Despite the chilly weather, the first week of spring has birds arriving a bit ahead of schedule. The great blue herons are here, and they have already claimed their large nests in the area swamps. They can be seen standing atop their huge nests in the dead trees of wetlands throughout the county. Watching them feed in the marshes, their breeding plumage is spectacular this time of year and causes one to take a second look at these handsome birds.

 

     The first egrets are arriving in the Great Marsh, and can be seen from Gloucester to Salisbury. The tall great egrets arrived first, sporting their bright yellow bills and can be easily seen now in Newburyport Harbor and in the marshes from Plum Island. 

 

     The smaller snowy egrets, with black bills, were first spotted in Gloucester this past week and have since been seen regularly in the marsh off Route 133 in Ipswich near the Essex line. A snowy egret was spotted flying over Plum Island this past week and their numbers will increase in the weeks ahead.

 

     Margo spotted the first three glossy ibis of the season in a farm pond in Ipswich. As we watched the ibis feeding, our first blue-winged teal of the season flew in. Their bright blue patches in the wing were very visible as they flew and landed. They fed in the pond near the green-winged teal that are already present in good numbers. Glossy ibis have since been seen on Plum Island.

 

     One rainy day this past week, we decided to take the back roads out of Essex, through Hamilton and Ipswich. We stopped along Fellows Road where a small flock of geese were feeding in a stubby corn field. As we looked over the Canada geese for something different, Margo announced “I see a crane!”

I panned and saw a sandhill crane, but it was a second one. Then we spotted a third and fourth. In all we counted eight sandhill cranes, including a couple of juvenile birds. They were far out in the field, but we could see them easily from the car.

 

     Sandhill cranes are familiar in Florida and are more prominent in the middle and western parts of the country. They do nest in Massachusetts – in Plymouth and in western parts of the state. They also nest in New Hampshire and Maine, so we sometimes see them in migration as they head north (or south in the fall.) Still, it is a big deal when we do spot them in Essex County.

 

     Since they were far out in the field, and viewable from the road, I posted our find on the Essex County Rare Bird GroupMe app. Margo took some pictures from the car and we posted those. We also posted a map with the address so others could easily find it.

 

     We left the cranes, and others reported seeing the cranes later in the afternoon. I even received an email from the home owner of the house in front of the field that she had sandhill cranes at her house and reported “They are so cool!” 

 

     The next morning, apparently a larger number of people went to see the cranes and posted their reports. As too often happens, a few photographers were not satisfied with their pictures from the road. Miles Brengle of Ipswich was one of the last birders to see the cranes on the ground and reported

“continuing; viewed from road while photogs approached and subsequently flushed the flock.” 

 

     There were subsequent reports of the cranes flying over the Mill River and over Biolabs in Ipswich, and eventually seen and photographed flying over Plum Island heading north.

 

     Andy Sanford, who owns the Essex County Rare Bird GroupMe, later reported the following: “FYI, I heard that this morning photographers went into the *private* fields with the cranes; a neighbor tried to stop them but they continued on and flushed the cranes. I don’t believe anyone on this groupme was involved; the info I’ve received points towards people that are not in the group. This is just an FYI about the unfortunate consequences of unethical behavior.”

 

     On a cheerier note, the ospreys have also started to arrive at their nesting platforms. Ospreys were seen off Island Road in Essex, from Eagle Hill on Great Neck, and at the nesting platform behind the Pines Trail on the Parker River Refuge on Plum Island. 

 

     A VERY early least sandpiper spent a couple of days at the Salt Pannes on Plum Island and the first greater yellowlegs have arrived. Hundreds of brant are gathering off Sandy Point and more piping plovers are arriving on the Refuge beaches. 

 

     More tree swallows are being seen and even a barn swallow was spotted this past week on the Refuge. Eastern phoebes are arriving in many locales, though we are still waiting for “our” phoebe to arrive in our yard. Hermit thrushes are starting to arrive, and fox sparrows are singing on Plum Island!

 

     Yes, spring is arriving and so are the birds.