Thanks, Jane. Mass Audubon and the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences (which started out as the Manomet Bird Observatory) have probably increased awareness of birds in Eastern MA. Besides, we have the advantage of harboring both shore and land-bound birds. It's fun to check out other towns and states to see what we have in common, and what outlandish birds (by New England standards) some people see every day. The Hawaii State Tally is a mix of wonderful sounding names and birds we also share. They saw Elepaio and Omao and Red-billed Leiothrix and Rock Pigeons and House Sparrows. Today is my second count day for Project FeederWatch, so it's back to the Downy Woodpeckers and Blue Jays and Northern Cardinals and Song Sparrows ..... Claire

Oh, lisa11310, that's exasperating! I had my usual feeder birds plus turkeys, with a surprise appearance of two Common Grackles and a Northern Mockingbird on Friday. They must have been migrating through because I haven't seen them since. I submitted those feeder counts but also made a few forays to local watery spots to see what was around. This is the fifth year in a row I've reported Green-winged Teal in the Ellisville Harbor State Park. It's near the upper limit of their winter range and I've learned where and when to find them slurping mud on the mudflats. Eighteen teal this year. My other main project was seeing if I could find a large flock of Common Eiders that might be floating with the current on the Cape Cod Canal. On my second stop along the Canal (at the Rail Road Bridge) I found a few Common Eiders, Red-breasted Mergansers and Common Loons. Common Eiders Red-breasted Merganser Common Loon I hit the jackpot on my third stop at the Mass Maritime Academy where there were around 250 Common Eiders floating around. There may have been a few other species of birds in there but I didn't see any. I couldn't really photograph the scene but I tried. Believe me, there were a lot of Common Eiders there - maybe that's why they're named "common". Today is my usual Project FeederWatch count so I'll submit those counts to GBBC too. I'm still hoping for the first Red-winged Blackbirds to arrive, but time is running out. Claire

I've submitted three counts so far - one of my yard for Friday, Feb. 12, one for the local marsh on Saturday, Feb. 13, and one more of my yard for Saturday, Feb. 13. These reports are as submitted (emailed back from GBBC) First Report Locality: 02360, Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA Observation Date: FEB 12, 2010 Start Time: 6:45 AM Total Birding Time: 1 hour Party Size: 1 Skill: good Weather: excellent Snow Depth: Less than 2 in (5.1 cm) Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods scrub rural freshwater salt water Number of Species: 17 All Reported: yes Checklist: Wild Turkey - 15 Mourning Dove - 23 Downy Woodpecker - 1 Blue Jay - 5 American Crow - 4 Black-capped Chickadee - 1 Tufted Titmouse - 1 European Starling - 3 Song Sparrow - 2 White-throated Sparrow - 4 Dark-eyed Junco - 6 Northern Cardinal - 9 Red-winged Blackbird - 13 Purple Finch - 1 House Finch - 3 American Goldfinch - 15 House Sparrow - 20 Second Report Locality: 02360, Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA Observation Date: FEB 13, 2010 Start Time: 2:30 AM Total Birding Time: 15 minutes Party Size: 1 Skill: good Weather: excellent Snow Depth: Less than 2 in (5.1 cm) Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods scrub rural salt water Number of Species: 5 All Reported: no Checklist: Canada Goose - 125 American Black Duck - 3 Mallard - 2 Green-winged Teal - 3 Hooded Merganser - 1 Comments ---------------------------------------- Drive by sightings at Shifting Lots Preserve (adjacent to Ellisville Harbor State Park) ------------------------------------------------- Third Report Locality: 02360, Plymouth, Plymouth County, MA Observation Date: FEB 13, 2010 Start Time: 7:15 AM Total Birding Time: 1 hour Party Size: 1 Skill: good Weather: excellent Snow Depth: Less than 2 in (5.1 cm) Habitat(s): deciduous woods coniferous woods scrub rural freshwater salt water Number of Species: 17 All Reported: no Checklist: Wild Turkey - 13 Mourning Dove - 17 Downy Woodpecker - 1 Blue Jay - 13 American Crow - 3 Black-capped Chickadee - 3 Tufted Titmouse - 1 Hermit Thrush - 1 European Starling - 5 American Tree Sparrow - 1 Song Sparrow - 3 White-throated Sparrow - 6 Dark-eyed Junco - 12 Northern Cardinal - 7 Red-winged Blackbird - 5 American Goldfinch - 16 House Sparrow - 25 ***************************************************************************** I have another neighborhood count almost ready to submit for today, but I've emailed a few photos to a local guru for identification. There are some birds I've never seen before and I'm not sure if I've identified them correctly. Claire

The count is continuing - this is the status as of about 6:15 PM Sunday, with one day to go. Black dots are checklists submitted worldwide. Yellow dots are new submissions as they're recorded. You can access the data from any checklist submitted globally; be it from your own state or some faraway country. Claire