Final days Birdwatching in Ipswich and East Boston, Inner Boston Harbour

The next morning on the 20th June 2018, I again woke early and went out on the balcony to see what birds and wildlife were in my Ipswich cousin's back garden.  There were at least three White-tailed Deer grazing along with Eastern Cottontail Rabbits.  The morning birds included American Goldfinches, Brown Cowbirds, House Finch, and Common Grackle, and across the water at the edge of the Crane Estate, I could see a Great Egret,  

At the furthest end of the garden, really in the neighbours' back garden, there were a number of small birds hopping around in the trees and I got distant, indistinct, zoomed photos of them, and they were partly hidden behind branches.

At least two of the birds were most likely Empids according to some American birders I consulted on the American Birding Association (ABA) Facebook Group "What's this Bird?", which is short for Empidonax Tyrant Flycatchers, and these flycatchers are all very similar looking and notoriously difficult to identify by sight, and like the Fish Crow, the only way to definitively identify them is by call or song.

I didn't hear or record their calls but the most likely possibilities in this part of Massachusetts were either Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum) or the almost identical Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii) or the slightly smaller Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus).  These three species all have grey-green caps and napes, greyish, olive green backs, white throats, white wing bars, white edging on the primary wing feathers, with indistinct white eye rings.  

Most of these Empidonax species look very similar. and up until 1973, Alder and Willow Flycatchers were grouped as one species called Traill's Flycatcher, but their different vocalisations, supported by later DNA analysis, led to the realisation that they were two different species.  I couldn't positively identify these Empids but they were interesting birds to catch a tantalising glimpse of.

I spent the rest of the day with my cousin exploring Boston city and the places in Boston where my great grandmother's brother lived, and in the city I saw a black, melanistic Grey Squirrel (Sqiurus carolinensis) on a tree beside the Charlestown Working Theater. And birds seen in the city included European House Sparrows, American Robins, Feral Pigeons and Mourning Doves. 

Back that evening in Ipswich when out in the back garden, I saw two pale Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) soaring overhead and their circling pattern overhead reminded me of our European Buzzards, but these birds looked bigger.  The resident American Crows started to mob one of them and here is a photo montage of these birds:

The next day my cousin's wife and I visited Greenwood Farm in Ipswich which is 60 acres of farmland and protected saltmarsh with historical farm buildings that date back to the early settlers, on the estuary opposite the Clark Estate, with interesting flowering plants, fields and great views of the saltmarsh.  In the car park we saw a Grey Squirrel, and our first birds seen included House Sparrow and American Robin hopping around. 

While walking around the fields near hedgerows, kudos have to go to my cousin's wife who spotted a brightly coloured, orange and black bird in the hedge and it was a male Baltimore Oriole (Icterus gallbulla) and this was my last new bird seen on this trip.  I was thrilled to see it as I had hoped to see these in Baltimore, so it was a nice surprise to finally see Baltimore Oriole in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and they really are a beautiful bird.

Walking a little bit further I got my best views on the trip of an Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) sitting very upright in a thorny bush, in front of a backdrop of the Ipswich River estuary and the Clark Estate, and the Eastern Phoebe is another Tyrant flycatcher species, and it is a summer migrant to North East America and winters in Central America.

And in the distance I got more views of an even bigger Tyrant flycatcher, the Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) who winters in Central and South America, sitting on a black box Greenhead Fly trap.  These boxes have four legs like a grazing animal, and the female Greenheads, who need to bite an animal and have a blood meal to reproduce, enter the "underbelly" of the trap where they are physically trapped, preventing further reproduction, reducing the numbers of Greenhead Fly (Tabanus nigrovittatus).  

About 400 of these traps are placed in the marshes of coastal towns and regions every year to remove millions of flies without the use of poisons and pesticides.  These flies are a nuisance and cause a very nasty bite, but they do not transmit any diseases, so one must wonder what the effect of removing so many flies from the environment is having on birds like flycatchers and swallows for example, even using a relatively ecological method like this. 

After Greenwood Farm, we headed into Ipswich village which is a very old village or town dating from the earliest European Settlers, with wooden houses that date from the 1600s, to do some sightseeing and we visited the John Whipple House which dates from 1677.  In the middle of the village beside the Ipswich River there is a pond called the Sally Pond and it is covered with white water lilies, and around the pond, flowers such as Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) and Purple Lupins (Lupinus perennis) have been planted to attract butterflies. On the Sally Pond I saw and photographed a lovely male Blue Dasher Dragonfly (Pachydiplax longipennis) resting on a lily pad, and Blue Dashers are members of the skimmer family of dragonflies.

That evening my cousin drove me to East Boston near Logan Airport where I was staying overnight to be in time for my plane back to Ireland the next day and I was sad to say goodbye to my cousins and Ipswich and its estuary, birds and wildlife.

The next morning before my flight home, I had time to go out for a walk near my hotel along the Boston inner harbour front, starting at Piers Park and I saw a lovely mix of birds on my walk.  In the park I saw American Robins, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, and Common Grackles and when I went to the water's edge I saw Herring Gulls, Great Blacked Gulls and Canada Geese including one that was having a snooze.

