Tuesday, November 7, 2017

11.7.17  Tuesday Tweets - John Wing Trail - Cape Cod Museum of Natural History
Brewster, MA

This morning was our first true chilly Tuesday Tweets of this season, so I really wasn't sure about the turn out of bird nerds today... to my surprise, we had a BUNCH!  With the full moon just over the weekend, the tides were extremely high and there was a lot of water still saturating the salt marsh.  Even though high tide was hours away, it definitely make me wary of getting back too late... so the pressure was on.

Almost immediately as we were crossing the board walk, we saw a Great Blue Heron in flight.  That's hard to beat!  Somehow though, we are often rewarded with bird sightings on Tuesday Tweets no matter what.  Sometimes it happens in the first five minutes, or the last.  Nature is only so predictable.  What is predictable is that the folks who join in on this visit to nature is their sweet good-natured spirits.  We had a bit of a Yellow-rumped Warbler show as we approached the meadow, and by the time we reached the shore, it was species after species!  Please don't miss the photos credited to Rick.  Thank goodness he was there to capture so many perfect shots because my camera started arguing with me halfway through our walk.  His photography is just amazing.

We were surprised to find the dune loop of the trail by the staircase flooded out, so we had to back track a bit over the sands, where we spotted all sorts of animal tracks, this way and that.  It's always interesting observing those messages they've left behind.  It's fun to draw a circle around a cluster of tracks to discern how many different species have crossed in a small area in a short amount of time.  I would have to say that our biggest excitement came from the Peregrine Falcon spotted on the other side of Quivett Creek.  As if in a performance, s/he took off soon after we all stopped to admire from a distance, and that beautiful bird of prey soared RIGHT over us.  Just GORGEOUS!  I haven't seen a Peregrine in years!  I reminded the bird nerds that they'd just experienced the fastest creature on Earth.  It's just not every walk on a beach you get to admire a bird superhero!  We made it back without being flooded out on the marsh... all good.  (double click photos to enlarge)

Our List:
American Crow
Great Blue Heron
Shearwater ( I REALLY think it's a Cory's Shearwater from Rick's photo!)
Coopers Hawk
American Goldfinch
Black-capped Chickadee
House Finch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
American Robin
Gray Catbird (!?!)
Great Black-backed Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Black-bellied Plover
Double-crested Cormorant
Red-breasted Merganser
Peregrine Falcon (!!!)
Common Eider
Brant
Blue Jay
Northern Harrier
Northern Cardinal


Great Blue Heron flying off 
Cory's Shearwater - my best guess at ID
(Photo Credit: RICK)


Northern Harrier (Photo Credit: RICK)


Yellow-rumped Warbler 
Yellow-rumped Warbler




Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-capped Chickadee  DON'T YOU JUST LOVE THIS PHOTO?!?!
(Photo Credit: RICK)
Don't miss the band on the bird's right leg - no doubt, one of Sue Finnegan's 

Not a great photo of a Yellow-rumped Warbler, but
I wanted to show the yellow that you can also see under the wing
House Finch - male (Photo Credit: RICK)

American Robin

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Bird Nerds crossing the dune trail
Deer tracks, dog tracks & gull tracks in the sand

Don't miss the Great Blue Heron tracks


Black-bellied Plovers (Photo Credit: RICK)

Checking out the shore birds (gulls, plovers, cormorants, eiders) in
the distance 
Black-bellied Plovers
Peregrine Falcon!!! (Photo Credit: RICK)

Peregrine Falcon (Photo Credit: RICK)

Peregrine Falcon (Photo Credit: RICK)

Peregrine Falcon (Photo Credit: RICK)
Brants (Photo Credit: RICK)

Common Eiders (Photo Credit: RICK)

Red-breasted Mergansers (Photo Credit: RICK)

Northern Cardinal - male (Photo Credit: RICK)

Northern Harrier (Photo Credit: RICK)



Beach Grass, also called Compass Grass because of the lovely circle created by the grass
as the wind blows it around itself in the sand

Next opportunity for Tuesday Tweets: 11.21.17 9am $4Members/$6Non-members
Happy Birding!

2 comments:

  1. I have a bird watching hobby and love seeing birds of all kind. My favorites are the birds with hunting capabilities. Anyways it was lovely to see some birds here too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Things are very open and intensely clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Your website is very beneficial.
    Global Assignment Help

    ReplyDelete