October 2019

Birding Mid-Cape Cod from Barnstable to Orleans

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 00:00:15 GMT

Be Prepared

Remember, Cape Cod is unforgivingly cold and windy in the winter. The mid-Cape isn't as rugged as the Atlantic shore, but you should always add a waterproof windbreaker, an extra sweater, and a hat that covers your ears to your gear. Pack some food, check the tides, and ballpark your route. The good news is that traffic will not be a problem in the winter, even on Route 28 and the Sagamore and Bourne bridges. Although it is a bit of a challenge to find birding hotspots when wearing gloves and a parka, all is not lost. As a matter of fact, there is an unencumbered feel to winter birding that you don't get in any other season.

Cape Cod can be really quiet in the winter. Falmouth and Hyannis still pulse with life, but the roads are often empty and the outer Cape is all but abandoned of people. Lunch stops are few and far between. The mid-Cape has more Dunkin's than the outer Cape, so check your phone for the nearest coffee and restroom stops. On Route 6, there is a major rest area off Exit 6–Route 132 with a Dunkin, Subway, Burger King, and an open gas station.

The lighthouse on South Monomoy. All photographs by the author.

How to Use this Article

A winter outing to Cape Cod can be a day trip or a weekend excursion, depending on how much of the Cape you want to cover. You can combine birding the mid-Cape with Falmouth and the upper Cape, or with the outer Cape from Orleans to Provincetown. Winter birding depends on how much daylight there is between December and March, how much time you have, and how much of the Cape you want to explore thoroughly. The sectional approach of this article gives you the flexibility to decide where you want to end up if you are going to stay for more than one night.

The mid-Cape Cod overview map (Figure 1) covers the area east of Route 149—Exit 5 off Route 6— to the Orleans Rotary and includes most of Barnstable, Dennis, Yarmouth, Harwich, Brewster, Chatham, and Orleans. There are three relatively parallel roads that take you east to west or west to east: Route 6A is on the north or Cape Cod Bay side; Route 6, the main highway and usually the fastest road, runs centrally to the Eastham/Orleans rotary; and Route 28 runs on the southern side nearest to Nantucket Sound, then turns north in Chatham. Because the connecting north-south links are rarely actual north-south roads, it is best to make a plan before starting out; think of mid-Cape birding in terms of the nearest exit off Route 6.

Gray Catbird in thicket.

The paramount birding places on the mid-Cape are Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge on Chatham's Morris Island and Nauset Beach in Orleans, with several stops around them. How and when you get there is up to you, but don't miss the "elbow" of Cape Cod and environs. If you follow these mid-Cape stops in alphabetical and numerical order—the excursion begins on the northern bay side and ends on the southern Nantucket Sound side with a Chatham/Orleans loop in the middle—the round trip route looks a like a three-quarter figure-eight on its side. Morning light will be in your favor if you start along Route 6A and end up on Nantucket Sound; however, if you love winter sunsets over the water, you might want to start in Hyannis and end the day birding the bay beaches from Brewster to Barnstable.

One of the easiest aspects of birding Cape Cod in winter is that you usually do not need to be as attuned to the tides as during spring and fall migration. The winter ducks and gulls will be around at high or low tides. The exception is birding the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) on Morris Island in Chatham, when it is better to be there on a low tide or within an hour or two of low tide. Also, Cow Yard Lane and the Chatham Fish Pier, while not prime winter hotspots, are better at low tide. So plan accordingly. Gray seals are best seen from the Chatham Fish Pier, which is located between Main Street and the Chatham Bars Inn on Shore Road. It is best to park in the upper lot and scope Tern Island (just offshore) from the observation platform—you won't need a scope for the seals. Tern Island is a good loafing area for gulls of all sorts. Glaucous and Lesser Black-backed gulls have been annual at the Fish Pier.

Winter passerine birding is also fairly straightforward on the mid-Cape. Much of the inland Cape is residential with public birding hotspots featured around boat ramps and conservation land. Many towns have websites for their conservation land trails, and this is your best bet if you want to plan specific places to explore woods and thickets. However, on most of Cape Cod, there are countless small thickets that can harbor Hermit Thrushes, Yellow-breasted Chats, Gray Catbirds, Eastern Towhees, Fox Sparrows, and lots of "feeder birds." Pishing at almost any thickety pitch pine spot will yield Tufted Titmice, Black-capped Chickadees, Red- and White-breasted nuthatches, House Finches and Goldfinches, and any of four common woodpeckers: Northern Flicker, Downy, Hairy, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers.

Hooded Merganser.

1. Barnstable to Dennis (Cape Cod Bay Side)

Start your mid-Cape birding trip in Barnstable on Navigation Road (A). Take Exit 5–Route 149 North to Route 6A, turn left onto Route 6A (Main Street), then turn right in 0.3 mile onto Navigation Road, a short unpaved street that heads north into the Great Marshes. This is an avenue of potholes and thickets that can produce passerines that are hanging on to their summer homes or sheltering after being caught a bit farther north than they wanted to be. It is a good spot to spend an hour or so. Continuing east on Route 6A, stop at the Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary (B), a Mass Audubon property at the end of Bone Hill Road, Barnstable. You can explore 2.5 miles of trails through thickets, tidal flats along the shore, and restored vernal pools, as well as bird the feeders. Like many places on Cape Cod, there are wet swales and drainages here that enhance the thickets; check these whenever you come across them. A sanctuary map is available for download.

