Cape Ann - from Gloucester to Rockport

Jodrey Pier, Gloucester

A favorite birding destination in the winter is Cape Ann, from Gloucester to Rockport, Massachusetts. I found this link to a map of birding spots along the way, most of which we hit. Thanks to Bryan Pfeiffer for posting this!

Cape Ann hotspots

common eiders

We started at Gloucester Harbor, it was a brilliantly sunny day.

American herring gull

The most numerous birds were common eiders and herring and great black-backed gulls.

common loon

red-breasted merganser

surf scoter

great black-backed gull

purple sandpipers

The birds are plentiful but if the wind is blowing - it's brutal! If you go, dress warmly, bring lots of layers, even if the temperatures are above freezing as they were this day. 

purple sandpipers

harlequin ducks and a common eider

The harlequin ducks are fun to watch, they love to ride the waves and stay really close to the rocky shore.

harlequin ducks, a common eider and red-breasted merganser

redheads and mallards

We spent all day driving around the shoreline, finding lots of great birds. The worst part was getting there, we hit rush hour traffic coming and going! Still, it was a fabulous day of birding!

Peaceful Waters

Peaceful Waters, a 30 acre wetlands park, in Wellington, Florida is a must for any birder or photographer visiting Palm Beach county. Birds were everywhere when we visited in January.

Great egrets, white ibis, tricolored heron, roseate spoonbills, wood stork

The park has 1500 feet of elevated boardwalks and a mile of walking trails. Here's a link to their website. Peaceful Waters Sanctuary

Roseate spoonbills were just one of the many species that lined up on the railings along the boardwalk.

tricolored heron

tricolored heron

white ibis

There is such a variety that you can spend all day here!

wood storks

wood stork

green heron

glossy ibis and mottled ducks

common gallinule

purple gallinule

long-billed dowitchers

ring-billed gulls and Forster's tern

Florida has done a great job turning their wastewater treatment facilities throughout the state into wetland sanctuaries!

Niagara Falls Birding

Gulls, gulls, gulls!! The majority at Niagara Falls are Ring-billed and Bonaparte's this time of year, with Herring, Great Black-backed, Lesser Black-backed and a few rare ones, if you're lucky!

There's construction at Terrapin Point, so we couldn't get closer views of the Horseshoe Falls, but Gerry did get a shot of a rainbow by holding his camera over the fence!

Even with the construction, there are plenty of spots to see gulls. We headed out to Three Sisters Island for some close views of gulls.

Bonaparte's Gull

 

 

 I found an adult winter plumage Lesser Black-backed Gull posing for pictures!

ring-billed gulls

We walked over to Luna Island where you stand between Bridal Falls and the American Falls. Looking down in the precipice there were 1000s of gulls!

A Canada Goose was hanging out right near the edge of the falls.

Notice the mass of gulls on the rocky ledges in the middle of the picture.

View of the Canadian side from above the falls.

 November is a nice time of year to be there, not many tourists and luckily, we had a spell of 60 degree weather, (although I still dressed for winter!)

Atlantic Puffin Cruise

We went to Maine to visit friends and do some birding recently.  I've always wanted to take a cruise off the coast to see pelagic birds so we decided to go on the Hardy Boat puffin cruise out of New Harbor. hardyboat/puffinwatch

Atlantic puffin

 Here's an interesting fact: during winter, the bills and feet of puffins fade to dull shades of their summer colors.  Every spring their beaks and feet turn a colorful orange in preparation for the breeding season.  The beaks and feet of puffins become brightly colored and the beak increases in size as the bird matures.  The size and color of puffin beaks may serve as badges of experience and help birds assess the 'quality' of potential mates.

New Harbor

The boat leaves this picturesque harbor at 5:30pm to catch the puffins as they return to Eastern Egg Rock where they breed. The island is home to the world's first restored seabird colony. It's a 5 mile cruise out to the island. projectpuffin.audubon

According to Audubon's website:  Puffins hunt a variety of small fish including herring, hake, capelin and sand lance.  They do not come to land outside of the breeding season, flying, swimming or riding the ocean surface throughout the year regardless of weather.

black guillemot

 Along the way we saw lots of birds, puffins, black guillemots, laughing gulls, common eiders, double-crested cormorants and common terns.

common tern

laughing gull

Laughing gulls and common terns were the most common birds.

The island, while closed to visitation during breeding season, is home to 4 or 5 researchers.  Work includes projects such as: annual tern, eider, and laughing gull census; tern band resighting, chick provisioning, productivity and growth studies; puffin census, productivity, band resighting and provisioning studies; vegetation monitoring and management; predator management; and daily weather and bird lists.

The need for protection from what "rains" from the sky is evident!

roseate tern

 This was a great chance to see roseate terns, listed as endangered by the US fish and wildlife department.

arctic tern

The largest colonies of arctic terns occur in Maine where they nest close together in order to be safe from gull predation.

 

double-crested cormorant

 

Atlantic puffin

 On the way back from Eastern Egg Rock, we saw 3 Cory's shearwaters flying around the boat. This large, brown seabird is usually seen farther out at sea. They are large (44" wingspan) and flew low above the ocean with strong wingbeats and short glides. This was an unexpected treat and unfortunately, Gerry had put his camera away!