Several months ago, Dawn Fine from Dawn’s Bloggy Blog started a group on Facebook called Birders Who Blog, Tweet and Chirp. It’s like one stop shopping to find birders who own a blog, use Twitter and or ChirpTracker. This past Saturday, thanks to the efforts of Dawn and Christopher from Picus Blog, New England Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp had an outing at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island in Massachusetts.
New England BwBTC | Click for photo larger view
Everyone met at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge headquarters. After introductions and several group photos, we car pooled and headed out to the refuge at 8:30 a.m. That is everyone except Andy who had some car trouble. You may read his story at Nature Potpourri. Our leader was Christopher Ciccone, who I must say done an excellent job of leading our group.
The morning was beautiful with clear blue skies and comfortable temperatures. Our first stop was the parking area just after the entrance gate. Nesting Purple Martins were seen and photographed and then it was off to the beach. Sections of the beach are closed this time of the year to protect nesting Piping Plovers.
We wanted to meet with Janet Egan of Plover Warden Diaries at Sandy Point Reservation but the parking areas were full because of a fishing derby. Janet joined us later at the Hellcat Swamp.
I did not keep track of the birds that I saw on this outing. We did see Brown Thrashers, Snowy and Great Egrets, several Warbler species, a Marsh Wren (life bird for my wife Sharon!), Red-winged Blackbirds everywhere, Kingbirds, several Sparrow species, Swallows, Kingbirds, Flycatchers, Cedar Waxwings, Mute Swans, Orioles, Hummingbirds, Bobolinks and much more.
Beach closed for nesting Piping Plovers | Click photo for larger view
Around one o’clock, we headed off the refuge and went into Newburyport for lunch. We stopped at Courtyard Roast Beef and Sub and I had one of the best roast beef sandwiches that I have ever had. A sesame seed bun with piles of roast beef and just a touch of horseradish sauce… YUMMY!
After the meal, we all headed to Newmarket, NH to check out the nesting site of a Mississippi Kite. Although a female was on the nest, it was very hard to see. The male never showed up. I did see the eye and part of the head and tail of the female. Sharon and I added this bird to our life list!
We hated to do it, but late afternoon was upon us and we had a long ride home. After being on the road and birding for nearly 14 hours, Sharon and I were tired. We wished everyone safe travels and made promises to do another outing next year.
Sharon and I had an excellent time with fellow birders during this outing. We will surely miss everyone and will be counting the days until we can meet up with our birding friends once again. Everyone was so kind and helpful. We will always cherish the time we spent with these folks and wish them all all the best!
Dawn and Jeff from Dawn’s Bloggy Blog
Christopher from Picusblog
Laura and Mark from Interstitial Spaces
Bev from Behind the Bins
Catie from A Birding Girl
Janet Egan from Plover Warden Diaries
Andy from Natures Potpourri
Sharon from A New England Life
Lauren from A Worn Field Guide
Dan from Nature Observances
Steve from Shooting My Universe
Amanda from The Fledgling Birder
Mark from strack16
Thanks Dawn for the list!
Now onto the pictures! As always, clicking a thumbnail will bring up a larger view.
The Birds and The Birders
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- Yellow Warbler
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- Savannah Sparrow
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- Red-winged Blackbird
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- Purple Martin Pair
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- Mourning Dove
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- Mississippi Kite Nest
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- Marsh Wren
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- Marsh Wren
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- Female Purple Martin
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- Female Gadwall
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- Birder’s Who Blog, Tweet and Chirp
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- Scoping the Mississippi Kite
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- Looking for birds
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- Looking for the Mississippi Kite
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- Marsh Walk
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- Marsh Walk
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- Birders on the beach
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- Beach closed for nesting Piping Plovers | Click photo for larger view
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- New England BwBTC | Click for photo larger view
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- Birders on the beach | Click photo for larger view
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Sounds like a great day with friends with the same interests. Nice list of birds for the day too.
Nice to meet you and great post
John..thanks for the memories..la la la la…oh ..i was singing …
ha….what a day we had…it was so nice that you and Sharon traveled such a long way! It was so nice to meet you both!
I hope that next fall migration to do another outing somewhere in New england.
Great photos as always,John. I especially love the photo of the mourning dove!
Aren’t we the good looking group! John, it was terrific hanging out with you and Sharon. Let me know if you ever want to mosey down to NJ. Love the pictures as always.
Looks like an awesome place to spend the day birding. I love reading all the different accounts of this day.
Lovely photos as always, John.
Hi John,
This is excellent. It is nice to be able to meet with people you met on the web and are sharing the same passion than you. It gives a very nice message with beautiful birds pictures and for once, birders pictures too! Very funny to see them all there…
Very nice post and was a pleasure meeting you and your wife. Had a great time
Sounds like everyone had a great time and you got some wonderful photos to boot. Couldn’t beat the weather we had on Saturday.
Great post John. It looks like everyone had a great time. I joined your BT & C group, even though I haven’t posted much on ChirpTracker. Maybe I will make it back to the east coast someday to meet everyone. What a great group!
Oh, excellent photos of all the birds too! I will try to visit all the blogs you listed but I have been having trouble finding the time to visit everyone since the breeding season is here and I have three bluebird trails to monitor. I wish I was retired
Thanks everyone!
It doesn’t get any better than this!
I would love to get organized a fall migration get together along the coast. Awesome places we could go and see some great birds. There are other New England birders who could join the fun too.
What do you all think?
Wonderful pictures of the birds and birders! I do like that little marsh wren. Very nice post.
Yes, you were a good looking group! What fun and a great day of blogger birding.
Great photos and sounds like a fun group! Like I told Dawn- I wish I could’ve joined you guys!! (And roast beef sandwiches is one of my faves!)
Great photos John. It sounds as if you had a fabulous time! Love the Marsh Wren shots!
looks like you guys really had a great time. the next bird blogger I know is a good 7hrs drive away from me (Jochen of Bell Tower Birding).
Andy’s story is very funny – well told. I am not at all convinced he found it funny at the time, though.
It’s great that you all were able to get together! It seems like nature bloggers meeting up face to face is becoming more common (and I’m so glad to see the Nature Blog Network promoting the idea). What fun!
Oh what fun! I wish I could have been there too! I’ll be heading to Presque Isle next week. I love the marsh wren photo!
Wonderful post – thanks for sharing all the photos, and for helping to publicize the “bird-up”
A wonderful outing and great post!
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