Return to Route 6A and head east. A left turn onto Keveney Lane will take you out to the Mill Creek area (C) where Barnstable and Yarmouth share a boundary. When you cross the bridge into Yarmouth, the road becomes Mill Lane and will loop you back to Route 6A. This short diversion can provide tidal pond birds and freshwater and saltwater ducks. Northern Pintails and Green-winged Teal are regular in the fresh water; Red-breasted and Hooded mergansers are easily seen near the bridge over the tidal stream. Add Brant and gulls—as well as a look at a very pretty part of the bayside shoreline. Continue east on Route 6A through Yarmouthport to Dennis, where a couple of bayside beaches may be productive for birds on the sand—such as lingering Black-bellied Plovers and Sanderlings, but more likely small flocks of Dunlin—and in the water. This shoreline is best for gulls and water birds that like salt marsh edges, such as Red-breasted Mergansers and Black Ducks. The beaches are located for the most part in residential areas, and you may want to refer to a map or GPS to reach them. For Chapin Beach (D), take a sharp left onto New Boston Road, then take Beach Street and Taunton Avenue to Chapin Beach Road. For Mayflower Beach (E), stay straight on Beach Street to Horsefoot Path, then turn right on Dunes Road.

Brant flock.

The best beach on the northern side for windblown winter birds is Corporation Beach (F) at the end of Corporation Road in Dennis. The parking lot is protected by a rock berm, and as you sit there during a storm you will be thankful that the water has been slowed down. Northeast winds funnel their energy here, bringing all sorts of gulls, ducks, jaegers, loons, and occasional alcids and phalaropes. Corporation Beach is a fairly reliable spot on Cape Cod Bay for Dunlin, Harlequin Ducks, and the occasional King Eider. This spot has hosted Ross's Gull—a spring sighting—and Brown Booby in summer. Depending on the wind, temperature, and depth of the season, this shoreline is a great spot for observing Northern Gannets as they work to the south or return to their northern breeding grounds. During and after a winter northeasterly storm, this parking lot may sometimes be closed due to accumulated debris and wave wash.

For a walk in a conservation property that includes a variety of habitats—open space, thickets, beach, and pond—head out to Crowes Pasture Conservation Area (G) in Dennis. Quivett Creek forms the boundary between Dennis and Brewster. In the early part of the winter, a stop here can be productive for lingering land birds such as Yellow-breasted Chats, Gray Catbirds, Baltimore Orioles, and Eastern Phoebes as well as a modest number of Brant, Buffleheads, Black Ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Common Loons. To get here from Corporation Beach, return to Route 6A and travel east, then take a left onto South Street. South Street curves to the right; keep following it into the property. A trail map is available for download.

Fig 2. Map of Brewster and Harwich Lakes

2. Brewster to Orleans (Cape Cod Bay Side)

Brewster has seven beaches with small parking lots. None of them are terribly exciting birding destinations, but if you are driving along Route 6A, they make for a nice series of stops. You will add Brant and Dunlin to your day list somewhere along the Brewster shoreline if you haven't already picked them up at Corporation Beach. The two most productive of the Brewster beaches are Paines Creek Landing (H) and Crosby Landing (I). After a northeast storm, the flats near Paines Creek Landing can be good for gulls, phalaropes, and other windblown birds.

The same can be said for Skaket (J) and Rock Harbor (K) beaches in Orleans. They are pretty stops with occasional birds but are rarely exceptional. However, at any of these beaches in Brewster or Orleans, a walk along the bayside edge of the vegetated dunes may yield a Short-eared Owl, Horned Larks, and winter finches, especially Common Redpolls. You can choose to visit several bayside beaches or focus on one or two.

3. The Brewster and Harwich Lakes

Inland, there are several large ponds in Harwich and Brewster between Route 6A and Route 6 that have a modest reputation for birds and can be productive despite limited access. (See Figure 2.) Conveniently, the best way to get from Brewster to Chatham's beaches on Nantucket Sound is through this part of the mid-Cape via Route 124 (Exit 10 N on Route 6) and Route 137 (Exit 11). Rather than give a turn-by-turn route for the lakes section, I am listing the stops from west to east and north to south. You can determine your route based on the direction you are coming from.

Stops (L) and (M) are at Upper Mill Pond in Brewster. A bit off the beaten path, this large pond offers reasonable birds, but they tend to be spread out, and there are only two viewing spots, so I would consider it a last choice. Stop (L) is from John Wings Lane (from Route 6A, go south on Stony Brook Road, take a left fork onto Satucket Road, then turn right on Canoe Pond Drive to John Wings Lane to Upper Mill Pond Landing). Or you can see the pond from the Punkhorn Parklands parking lot (M), which is along Run Hill Road past the Town Transfer Station (from 6A, go south on Stony Brook Road and turn right on Run Hill Road). You could get Buffleheads, all three mergansers, lots of Common Goldeneyes, and in most winters, a Bald Eagle or two.

Bald Eagle.

The next three stops are off of Route 124, heading south from Route 6A. The first stop is Sheep Pond (N) in Brewster. Turn left on Fisherman's Landing Road and drive to the boat ramp, which is a good spot to look for Bald Eagles, Black Ducks, and Mallards. As Bald Eagles have become more common on Cape Cod, it is regular now to see eagles in the air over any of these ponds. There were at least two nesting attempts by Bald Eagles on the Cape, one near these ponds, in 2019.

