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Shorebird Census 18 October 1998

This data was gathered by TASL volunteers censusing regions of Boston Harbor.
All observations were from land.

.

Notes:

A warm and windy day. The late summer and fall rush of shorebirds had clearly already gone through. The day belonged to migrating cormorants (almost 400 Double-crested over Winthrop), Common Eider (over 500 at Winthrop), White-winged Scoter (over 500 at Nahant), Black-bellied Plover (115 at Rumney Marsh, 500 at Winthrop), Sanderling (600 at Nahant), and Bonaparte's Gull (over 1000 at Nahant).

A Northern Harrier and all three falcons were also encountered.

NAHANT: The highlight was 1000 Bonaparte's Gulls feeding on thick mats of Pilayella algae. Offshore, the scoter flocks that habitually peak in November, usually in the thousands, started with a showing of 550 White-winged. (By the following week, 10/25, they had doubled, with hundreds of Surfs mixed in.)

POINT of PINES: Peter Vale went there alone at dawn. The tide was getting too high for a good count of shorebirds, and then a Merlin flushed everything!

Nevertheless, Peter tallied 10 Whiterumped Sandpipers and 2 Hudsonian Godwits, plus numerous other shorebirds and water birds.

BELLE ISLE: The highlights were a Hudsonian Godwit and Long-billed and Short-billed Dowitcher.

WINTHROP: The beach and the Five Sisters were surprisingly devoid of the large numbers of shorebirds we usually see there in October at high tide. Hundreds of cormorants and eider were at, off or over the beach. A few American Golden Plover could be seen on the breakwaters, along with a handful of Black-bellied.

Black-bellied Plovers (about 500) and other shorebirds were thick on the other side of Winthrop (Winthrop Harbor), though not on Snake Island.

SQUANTUM: I covered Squantum Cove, "Airport", and the barges and found very little to report. Also, a check of Black's Creek (south end of Wollaston Beach) revealed no sign of the avocet that had been reported there the previous week.

We had no coverage of the airport or the harbor islands.


Species Nahant
Bay
Rumney
Marsh
Belle
Isle/
Oasis
Win-
throp
Beach
Snake
Island/
Win-
throp
Harbor
Squan-
tum
High
tide
totals
Pines
River
Point
of
Pines
Squan-
tum
Cove
Low
tide
totals
RT Loon 1       2       3        
H Grebe         1       1        
D-c Corm   75       390       465       15   15
GBHeron       2     3     5   1       1
Brant                   34   8   42
Can Goose                   17   30   47
G-w Teal       1         1       5   5
Am Bl Duck     8   6     30     44   4   196   103   303
Mallard       1         1        
Com Eider         550       550        
Su Scoter         2       2        
W-w Scoter   550       13       563        
R-b Merganser         1       1        
No Harrier         1       1        
A Kestrel           1     1        
Merlin       1         1     1     1
Peregrine       1         1        
R-n Phaesa       1         1        
B-b Plover     115   5   34   500   7   661   3   28     31
A Gold Plover         3   3     6        
Semi Plover     1   3         4     35     35
Killdeer     2           2   3       3
Gr Yellowlegs     29   62     11   18   120   3       3
Le Yellowlegs       2       1   3        
Hud Godwit       1         1     2     2
R Turnstone           12     12        
Sanderling   600             600     175     175
Semi Sandpiper     2   1         3     20     20
W-r Sandpiper     1           1     10     10
Dunlin   4       2   50     56     75     75
S-b Dowitcher       1         1        
L-b Dowitcher       1         1        
Laugh Gull         2   3     5        
Bon Gull   1012         1     1013        
Song Sparrow           3     3        
Swamp Sparrow           3     3        
Time 7:55-
8:40
AM
7:30-
8:25
AM
9:00-
9:45
AM
10-
10:30
AM
8:30-
9:30
AM
1:30-
1:40
PM
7:30
AM-
1:40
PM
7:15-
7:25
AM
6:40-
7:05
AM
3:20-
3:30
PM
6:40-
7:25
AM/
3:20-
3:30
PM
Weather Sunny
Wind West 15 mph
Temperature 75°F (23°C)
High Tide 10:45 AM


Thanks to the October Census volunteers:
Ken Barney, Jim Barton, John Damian, Ted Mara, Dennis Oliver, Michele Parham, Polly Stevens, Peter Vale, Soheil Zendeh.

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Last Update: 10/31/1998
Compiler: Soheil Zendeh
Email: szendeh@rcn.com