Dovekies!

Just getting around to the post now, but Sunday we went up to Plum Island to look for the Dovekies that had been reported. We got to the island a little before 9. They had been reported at both parking lots 1 and 7, but since the birds were just flying past 1 we headed straight down to 7.

We did pause briefly at the Salt Pannes for 2 Northern Harriers and a single Snow Goose and then slowed again for 9 more Snow Geese dropping in to the Forward pool near the New Blind.

At 7, we took a brief scan from the platform and then moved down to the beach. There were a couple birders down by the rocks but otherwise no one around. Scanning through the water, I quickly found plenty of Common Eider and a few Red-breasted Mergansers but little else.

Not too long after commenting on how little was out in front of us, a Dovekie popped up! We all got good looks in the scope as it just sat on the water. After a minute or two of watching, Paul Roberts arrived on the platform and I quickly waved him in the general direction. My father took a turn at the scope and both said ‘there’s two!’ I jumped back on but only saw the one (whether it was the first or second is an open question).

We moved back up to the platform to talk to Paul and the growing crowd. Paul immediately started congratulating me on the [fisher][/nature/GBCBC2006.html]. He was really excited about it and proceeded to tell me every story he had about fishers in Massachusetts. The dovekies had disappeared in the meantime, and the crowd kept growing to probably 15 people.

Eventually a single dovekie reappeared closer to the rocks. For a while, it was diving continuously but eventually sat again, giving everyone more good looks. Paul told his story about almost having to clean one off his windshield in a storm in the 70’s. People started leaving, and we decided to move on as well.

It had been nice and sunny, but had clouded over just before we moved on. It started to feel fairly nasty, so we didn’t feel like checking everywhere. We did stop at Hellcat for a bathroom break. I took a quick look for the Snow Geese without luck but did have lots of pintails and some Canada Geese that appeared small to me, but I couldn’t make them into anything.

We moved on to scan from lot 1. There were good numbers of scoters and Long-tailed Duck fairly far out. Two Common Loons were right up close and there were multiple Horned Grebes around. At one point an Alcid flew over the horizon. I followed it for a while but had a hard time getting any details. I didn’t get much of any color on the wings other than dark, so on review at home decided that Dovekie was most likely. So two on the day for me as well.

A couple of people who had been at 7 earlier came by. They didn’t have much different, just Bonaparte’s Gulls. I took a quick scan for those, but nothing jumped and I wasn’t that interested in sorting gulls at the moment. The other people had failed to find a gannet. Of course a minute after they left, a nice adult cruised by.

We then packed up and headed out. On the way home, we stopped for the Blue Goose that has been hanging around Spy Pond in Arlington. Even across the large pond, it was quite obvious. I need to check, but 12 Snow Geese is probably my high total in Massachusetts (or not as I see 70 at Joppa and 30 at Plum in 2000 and 2003 respectively).

Another very nice day in the field (of course when you check off a top most wanted bird, it could be hideous weather and no other birds at all and still be a great day).