Continue south on Route 124, which passes between Seymour, Long, and Hinckley (sometimes called Pleasant Lake) ponds, with good views of open water and the bike path. The access to Seymour Pond (O) is not easy to see; it's on the right just over the Harwich line as the pond comes into view—yes, drive (carefully) over the bike path to reach the small, sandy parking area.

Still north of Route 6, look for the red store (Local Flavor at the Pleasant Lake General Store) on the right. Park here and look at Hinckley's Pond (P) from the bike path. Hinckley's Pond has more birds per acre than the other two ponds. This is a good spot for American Coot, Ruddy Ducks, Greater and Lesser scaup, Ring-necked Ducks, Common and Barrow's goldeneyes, Buffleheads, Red-breasted and Common mergansers, Common and Red-throated loons, and Bald Eagles.

Long Pond is a scaup loafing pond that sometimes includes the scaup-cousin, Tufted Duck; the pond is best observed from the southern end along Route 124. This is usually the best pond for Barrow's Goldeneyes. There is a public boat ramp on Long Pond Road (turn right off Route 124 just south of the red store) that allows a pretty good look at the middle of Long Pond (Q).

Greater Scaup with Fresh Water Mussel.

There is one more pond with Ring-necked Ducks, Hooded Mergansers, and an occasional Pied-billed Grebe, that is easily reached and worth a quick look. This small but productive site is actually named Smalls Pond (R). It is adjacent to Cahoon Beach Landing, the northern parking lot at Long Pond. (Some people might remember looking for the Tufted Duck that was here for a month or so a couple of years ago.) Get out of your car and take a few steps to the right, away from Long Pond, and look in the back of Smalls Pond. When you are done birding, return to Long Pond Road and head east to Route 137. You can use a map to locate the Hamilton Cartway (off Route 137, usually rutted and bouncy) that takes you to Greenland Pond. This interior pond is usually replete with all three mergansers and other ducks. When you finish birding the lakes section, take Route 137 to get to Route 28 to explore Chatham's beaches.

4. Chatham

The mid-Cape southern Route 28 side may be a bit better than the Route 6A side, but it, too, is usually quiet. The wintering sea and bay ducks seem to favor the wild eastern waters of outer Cape Cod as opposed to the calmer and more sheltered waters of Cape Cod Bay and Nantucket Sound. But driving along this southerly shoreline on Route 28 offers several birding stops with potential that will be discussed later in. The focus now is Chatham (see Figure 3)—the premier destination for a mid-Cape winter birding trip. (You can decide whether to get there from Route 6A, Route 28, or if you simply want to start your day of mid-Cape birding in Chatham by taking Route 6, to Exit 11—Route 137 Brewster/Chatham.)

Fig. 3. Map of Chatham

Once you enter Chatham things begin to change; there are more beaches exposed to the open ocean and many more wintering seabirds when you start heading north. Forest Beach (S) and Ridgevale Beach (T)—basically a continuation of the other Nantucket Sound beaches—are worth a stop along the southern shore if you have the time. Hardings Beach (U) merits a longer walk along beach to look for Common Eiders, White-winged Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Common Loons as well as white-winged gulls and the occasional lingering Laughing Gull on the water. On the way back to your car, take the sand road between the dunes—it's a bit more protected from the elements—and look for Horned Larks. To get to Hardings Beach from Route 28, turn south on Barn Hill Road, and take the right fork onto Hardings Beach Road.

As you travel around the "elbow" of Cape Cod, conditions are dynamic. It is at the far edge of this mid-Cape block of land where you will see the most birds and experience the most significant chill factors. In winter, the northeast wind usually blows along the Chatham coastline, often carrying cold, damp ocean air; but sometimes it shifts to a northern blast from Canada. In either case, there are several birding stops that will make the discomfort worthwhile, but do plan for the most extreme weather and hope that it doesn't occur.

The barrier beaches are breaking and reforming and access is not predictable from year to year. Shoaling has pretty much eliminated the ferries that we took for decades to North and South Monomoy Islands during the summer and fall. About five years ago, the Town of Chatham stopped putting out channel markers that guided you below North Monomoy along the inside of (then) South Beach to South Monomoy because the shoaling was so unpredictable and the tidal range so great that there was no sure way to keep the inside water routes down to South Monomoy open and safe. There are now channel markers that get you toward the breaks in the beach leading into the Atlantic and also around to the west into Stage Harbor and Nantucket Sound. It is probably best to leave your boat at home and charter a boat locally if you want to get to the Mini and Monomoys. It is a very risky thing to do in the winter, and chartering in the winter is probably impossible anyway. The best and most easily accessed birding now is at the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) headquarters on Morris Island (V), which is the southernmost point from which you can start to look eastward. The refuge includes the various Monomoy islands and all the flats associated with them. In the winter, getting out to the islands would be treacherous. Nowadays with seals, sharks, shoaling, and tides, access is quite restricted even in summer.

The easiest way to get from Hardings Beach to Monomoy NWR headquarters in winter is to go through the center of Chatham (you might take an alternate route during the summer). Take Route 28 into Chatham. At the rotary, Route 28 veers left; be sure you continue straight on what is now Main Street, through town, then turn right at the stop sign to remain on Main Street to Chatham Light. Just past the lighthouse, continue straight down the hill, which is now Morris Island Road. At the fork, take a right to remain on Morris Island Road and follow it across the causeway, where it becomes Tisquantum Road. Follow the signs to Monomoy NWR, turning left onto the very short Wikis Way, then park at the headquarters (V). There are several signs that might lead you to believe that you are on private roads and not welcome, and that is true once you pass the refuge entrance, so be sure to park only at the refuge headquarters. The bathrooms may be open and there are bird feeders nearby that attract winter visitors and lingering migrants. It is worth stopping here just for the feeders. Redpolls and White-crowned Sparrows are regular as are orioles and Red-winged Blackbirds.

