Each year, in lieu of hunting them for sport, thousands of Americans pursue birds with binoculars to identify and count them in support of the Christmas Bird Count or CBC, overseen by the National Audubon Society and now in its 116th year.
A CBC count circle is 15 miles in diameter; the Plymouth circle, which I participated in, stretches from the tip of Long Beach south to the Cape Cod Canal and west to Carver.
Data collected in the same area for many years reveals trends in bird movements and numbers, such as the shift north of many songbirds’ ranges shifting and the decrease in populations of numerous species.
Vintage Plymouth CBC map with circle boundary in black and subarea boundaries in red.
On December 16, I joined expert birders Wayne Petersen of Mass Audubon, Brad Winn of Manomet and Soheil Zendeh to bird in the northwest quadrant of the Plymouth count circle. We covered Long Beach, the waterfront, Jenney Pond, Billington Sea, Plimoth Plantation and the Eel River, Nook Road by the fish hatchery entrance, Little South Pond and areas in between.
Our first surprise popped up from behind a large rock on Plymouth Long Beach – a Snowy Owl! The first I have seen this winter, and a beauty. (Next chance to see this bird on a guided trip is Jan. 1, 2016. More details here.)
The unmistakable Snowy Owl. Photo credit: Soheil Zendeh
This adult Iceland Gull gave us a great view of its pink legs. Photo credit: Soheil Zendeh
Another unusual bird was an adult Iceland Gull at the parking lot by the jetty. Although a rarity, it wasn’t exactly a surprise as we had heard through the birders’ grapevine that it was once again spending the winter behind the East Bay Grille.
The Iceland Gull is flanked by smaller Ring-billed Gulls. Note the red spot on the bill and the lack of black on the primaries of the Iceland. Photo credit: Soheil Zendeh
Other surprises were due to negative data, that is, not seeing particular birds, or not many. For instance, we saw no Brant or Horned Grebes, which are generally gimmes in our section. And, the number of Mourning Doves, chickadees, wrens and Northern Cardinals was much lower than in previous years.
This lovely male Northern Cardinal was one of a surprisingly small number seen. Photo credit: Soheil Zendeh
A surprising find in Massachusetts this year is the Ash-throated Flycatcher, which is a bird of the western U.S. Three have been spotted on the North Shore and one has taken up residence at Manomet and was counted for the CBC, but not by my group as counting outside our specified section would have been considered poaching.
The Ash-throated Flycatcher. Photo credit: Brad Winn
At the end of the day, we gathered with the other birders to compile all of our sightings. The tally of species for the day was 106, and our section found 55 different species. The full list for our section is below.
Three of our happy crew!
Canada Goose 109
Mute Swan 21
Gadwall 17
American Black Duck 82
Mallard 68
Ring-necked Duck 5
Greater Scaup 2
Common Eider 120
Surf Scoter 55
White-winged Scoter 42
Black Scoter 8
Long-tailed Duck 30
Bufflehead 75
Common Goldeneye 3
Hooded Merganser 9
Red-breasted Merganser 150
Wild Turkey 2
Red-throated Loon 4
Common Loon 6
Northern Gannet 8
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Blue Heron 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Sanderling 10
Dunlin 130
Bonaparte’s Gull 35
Ring-billed Gull 245
Herring Gull 311
Iceland Gull 1
Great Black-backed Gull 29
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) 115
Mourning Dove 2
Snowy Owl 1
Belted Kingfisher 1
Downy Woodpecker 12
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 11
Black-capped Chickadee 32
Tufted Titmouse 12
White-breasted Nuthatch 6
Winter Wren 2
Carolina Wren 2
Hermit Thrush 2
American Robin 1
Northern Mockingbird 1
European Starling 11
Snow Bunting 60
Dark-eyed Junco 1
White-throated Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 21
Northern Cardinal 21 Many attracted by pishing
Red-winged Blackbird 11
House Finch 2
American Goldfinch 2
House Sparrow 26