Looking out to sea and East Boston on the way to Porzio Park, I saw Double-crested Cormorants, flying, fishing and perched on various buoys and floating platforms and objects.

And also out at sea there were Common Terns flying, diving and fishing and others were perched with chicks on floating platforms and pallets covered with empty lobster pots and fishing gear.

And in Porzio Park itself I saw Eastern Cottontail Rabbit.

I headed towards the Massport Harborwalk Park, where I got great. close up views of a Great Egret (Ardea Alba Egretta) and these really are impressive looking birds with a very, very long neck.

I walked to the end of Massport Harborwalk and out at sea there was a flock of female Eider Duck swimming and here is a photo of one of them.

As I walked back along the Massport Harborwalk, the Great Egret took flight, and soon I would be doing the same from Logan Airport.

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip to the North East USA, meeting and visiting my cousins in Baltimore, Annapolis and Ipswich, and getting a chance to birdwatch as well as go sightseeing, and I really have to thank all my cousins in Baltimore, Annapolis and Ipswich for their warm welcome and for their incredible hospitality, without which this trip would not have been possible, and I really cannot thank them enough for everything.

And a big thank you to many other people I met during my travels, particularly in New York where complete strangers gave me directions, helped me on buses and showed me how to use the subway, and for the chivalrous, volunteers who carried heavy bags containing scopes and tripod up and down subway stairs without even being asked.  And a thank you to the people I just got talking to on my trip and to the man in Long Island City who gave me a heads up on falcons and to the people on the American Birds Association Facebook group who helped me figure out the identification of some of the new birds I saw.

During my thirteen days on a holiday to visit cousins, that was not primarily a bird-watching trip, I saw 50 different species of birds of which 36 species were new bird ticks for me and here is my bird list on this trip.

No Name                                 Latin Name

1 Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon         Columba livia

2 House Sparrow                         Passer domesticus

3 Starling (Common)                 Sturnus vulgaris

4 Cedar Waxwing                         Bombycilla cederum

5 American Crow                         Corvus brachyrhynchos

6 Northern Flicker                         Colaptes auratus

7 American Robin                         Turdus migratorius

8 Northern Mockingbird                 Mimus polyglottis

9 Mallard                                 Anas platyrhynchos

10 Double-crested Cormorant         Phalacrocorax auritus

11 Turkey Vulture                         Cathartes aura

12 Common Grackle                 Quiscalus quiscula

13 Osprey                                 Pandion haliaetus

14 Mourning Dove                         Zenaida macroura

15 Herring Gull                         Larus argentatus

16 Northern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx serripennis

17 Black Vulture                         Coriagyps atratus

18 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher         Polioptila caerulea

19 Red-bellied Woodpecker         Melanerpes carolinus

20 Barn Swallow                         Hirundo rustica erythrogaster

21 Northern Cardinal                 Cardinalis cardinalis

22 House Finch                         Carpodacus mexicanus

23 American Goldfinch                 Carduelis tristis

24 Song Sparrow                         Melospiza melodia

25 Brown-headed Cowbird         Molothrus ater

26 Great Egret                         Ardea alba egretta

27 Canada Goose                         Branta canadensis

28 Eastern Phoebe                         Sayornis phoebe

29 Gray Catbird                         Dumetella carolinensis

30 Great Black-backed Gull         Larus marinus

31 Eider (Common)                 Somateria mollissima

32 Chipping Sparrow                 Spizella passerina

33 Purple Martin                         Progne subis

34 Willet                                 Tringa semipalmta

35 Least Tern                                 Sternula antillarum

36 Red-winged Blackbird                 Agelaius phoeniceus

37 Green-winged Teal                 Anas crecca carolinensis

38 Ring-billed Gull                         Larus delawarensis

39 Common Yellowthroat                 Geothlypis trichas

40 Gadwall                                 Anas strepera

41 Eastern Kingbird                 Tyrannus tyrannus

42 Tree Swallow          Tachycineta bicolor

43 Snowy Egret                         Egretta thula

44 Common Tern                         Sterna hirundo

45 Mute Swan                         Cygnus olor

46 Marsh Wren                         Cistothorus palustris

47 Blue Jay                                 Cyanocitta cristata

48 Wild Turkey                         Meleagris gallopavo

49 Red-tailed Hawk                         Buteo jamaicensis

50 Baltimore Oriole                         Icterus gallbula

I hope you enjoy the blog and photos and maybe this might help other birders out there who are visiting or planning to visit the North East USA. Stay safe everyone and best regards, Rosena.

More Birds in Great Neck, Clark Beach and Clark Pond, Ipswich

On 19th June 2018 after visiting the Parker National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island we drove back to Ipswich, and that evening I went for a walk around Great Neck and Clark Pond in Ipswich.  

The first bird I saw up on a thick overhead wire was a Gray Catbird and it looked darker than usual in the strong, evening sunlight than other catbirds I previously saw under bushes on the ground in previous days. It gets its name from its cat-like call and it is in the Mimidae family and the Gray Catbird is related to the Northern Mockingbird.

