Go Bird! Providence, Day Two

Birding anywhere in New England in the fall is a risky busy in terms of weather, but the rewards can be very good, as migrants from the north come down to the New England coast and then turn southwest heading for warmer climes. The 100 ABA members attending “Go Bird! Providence” are getting a good dose of both nasty New England weather and wonderful birds. While rough seas have resulted in the cancellation of the Block Island Ferry both yesterday and today, the birding has still been quite good. As a leader of the “Gannet” group, I have been delighted with the way our members have ferreted out difficult passerines from the woods and braved high winds and rain along the shore to spot scoters, Northern Gannets and Common Eiders. The “Gannet” group has racked up impressive totals of 81 bird species yesterday and 82 today. Among the other birds seen on the water: Brant, American Black Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Common Loon, Great Blackbacked Gull and Common and Forster’s Tern. Also, we had a super flyby of scoters that included all three species: White-winged, Surf and Black.

On the shores, we have seen Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Dunlin and Wilson’s Snipe, among others. In the air, this morning we had aerial displays by a Cooper’s Hawk and a few Merlins. We watched a Peregrine Falcon cruise alongside us as we crossed the high bridge over Narraganset Bay this morning, and we ended the day with a lovely hen American Harrier cruising slowly over a swale at Sachuest Point. In the woods, the weather has really impacted what can be a good movement of warblers and vireos. Each warbler has required the skill of a dentist to extract, such as the Nashville we saw yesterday and the Common Yellowthroat today. But the Eastern Phoebe has been most obliging, and we were treated this morning to an up-close-and-personal Brown Creeper at Norman Bird Sanctuary.

The sparrows “and allies” also put on a wonderful show at Norman today, with a large flock of migrating Song Sparrows dominating the flock, which also included Lincoln’s and White-throated, as well as a stunning female Blue Grosbeak and an Indigo Bunting. The biggest surprise of the day came to the other half of the Gannet Group, when they were birding Sachuest under the leadership of our Field Trip Coordinator, Mike Tucker, of Rhode Island Audubon. A couple of group members looked up and saw two Common Nighthawks, a real rarity for Rhode Island at this time of year. The weather promises to be even worse tomorrow but we will still get in some birding. Then on Thursday, the entire group of 100-plus ABA members will go to Block Island under what forecasters promise will be sunny skies!

Birding anywhere in New England in the fall is a risky busy in terms of weather, but the rewards can be very good, as migrants from the north come down to the New England coast and then turn southwest heading for warmer climes. The 100 ABA members attending “Go Bird! Providence” are getting a good dose of both nasty New England weather and wonderful birds. While rough seas have resulted in the cancellation of the Block Island Ferry both yesterday and today, the birding has still been quite good. As a leader of the “Gannet” group, I have been delighted with the way our members have ferreted out difficult passerines from the woods and braved high winds and rain along the shore to spot scoters, Northern Gannets and Common Eiders.

The “Gannet” group has racked up impressive totals of 81 bird species yesterday and 82 today. Among the other birds seen on the water: Brant, American Black Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Common Loon, Great Black-backed Gull and Common and Forster’s Tern. Also, we had a super flyby of scoters that included all three species: White-winged, Surf and Black. On the shores, we have seen Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Dunlin and Wilson’s Snipe, among others. In the air, this morning we had aerial displays by a Cooper’s Hawk and a few Merlins. We watched a Peregrine Falcon cruise alongside us as we crossed the high bridge over Narraganset Bay this morning, and we ended the day with a lovely hen Northern Harrier cruising slowly over a swale at Sachuest Point. In the woods, the weather has really impacted what can be a good movement of warblers and vireos. Each warbler has required the skill of a dentist to extract, such as the Nashville we saw yesterday and the Common Yellowthroat today. But the Eastern Phoebe has been most obliging, and we were treated this morning to an up-close-and-personal Brown Creeper at Norman Bird Sanctuary.

The sparrows “and allies” also put on a wonderful show at Norman today, with a large flock of migrating Song Sparrows dominating the flock, which also included Lincoln’s and White-throated, as well as a stunning female Blue Grosbeak and an Indigo Bunting. The biggest surprise of the day came to the other half of the Gannet Group, when they were birding Sachuest under the leadership of our Field Trip Coordinator, Mike Tucker, of Rhode Island Audubon. A couple of group members looked up and saw two Common Nighthawks, a real rarity for Rhode Island at this time of year. The weather promises to be even worse tomorrow but we will still get in some birding. Then on Thursday, the entire group of 100-plus ABA members will go to Block Island under what forecasters promise will be sunny skies!