Lesser Black-Backed Gull.

After examining the feeders, follow the boardwalk trail to the overlooks and the stairs to the beach. Scan from here for Brant, Common Eider, all three scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers, Bufflehead, and Common Goldeneyes. There will also be Common and Red-throated loons and the occasional Horned Grebe in the waters just below, which is the shallow expanse between South Beach and Morris Island. From the overlooks, scope the sandy beaches of South Beach to the east for Snowy Owls. To the right of the stairs, you can see North Monomoy and South Monomoy islands across the water; they extend for several miles farther southward. Scope the islands for gulls. You can walk toward North Monomoy on the beach on a low tide. Be sure to get off the beach before half tide, because the water will rise right up to the bank—you will get wet if you misjudge the tides. You don't want to spend too much time on the Morris Island beach in winter.

There can be Great Cormorants anywhere along the Nantucket Sound beaches leading to Chatham and along the eastern beaches as well. In the Monomoy area, they are likely to be on any rocky projection, exposed piling, or simply standing on a sand bar offshore at low or half tide. It is also likely that Double-crested Cormorants will linger on Cape Cod. Size is one of the best field marks, and as winter wanes, Greats begin to develop white feathering around the throat and white thigh patches.

Bird Observer published a detailed article on "Birding Morris Island and Vicinity, Chatham, Massachusetts," by Ryan Schain that focuses primarily on fall migration from August to November but mentions the other seasons as well. It appears in Bird Observer Volume 43, Number 4, August 2015, and online at www.birdobserver.org. The article covers the inland trails on Morris Island, which are worth exploring, as well as the beach.

When you are finished birding Monomoy NWR, drive back to the Chatham Lighthouse (W) and stop and scope from the roadside parking area across the street. There is a lot of sand here and nothing will be close, but all sorts of things are possible. In the winter, there will certainly be gray seals and Common Eiders, and usually lots of other ducks, mostly American Black Ducks.

The next stop is 1.3 miles farther north: the Chatham Fish Pier (X). Stay straight on Main Street, which becomes Shore Road. Park in the upper lot only, please. There are bathrooms (where classical music is piped in). Down the stairs and past the fish storage area there is an observation deck, newly renovated in 2019, that allows for a reasonably close look at Tern Island; North Beach Island, farther out, still has two houses on it (as of this writing, August 2019). There will be gulls here, often including white-winged gulls— Iceland and Glaucous—and occasionally a Lesser Black-backed Gull. The fishing boats will be unloading skate wings (a bit like scallops, don't overcook) and spiny dogfish (a small shark, exported for fish and chips), and this economy will bring seals right in under your nose. Reasonable photos with a cell phone are possible of gulls and seals both.

Before leaving the observation deck, check out the shoreline of Tern Island, which is a good spot for shorebirds to linger. Most of them will be on the northern side of the island at half tide, but look anyway. This is a pretty good spot for early and late American Oystercatchers.

Head north again on Shore Road, proceed about a mile, and turn right at the traffic light onto Old Harbor Road, then turn right onto the town landing at Cow Yard Lane (Y), a sand road only a hundred yards long. Drive or park and walk to the end and look across the water at the northern end of Tern Island. At half and low tides this area opens into a sand flat and is a choice feeding area for shorebirds. It is, of course, best in the spring and fall but is always worth a look, often with a scope. In winter, you will see Brant, Canada Geese, Black Ducks, Mallards, Common Eiders, White-winged and Surf scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers, Buffleheads, Common Loons, the usual winter gulls with a few Bonaparte's now and then, as well as Dunlin on the flats. The thickets on the side of the short road will yield winter passerines, and sometimes a Red-tailed or Cooper's hawk perches on top of one of the eastern cedar trees.

Drive back to the traffic light and turn right; you are now on Route 28 driving north (although the signs say Route 28 south). In 2.2 miles, turn right onto Fox Hill Road. In 0.6 mile, you will see Eastward Ho Country Club on the left. On the right is Crows Pond (Z), a mostly-enclosed tidal pond that can be good for Barrow's and Common goldeneyes and Black Ducks, as well as Buffleheads and Red-breasted and Hooded mergansers. Drive into the small parking lot and get out and scope the pond. When you are done, turn right on Fox Hill Road, which takes you through the Eastward Ho Country Club's golf course where large flocks of Canada Geese graze. Sometimes these flocks yield a Snow Goose or White-fronted Goose. Past the golf course, turn left onto Strong Island Road to the town landing across from Strong Island (AA). The strait between Pleasant Bay (to the left) and Chatham Harbor (to the right) is often teeming with hundreds, if not thousands, of Common Eider. You can also find Buffleheads, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Black, White-winged, and Surf scoters, although not in the impressive numbers of the eiders. King Eider have been mixed in this gathering on several occasions; if you have the time and warm enough clothing, slowly scan for this attractive winter visitor. Turn around and head back down Fox Hill Road to Route 28, checking the geese on the golf course one more time.

Eider flock.

