Go to top | New Topic | Search     Subject: Plum Island Bird Trip 02/26/06 Author: Joshua Potter () Date:   2006-03-03 12:31:21.0 What a strange winter we've had! For Tin Mountain's annual Plum Island nature program, 10 brave souls made the 90 minute trek south to Newburyport, Mass to visit one of the birdwatching meccas of the east. The warm sun made this sub-zero windchill day bearable as we scanned the river, marshes and waves for avian life. While we missed some hoped-to-see species of Snowy owl, Northern shrike, and various sea ducks, we had some nice looks at some very nice birds. Seen for the day were: Plum Island Trip Birds (27 species): Deer Island: Great Cormorant (gulping down a huge fish!) Common Merganser (trying to get a piece of said fish) Mallard Duck Bald Eagle (1 mature, 4 or 5 immature) Great Blue Heron Plum Island: Northern Harrier Red-tailed Hawk Northern Cardinal American Tree Sparrow White-throated Sparrow House Sparrow Northern Mockingbird Common Loon Red-throated Loon Common Eider White-winged Scoter Canada Goose American Black Duck Herring Gull American Crow Blue Jay American Robin Black-capped Chickadee Waxwing species (only seen by three participants) Salisbury Beach: Common Goldeneye Red-breasted Merganser Great Black-backed Gull Our mammal highlight for the day was a harbor seal peacefully fishing the Merrimac river next to Deer Island. This is a great yearly opportunity to see some birds we can't see here in our back yard. We hope you can join us next year! You can always find our latest Nature Program Series dates and descriptions on our website, www.tinmtn.org Happy Birding! Joshua Potter Teacher/Naturalist Tin Mountain Conservation Center Go to top | New Topic | Search     Topics  Author  Date   Plum Island Bird Trip 02/26/06  Joshua Potter   2006-03-03 12:31:21.0    Reply To This Message  Your Name:  Your Email:  Subject: