MA - Cape Ann seabirds 01/03/15

On Saturday we had a very pleasant family visit to the north shore of the Massachusetts coast. Somehow I managed to let more than a year pass by without a single visit to Cape Ann so it seemed appropriate to start there. We began with a walk down to the rocks at Halibut Point State Park. Conditions were calm with a light pre-storm NE breeze coming in from the Atlantic Ocean. Birds were not present in huge numbers, far from it in fact, but the variety was really nice and I'd forgotten just how close some of the seaducks pass at Halibut Point. Harlequins, Common Eiders, Red-breasted Mergansers, Black and White-winged Scoters, Common Loons and Razorbills were among the more frequent species seen with Great Cormorant, Red-necked Grebe, Northern Gannet, Long-tailed Duck and Purple Sandpipers also present. We didn't connect with any of the scarcer alcids (Dovekie and Thick-billed Murre) reported from previous days but our visits to the coast are so infrequent that all of the species seemed rather novel to us.

Later in the day we cruised down the Plum Island peninsula finding four Snowy Owls with no trouble at all, including a close encounter for Susuannah and Matan on an otherwise deserted beach. Two Merlins and a Northern Harrier were among other raptors seen at Plum. Overall, a beautiful day to be out and hopefully we'll be back before too long.

Harlequin Ducks - Halibut Point SP, Cape Ann, Essex Co., MA. January 3rd, 2014.

We saw over fifty of these duing the day, most of them hugging the shoreline.

 Common Eiders (dresseri) - Halibut Point SP, Cape Ann, Essex Co., MA. January 3rd, 2014.

 Red-breasted Mergansers - Halibut Point SP, Cape Ann, Essex Co., MA. January 3rd, 2014.

 White-winged Scoter - female, Halibut Point SP, Cape Ann, Essex Co., MA. January 3rd, 2014.

White-winged Scoter - male, Halibut Point SP, Cape Ann, Essex Co., MA. January 3rd, 2014.

Long-tailed Ducks - Halibut Point SP, Cape Ann, Essex Co., MA. January 3rd, 2014.

 Purple Sandpipers - Halibut Point SP, Cape Ann, Essex Co., MA. January 3rd, 2014.

Snowy Owl - Parker River NWR, Essex Co., MA. January 3rd, 2014.

Found and identified by a certain Mr. Matan Lerman-Smith, just seven years old.