Continue driving north. At the Harwich/Chatham town line there is a sandy expanse at the mouth of Muddy Creek called Jackknife Cove (BB) that might hold a few birds. The entrance road—on the right—is difficult to see and is down a steep hill. Park and scan the creek where it enters Pleasant Bay. The sandy road maybe flooded at high tide or icy in winter. If that's the case, or you miss the turnoff, you'll soon come to roadside parking on the right next to Pleasant Bay. You can walk along the small beach and view Jackknife Cove from the other side. There are usually plenty of gulls: Herring, Ring-billed, and Black-backed, as well as Black Ducks. In 2016, the federal and Massachusetts governments, along with several local stakeholders, completed a restoration project of Muddy Creek and its estuary, opening natural tidal flow, which has led to the return of fish and many birds, most of which you'll see in other seasons. But it's worth a look in winter, too. This section of Route 28 is dangerous to walk, so cross the road carefully and scan Muddy Creek. Even if all you see are a single Great Blue Heron, Mallards, and Canada Geese, it is a pretty view.

Fig. 4. Map of Nauset

5. Orleans: Nauset Beach to Town Cove

As you enter Orleans (see Figure 4), the barrier beaches block ocean access in most areas. Keep heading north on Route 28 (South) for 5.2 miles. At the traffic light next to the police station and ball field, turn right on Tonset Road. At the next light, turn right on Main Street, which becomes Beach Road and will take you to the Nauset Beach parking lot (CC). Storms and significant erosion have wiped out the dunes and part of the parking lot; in 2019, the Town of Orleans built a new long dune between the beach and the parking lot to protect the area for another 5–10 years. You can park here in winter unless the lot has been flooded in a recent nor'easter. There are good seabirds just offshore—Common Eiders, Red-breasted Mergansers, all three scoters, Common Loons— and a short walk to the north at low to mid tide will likely show Harlequin Ducks at a shallow rocky spot just offshore. Often, there are alcids and Northern Gannets in the distance, and the gannets may come close to shore right after a storm. Look for Sanderlings and small flocks of Dunlin along the water's edge. You can see gray seals here, too, watching you as you watch them.

The more adventurous—and optimistic—can walk a sandy mile to the south on Nauset Beach and access the private land called Pochet Island (DD) (the owners pronounce it Po-chee). There is a bridge over the tidal creek that allows you to visit this property. It is private and should be treated with respect. There are thickets and woodlands and overgrown fields. The open wetland in the center can harbor late night-herons and lots of passerines. This island is a little-visited treasure along the beach. Remember, it is a long walk in soft sand with no shelter from the fierce northeast winds. Plan on at least a two-hour round trip, if not longer.

Black Scoter.

When you are finished birding Nauset Beach (whether or not you go all the way out to Pochet), head out to the town landing at the end of Tonset Road (EE), which a small but more sheltered spot to bird Nauset Harbor with Nauset Beach in the distance. Leaving Nauset Beach, drive on Beach Road for 1.1 miles, turn right on Brick Hill Road, and in 1.3 miles, turn right on Tonset Road. In approximately 0.5 mile, Tonset Road curves to the right. Park at the end of the road and bird from the top of the stairs. You will see most of the ducks and gulls you saw at Nauset Beach, minus the Harlequin Ducks, but you may add Common Goldeneyes and a Great Blue Heron in the marsh. If you are lucky, you might be able to scope a distant Snowy Owl out on the marsh grasses or on the dunes at Nauset Beach across the water.

The final stop in Orleans is the Town Cove (FF). Take Tonset Road for about 2.5 miles and turn right on Main Street at the traffic light. Turn right onto Route 28, then take your first right on Cove Road. You can park next to the Orleans Yacht Club's dock and walk out on the dock to scope the water. Along with the usual ducks and geese and Great Cormorants, you never know what surprises might lurk: American Coot, Barrow's Goldeneye, Redhead, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, and Northern Shoveler are occasional but annual.

No trip to Cape Cod would be complete without a stop at Bird Watcher's General Store in Orleans, which is on Route 28 between Cove Road and the Orleans rotary. There are also several restaurants and coffee shops in Orleans that are open for lunch year-round: The Yardarm, The Cottage Street Bakery, Hole in One, The Corner Store, and Homeport. If you plan to stay overnight to bird the outer Cape Cod the next day, you will find a few motels in Orleans that are open year-round. To continue the final loop of the mid-Cape section, get on Route 6 West at the Orleans rotary and take the exits to the beaches along Nantucket Sound that interest you.

6. Nantucket Sound Beaches: Harwich to Hyannis

Nantucket Sound offers several small beaches with parking lots that have potential. From east to west, they are in Harwich, Dennis Port, West Dennis, and Hyannis. At these neighborhood beaches you may stumble on Purple Sandpipers, Brant, and a nice range of sea and bay ducks. Any of the small tidal creeks that drain past these beaches can harbor Greater Yellowlegs and Hooded Mergansers along their marshy edges. Red River Beach (GG) (take Exit 11) and Saquatucket Harbor (HH) (take Exit 11 or Exit 10), the two most easterly of the Harwich beaches, are worth a look, particularly after a storm. In Dennis Port, take Exit 9A for Sea Street Beach (II), which is the most productive, though there are half a dozen small overlooks along this shoreline. [Note: do not confuse Sea Street Beach in Dennis Port on Nantucket Sound with the other Sea Street Beach in East Dennis on the bay side.]

