Re: Massachusetts...
Paula Sullivan (paulas@erols.com)
Wed, 07 Oct 1998 09:36:26 -0500
BlkVulture@aol.com wrote:
>
> Hello folks,
>
> Granted this has nothing to do with birding in this area, nor is it
> particularly impressive, but I found it interesting nonetheless.
>
> While in Lynn, Massachusetts (north of Boston, 8 miles, coastal) for my
> grandfather's (wonderful naturalist) funeral, I managed very little birding.
> What I did manage was to go to the beach. Like I alluded, there was nothing
> wholly impressive. What struck me was how much of a difference it is being on
> the coast. I know. This is quite obvious, and perhaps it is because I never
> appreciated the coast while I lived on it as much as I do now, that i find it
> remarkable.
>
> That said, what I did see was interesting enough. Several thousand (maybe 4
> or 5) white-winged scoters floating in the calm waters off of Lynn Beach.
> Mixed in were a few surf and black scoters as well. Peregrine falcons were
> constant. They all came in off the water. which is open ocean, no land east.
> I would pick them up in a scope, perhaps a mile or so out, and they would
> reach shore, and circle for a few minutes, then continue south. One came in
> ripping over the water, no more than three feet from the surface, only to land
> on Nahant Beach, and remain there until after I left. Peregrines are
> seemingly always overhead. Bonaparte's gulls were in in pretty good numbers,
> maybe a thousand overall, and a few hundred sitting on the beach allowing me
> to walk through them expecting to find a black-headed gull. No luck.
> Ringers, herring and black-backeds as well. No terns. Great Cormorants in
> small numbers, DC Cormorants still appearing in large strings flying overhead.
> A constant flight of Canada Geese. Big formations, some with a few hundred
> birds. Sanderlings running along the surf line, and a turnstone here or there.
> In the vegetation at the edges of the beach were a handful of savannah
> sparrows.
>
> If there were loons around, I missed them. I was lucky to get the time I did
> to look for any birds, and thus did not get to some of the more productive
> spots that would have yielded many more species of waterfowl. E.g. Plum
> Island, Rockport, Gloucester, or Winthrop. I also had no opportunity to look
> for passerines, or any other land birds, so I only got the conspicuous ones.
> I did see several red-tails and a few red-shouldered hawks.
>
> On Monday, the 5th of October, as I watched the birds become too dark to see
> as the sun set, I was treated to the most impressive moonrise that I can
> remember. There is a small spit of land that juts into the ocean, forming the
> northern boundary that offers some shelter to Lynn Beach. The harvest moon
> appeared, blazing orange, and slowly climbed into the deep blue, but darkening
> sky. Above it, Jupiter, with four moons visible in both my 10 X bins, and
> quite clear in my 30 X scope. Lynn is a blue collar city, with a population
> of about 75-80,000 people. Yet somehow, with the surf gently lapping Red
> Rock, and a light wind, I was unable to hear any man-made noise that was not
> my own. It was very easy to imagine the same scene centuries earlier. I
> suppose there would have been more birds.
>Todd,
You must have received your grandfather's apprreciation for the natural
world. How very sorry I am that the reason for your trip to
Massachusetts was to attend his funeral, but so glad that you shared
with us your observations of the birds of the beach, the sky, and your
surroundings near Lynn. I was particularly struck by your mention of
Jupiter and its four moons. While you were in Massachusetts, my family
and I were spending a week in a rented house in Chincoteague. One of my
sons, an entomologist who doesn't always look down, thought he would aim
my spotting scope at what he thought might be a planet. What a
mind-blowing experience for all of us to see those four moons in orbit
around Jupiter. We thought we could even make out some of the bands, but
not the red spot. To the left and lower in the sky was Saturn, another
moving sight of a beautiful planet with rings that seemed unreal.
We watched a single Surf Scoter all week swimming and diving in the
Chincoteague Channel. When we kayaked close to her we discovered that
she couldn't fly, the reason for her solitude, I am sure.
Peregrines and Merlins were among the most interesting birds we saw
during our coastal visit, but it was a shock to see Peregrines sporting
red paint on their faces. At first, I thought I might have been looking
at a raptor that had recently dined but had failed to use a napkin. I
was enlightened by a park official who told me that Peregrines were
marked with the paint to indicate that they had already been captured
and banded. I wonder how long it takes for the paint to wear off. It
seemed like quite an indignity for such a magnificent bird.
Paula Sullivan
Alexandria, VA
paulas@erols.com