The next bird I saw was another Song Sparrow singing from a bush and these must be the most common song bird in Ipswich in June.  Walking along Little Neck Road I saw American Robins hopping in gardens, American Goldfinches flying into bushes and European Starlings, Mourning Doves and Common Grackles on the wires overhead along the road.

The next new bird for me was a Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) sitting on an overhead wire and they are just a gorgeous bird and a lovely colour of blue, and brilliant white and contrasting black markings, very striking.

Next I saw a small tree with large, cherry-sized, yellow berries, with Cedar Waxwings and Northern Cardinals feasting on them, including a comical looking female Northern Cardinal, and the hens are very different from the crimson males, and they are a beige colour with ruddy brown wings, tail, crest and eyebrows and a bright orange bill, and she is quite a striking bird in her own right.

Near the bottom of Little Neck Road I saw a male House Finch on a wire overhead and passing by the entrance to Pavilion Beach, I saw a European House Sparrow at the top of a wooden telephone pole. In the gardens there were more American Robins hopping around, and on a roof I saw a Northern Mockingbird, and as I headed onto Clark Road towards Clark Beach, there more House Sparrows. 

Clark Beach runs from the entrance at the south to north, with Clark Pond to the west and it faces towards Sandy Point on Plum Island to the east.  Looking right out to sea, I saw a Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) with its red bill flying, diving and fishing.  

Looking left at Clark Pond I saw a pair of Canada Geese swimming and I heard and saw yet another Song Sparrow singing on top of a bush.

A large, black dragonfly then flew past me along the beach, and it eventually landed on vegetation and it was a dragonfly called Black Saddlebags (Tramea lacerata) which is a type of skimmer dragonfly found throughout North America with a body shorter than its wingspan, and black blotches on its wings near the sides of its body, giving the impression of saddle-bags.

Several corvids flew over and I got my best views of a crow on Clark Beach foraging in the sand, and it was most likely to be an American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos), but Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus) was another possibility.  

American and Fish Crows look very alike, and they are both glossy, iridescent, black birds and they are very similar looking to European Carrion Crows.  Fish Crows (14-16 inches long) are smaller than American Crows (16-20 inches long) but unless they are beside each other, their size is hard to gauge in the field.  

Fish Crows live along the east coast of the USA and inland along freshwater rivers and lakes.  They have expanded their range from the south east of the USA northwards as far as Maine, so Clark Beach in Ipswich, Massachusetts is well within this range and prime habitat for Fish Crow.

American and Fish Crow species may look very alike, but one of the Fish Crows calls is a very distinctive, nasal, singsong "Uh uh" call, which sounds like someone with a blocked nose saying a worried "Oh, oh", so Fish Crows are usually identified by call as they are virtually impossible to identify by sight alone.  When calling, Fish Crows also tend to hunch and fluff up their throat feathers more than American Crows but again this is hard to see and evaluate, so call is the most reliable way to identify Fish Crow.

Fish Crows also have a "caw" call, so this can add to the difficulty.  Because the crow on Clark Beach was on its own and made no vocal calls, there was no way to positively identify it as either American or Fish Crow, but as American Crows are the most common crow in this area, it was most likely an American Crow.

As I turned and walked back to the Clark Road entrance to the beach walk, a Great Egret flew overhead.

I turned right and followed Clark Road along the west side of Clark Pond and in the hedgerow I got good views of a female American Goldfinch.

And through gaps in the hedge I could periodically see some of the bird life on Clark Pond, such as Red-winged Blackbirds perched around the edges, and nesting Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) on the far side of Clark Pond.

I then came to the entrance to a wooden platform called the Clark Pond Overlook which was built in 2007 and it gave lovely comfortable views of Clark Pond.  

In the surrounding trees I got great views of more Cedar Waxwings, and the Cedar Waxwings have a yellow blush on the breast and white undertail coverts with a yellow tail tip.

To the right of me there was a shy Blue Jay peeking out through branches of lower bushes.  Then I saw a small bird pop up on top of a reed beside the pond in front of me and it was another new bird, a Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris) and I was lucky to get a photo of it as it was only up for a second before it disappeared back down into the grassy reeds in the pond. 

I headed back to my cousin's house and about three quarters of an hour later we were all in the car heading out the gate to go out for a dinner in Ipswich when we all saw a female Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) across the road in the undergrowth and my cousin stopped the car briefly so I could get a photo of it through the car window.  

In the early 1600s there were large numbers of Wild Turkeys in Massachusetts and New England, but hunting by the new European Colonial settlers plus habitat destruction meant that by the end of the 17th century their numbers were much reduced.  By 1851, Wild Turkeys were extinct in Massachusetts and by the 1900s they had been eradicated in 18 of the 39 States where they had once lived.  In the 1970s, 37 Wild Turkeys from New York were relocated to the Berkshires in Massachusetts, and further relocations and conservation measures have meant that in 2021 it is estimated that there are now over 30,000 Wild Turkeys in Massachusetts, and over 7 million Wild Turkeys in the United States.  

Seeing an American Wild Turkey was a nice surprise and a great bird to see at the end of a fantastic day of birdwatching.