The best of the Nantucket Sound birding spots is West Dennis Beach (JJ) (take Exit 9A). This is a long beach along Nantucket Sound that also has extensive salt marsh habitats to look over, as well as dunes and beach grass. It is a regular wintering spot on Cape Cod for Snowy Owls and lingering herons and egrets. The parking lots provide edges that collect wind-blown seeds; redpolls and Horned Larks, along with the Song Sparrows, can sometimes be seen gleaning from these areas.

Finally, Hyannis beaches of note (all accessed from Exit 7) are Kalmus Beach (KK), Keyes Memorial Beach (LL), and Ocean Avenue Beach (MM). Kalmus Beach, at the mouth of Lewis Bay, is a good stop for bathrooms and a quick look at the water. Bay ducks and gulls are often pretty good along these beaches. These beaches are tidal and are best birded at the lower tides. Most of the sought-after species will be on the cusp of winter and include Bonaparte's and Black-headed gulls, Hooded Mergansers, and passerines that use salt marshes. All of the south-facing beaches along Nantucket Sound will have Long-tailed Ducks and all three scoters. There have been good numbers of Black Scoters in these waters. On a ferry ride to Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard from Hyannis, you will often pass by hundreds of scoters, loons, and Long-tailed ducks.

That wraps up the eastern section of the mid-Cape; no matter how you choose to bird the area from Barnstable to Orleans, keep in mind that every beach, thicket, and feeder just might hold another pleasant surprise.

eBird Hotspots in the Mid-Cape Cod Area

Massachusetts has the distinction of having a lot of birders and, hence, many entries into eBird. The downside is that there are many, many hotspots promulgated for Massachusetts—how do you choose? Below, I've chosen several mid-Cape Barnstable County hotspots, some that I discussed in the article and others that I didn't mention. The hotspots that are reasonable to visit in winter are marked with an *. The others may be worth a stop if you have the time but are better in other seasons.

Navigation Road (Barnstable) *
Sea Gull Beach (Yarmouth) *
Bells Neck Conservation Area (Dennis)
Corporation Beach (Dennis) *
West Dennis Beach (Dennis) *
Crowes Pasture (Dennis)
Chapin Beach (Dennis) *
Cold Brook Preserve (Harwich)
Red River Beach (Harwich) *
Nickerson State Park (Brewster)
Wing Island (Brewster)
Monomoy (5 Chatham spots) *
Morris Island Causeway (Chatham) *
Chatham Fish Pier (Chatham) *
Tern Island Sanctuary (Chatham)
Frost Fish Creek (Chatham)
Cow Yard Lane (Chatham)
Outermost Harbor (Chatham) *
Forest Beach & Conservation Area (Chatham) *
Chatham Lighthouse (Chatham) *

Cape Cod has been birded by generations of folks: Archie Hagar, Ludlow Griscom, Norman Hill, Bob Fox, Wallace and Priscilla Bailey, Brad Blodgett, Vernon Laux, Dick Forster, Wayne Petersen, Peter and Jeremiah Trimble, Simon Perkins, Pete Flood, Peter Trull, and Blair Nikula—and dozens of others. There is a wealth of bird information that is online and on old daily field lists. For the sake of understanding bird populations and movements and to allow fact-based planning for habitat protection and management, I urge everyone to get their data into eBird. This resource has become the largest bird database around. Please contribute.

Final Comments

If you are traveling on a Sunday morning tune in to Ray Brown's Talkin' Birds on WATD 95.9 at 9:30. This is a Marshfield-based radio station with reasonable coverage onto the Cape.

If you are traveling on the second Tuesday of the month listen to an hour of Bird News with Mark Faherty on "The Point" with Mindy Todd on Cape Cod's local NPR station (WCAI 94.3 FM).

Mark is also on NPR (WCAI; 94.3 FM) every Wednesday morning at 8:45 with a local Bird Report.

And, of course, plan a stop at Mike O'Connor's Bird Watcher's General Store in Orleans near the Orleans rotary.

David Clapp worked for Mass Audubon and the Smithsonian for 35 years. A Cape Cod property owner since the early 1980s, he has grown to treasure his time on this sandy arm. Aside from those Cape birders mentioned above, he would like to thank others who commented for this article or have birded the Cape with him over the years: Dennis Peacock, David Ludlow, Mike Emmons, Dan Furbish, Chris Dalton, Melissa Lowe, Bob Prescott, Mike O'Connor, and, of course, TLF (The Lovely Frances), his wife and favorite birding companion.

William Brewster: At the Right Place at the Right Time

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 00:00:14 GMT

Fig. 2. A young William Brewster. Courtesy of the Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.

The Early Years, the Nuttall Ornithological Club, and the American Ornithologists' Union

William Brewster was born on July 5, 1851. His father, John Brewster, was a successful Boston banker with family roots that traced back to the Mayflower (Henshaw 1920). William ("Will") was the youngest of four children but his sister and two brothers died in childhood, suggesting that Brewster's fragile health may have had a genetic dimension. The family lived in a mansion on the corner of Brattle and Sparks Streets in Cambridge, and there Brewster spent his entire life. He had the normal public school education in preparation for attending Harvard University, but ill health kept him from going to college. He was never robust and suffered from eye problems that prohibited reading for significant periods during his teenage years. He didn't compete in the normal sports but was a good shot and enjoyed horseback riding (Henshaw 1920). As an adult he was over six feet tall and "slow in speech and motion" (French in Brewster 1937). He was something of a recluse, but he made a few local friends; when his father gave him a shotgun at age ten, the open fields and woodlands around Cambridge became the stomping ground for young William and his friends. The father of one of his friends was a sportsman and had mastered taxidermy, so it was natural for young William to be drawn into that sphere.

