ducks made for the decision to quickly check Cards Pond, head to Moonstone Beach to walk the tide line searching for shorebirds and coastal migrants, and then head to Trustom for ducks, herons and passerines.
The trip was off to a great start even at the meeting location as we tallied several species including Broad-winged Hawk, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Baltimore Oriole.
Cards Pond proved to be a little slow with just a handful of ducks and several hummingbirds, swallows and migrant passerines still flying overhead. Soon after arriving, we got word of several interesting shorebirds at Moonstone Beach and headed directly there.
Moonstone Beach did not disappoint and we were treated to a mass of staging Tree Swallows that numbered more than 8,000! A quick walk down the beach to the ‘cut’ near Trustom gave excellent views of this impressive flock as well as a Merlin that Alex Patterson found. At the cut, we got excellent views of Buff-breasted and Baird’s Sandpipers.
Trustom Pond had a smattering of migrant passerines with a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher being the highlight. The pond itself had some interesting birds with Blue-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Common Gallinule, American Coot and Black Tern as notable sightings.
Non-bird highlights included several Monarchs, a Cloudless Sulphur, and a Carolina Saddlebags.
Here is the full species list –
9/5/2015
Leader – Dan Berard
Participants – 10
The meeting location for this trip and nearby locations really allows us to be flexible and cater the trip based on what the birds are doing. The previous night saw consistent southerly winds which can be difficult for warblers, but can often be good for other migrants such as vireos, flycatchers, grosbeaks etc. This combined with good timing for ducks made for the decision to quickly check Cards Pond, head to Moonstone Beach to walk the tide line searching for shorebirds and coastal migrants, and then head to Trustom for ducks, herons and passerines.
The trip was off to a great start even at the meeting location as we tallied several species including Broad-winged Hawk, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Baltimore Oriole.
Cards Pond proved to be a little slow with just a handful of ducks and several hummingbirds, swallows and migrant passerines still flying overhead. Soon after arriving, we got word of several interesting shorebirds at Moonstone Beach and headed directly there.
Moonstone Beach did not disappoint and we were treated to a mass of staging Tree Swallows that numbered more than 8,000! A quick walk down the beach to the ‘cut’ near Trustom gave excellent views of this impressive flock as well as a Merlin that Alex Patterson found. At the cut, we got excellent views of Buff-breasted and Baird’s Sandpipers.
Trustom Pond had a smattering of migrant passerines with a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher being the highlight. The pond itself had some interesting birds with Blue-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Common Gallinule, American Coot and Black Tern as notable sightings.
Non-bird highlights included several Monarchs, a Cloudless Sulphur, and a Carolina Saddlebags.
Here is the full species list –
| Canada Goose Mute Swan Wood Duck American Wigeon Mallard American Black Duck Blue-winged Teal Northern Pintail Pied-billed Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Great Blue Heron Great Egret Snowy Egret Green Heron Turkey Vulture Osprey Cooper’s Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Broad-winged Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Merlin Common Gallinule American Coot Black-bellied Plover Semipalmated Plover Killdeer Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Spotted Sandpiper Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Baird’s Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Laughing Gull Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull Common Tern Least Tern Black Tern Rock Pigeon Mourning Dove Ruby-throated Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher | Red-bellied Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Northern Flicker Eastern Wood-Pewee Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Great crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird White-eyed Vireo Yellow-throated Vireo Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow Tree Swallow Bank Swallow Barn Swallow Black-capped Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch White-breasted Nuthatch House Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird American Robin Gray Catbird European Starling Cedar Waxwing Blue-winged Warbler Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler American Redstart Black-and-white Warbler Common Yellowthroat Eastern Towhee Song Sparrow Scarlet Tanager Northern Cardinal Rose-breasted Grosbeak Bobolink Red-winged Blackbird Common Grackle Baltimore Oriole House Finch American Goldfinch House Sparrow |