The collecting of nests and eggs was supplemented by making mounts and study skins of the local birds and through this, Brewster gradually came to know the birds of eastern Massachusetts. Brewster's fascination with nature sprang from his early days in the field with his friends in what was then a rural area in and around Cambridge. His romantic view of nature developed there:

Here the dandelions and buttercups were larger and yellower, the daisies whiter and more numerous, the jingling melody of the Bobolinks blither and merrier, the early spring shouting of the Flicker louder and more joyous, and the long-drawn whistle of the Meadowlark sweeter and more plaintive, than they ever have been or ever can be elsewhere, at least in my experience. (Brewster in Batchelder 1937, p. 10).

In 1869, Brewster, in an agreement instigated by his father, undertook a year's trial at working in the banking world. At the year's end, Brewster found himself unfit for banking, and as a man of independent means, he was free to pursue his ornithological interests. He apparently was uninterested in social matters and politics, and so devoted himself to his obsession with nature and birds (Mitchell 2005).

In 1871, William Brewster, at the suggestion of one of his field companions, Henry Wetherbee Henshaw, invited his group of bird friends, Ruthven Dean, Henry Purdie, and William E. D. Scott, to meet once a week in Brewster's attic to read aloud from Audubon's Ornithological Biography (Audubon and MacGillivray 1831–1839), a companion to his Birds of America plates (1827–1838). Two years later an expanded group decided to formalize their meetings through the formation of a club (Davis 1987). A letter of invitation was sent out to eight of Brewster's associates and on September 23, 1873, Brewster convened a meeting with eight present. They organized a club to be called, at the suggestion of Ernest Ingersoll, the Nuttall Ornithological Club (Club; NOC), with Brewster as President, Purdie as Vice President, Dean as Secretary, and Scott as Treasurer. Thus was formed the first formal ornithological society in the Western Hemisphere.

The Club consisted of Resident and Corresponding Members and quickly acquired national status by recruiting prominent ornithologists as Corresponding Members. By 1877, the number of this group reached nearly a hundred. This base was important in the discussions about starting a journal as a publication outlet for members. The discussions related to this issue, including what should be published and what should not, apparently led to Brewster's resignation as President in March 1875. By February 1876, the matters had apparently been resolved and it was voted to publish a Bulletin, and Brewster was elected as President again, a position he held until his death in 1919. After a brief scuffle, J. A. Allen became the Bulletin's editor, which he was to remain until publication of the journal ceased in 1883. The number of Resident Members rose to 23, the number of Corresponding Members continued to climb, and the first issue of the Bulletin was issued in May, 1876 (Davis 1987).

Fig. 3. William Brewster in 1883. Courtesy of the Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.

Everything went merrily along with the Club until 1880 when a gradual deterioration occurred in attendance, until by 1886 some meetings were not held because of lack of a quorum. In a February 10, 1883, letter to Charles Foster Batchelder, Brewster indicated his despair with the Club's situation and was beginning to think about bigger things:

The home members, with the exception of Purdie and Allen, don't seem to care a hang whether the Club and its organ live or die. We had our third blank meeting last Monday; only four members present. I often feel tempted to work on a plan I have had in mind for some time, one which includes the dissolution of the Club and the organization of a new association which shall consist only of persons who care enough about ornithology to do their share of the work. . . . An American Ornithologists' Union, limited to, say, to twelve members, could, I think, be made up in such a way as to be a very strong institution. (Quoted in Batchelder 1937, p. 46).

Such ideas were in the air, and it was inevitable that ornithologists' thoughts would turn to a national organization. The last half of the nineteenth century witnessed a professionalization of American science. Government-sponsored explorations of the western United States and newly-built railroads aided the establishment of networks of collectors and provided easier access to regions previously impenetrable. Museums and their staff were expanded to handle the influx of millions of new specimens, and the number of natural history journals rose from two in 1870 to nearly 40 by the mid-1890s. The time was ripe for a national organization for professional ornithologists and the huge cohort of serious amateurs.

Brewster, together with J. A. Allen and Elliot Coues (pronounced "Cows"), set about organizing a meeting of prominent ornithologists and issued invitations for the meeting in New York in September 1883. Two dozen of North America's most prominent ornithologists met at the American Museum of Natural History. Brewster called the meeting to order, but was upstaged by Coues, who was elected Acting Chair of the meeting. Brewster was apparently unhappy with this surprise and clearly thought that he would fill that position. Coues, however, was probably a better choice, for his highly aggressive nature if nothing else. The meeting was a great success, and the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) became a reality with the provisional bylaws and constitution presented by Brewster, Allen, and Coues. Six committees were established and memberships of the committees appointed. The last day of the meeting, Brewster reported, when the topic of a journal for the new organization came up, that as President of the NOC, "he was authorized to say, though he could not do so officially" that the NOC would offer the "prestige and subscription list" to the AOU (Barrow 1998). The minutes of the next NOC meeting tell the story:

Mr. Brewster gave an account of the proceedings of the recent convention of ornithologists . . . stating in brief the aims and purposes of the organization called the American Ornithologists' Union . . . Some discussion ensued as to the continuing of the Nuttall Club on its present basis; and in view of the organization of the Am. Orn. Union, and its proposal to issue a quarterly journal of ornithology, which would thereby leave the ‘Nuttall Bulletin' in a manner a competitor in the same field, the question of continuing its publication was considered. Upon motion a vote was passed referring the subject to the Council. All the members except one of the Council being present, and having already expressed themselves in favor of discontinuing the ‘Bulletin', Mr. Brewster as Chairman of the Council advised to discontinue the publication. . . . the Club voted to stop printing the ‘Bulletin' . . . and to offer to the American Ornithologists' Union our good will and subscription list, to place the ‘Bulletin' in the Council of the Union, with the tacit understanding that the new serial of the Union shall be ostensibly a second series of the Nuttall ‘Bulletin.'

Thus the Bulletin became The Auk, and J. A. Allen became its Editor and William Brewster was appointed an Associate Editor. The Nuttall Ornithological Club survived giving birth and after 1886–1887, when Brewster had built a museum on his property to house his vast collection of bird skins and mounts, he hosted the meetings of the Club in his museum. Under Brewster's leadership, the Club grew in membership and prestige.

Fig. 4. Group of Nuttall Club members near the Brewster Museum in 1889. Listed as present but not identified in the photo, were: William Brewster, H. W. Henshaw, C. F. Batchelder, F. Bolles, H. M. Spelman, J. A. Jefferies, Edward A. Bangs, A. P. Chadbourne, H. A. Purdie, A. M. Frazer, and Outram Bangs. Courtesy of the Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.

Although Brewster served as President of the new Union from 1895–1898, his greatest influence on the Union and on American ornithology was probably in his service to the most important and influential of the AOU committees, the Committee on Classification and Nomenclature, to which he had been appointed at the inaugural meeting. The Committee's goals were to establish a standardized nomenclature for North American birds and produce a Checklist of North American birds. In addition to Brewster, the powerful Committee included Coues, Allen, Henry W. Henshaw (a great friend of Brewster), and Robert Ridgway who was a leading ornithologist at the Smithsonian Institution. Allen and Coues were on a subcommittee to deal with the code of nomenclature, and Brewster, Henshaw, and Ridgway were in charge of determining the status of subspecies and species (Lewis 2012). The Committee was to break with English ornithologists on several major issues including adopting the 1758 version of Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, rather than the 1766 version favored by the British, and the adoption of a trinomial system of nomenclature that identified subspecies. Brewster was to be an influential and outspoken member of the Committee, and he remained on this important committee until his death in 1919.

Love of Nature, Brewster's Journals and Publications

"The foundation of William Brewster's life was an intense love of nature. Like some delicately adjusted apparatus, his whole being responded to the influences of the open" (Chapman 1919). Brewster from an early age kept a detailed journal of his excursions into the field that became the basis for many of his publications and for the sometimes lyrical passages that were published posthumously in October Farm (French 1936) and in Concord River (Dexter 1937). His love of nature is clear in a passage in the former:

It is in the broad woodlands that one may see October to the best advantage. There is a ripe golden quality there that I miss in the open places where the grass is still as green as in midsummer. The dropping of acorns and chestnuts is an ever-present sound there and the squirrels are all busy with their annual harvest. Their chatter, chuckling, and rustle keep perfect accord with the screaming of the Blue Jays and the ceaseless whisper of the falling leaves. (October Farm, p. 14)

His journals illustrate the detailed observations that were to typify his professional writings, particularly as he moved progressively to the study of the living bird:

As I watched a Shrike it flew from the topmost spray of a small maple into some alders and alighted on a horizontal stem . . . as I afterwards found, the snow had thawed quite down to the ground, leaving a trench . . . into which the Shrike, after peering intently for a moment, suddenly dropped with fluttering wings and wide opened tail,

Within a second or less it reappeared, dragging out a Field Mouse of the largest size. The moment it got the Mouse fairly out on the level surface of the snow it dropped it apparently to get a fresh hold . . . The Mouse, instead of attempting to regain its run way, as I expected it would do, turned on its assailant and with surprising fierceness and agility sprang directly at its head many times in succession, actually driving it backwards several feet although the Shrike faced the attack with admirable steadiness and coolness and by a succession of vigorous and well aimed blows prevented the Mouse from closing in.

At length the Mouse seemed to lose heart and, turning, tried to escape. This sealed its fate for at the end of the second leap it was overtaken by the Shrike, who caught it by the back of the neck and began to worry it precisely as a Terrier worries a rat, shaking viciously from side to side. (October Farm pp. 28–29)

Fig. 5. Nuttall Club meeting at the Brewster Museum, ca. 1900. Front row, left to right: Walter Deane, C. F. Batchelder, Francis H. Allen, William Brewster (Club President 1873–1875, 1876–1919), Glover M. Allen, and Jewell D. Sornborger. Standing, right: Reginald Howe; remainder of standing unidentified. Courtesy of the Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.

Brewster published his first note in 1868 in the American Naturalist on a Red-winged Blackbird sporting an orange crescent on its breast (Brewster 1868). It was the first of more than 350 papers and monographs he would publish in his lifetime, most of them (80%) by the year 1900. Aside from a few mammal, plant, and miscellaneous notes his publications were all bird or ornithologist related. His ornithological work was similar to that of most scientifically-oriented amateur ornithologists—he was a product of his times. About 40% of his papers dealt with bird distribution and arrival and departure dates, mostly reports of sightings of vagrants. About 23% dealt with natural history subjects, such as breeding or feeding behavior that reflected observations he made on living birds, for example his extensive natural history study of the Swainson's Warbler (Brewster 1885a) or his study of the feeding behavior of Northern Flickers (Brewster 1893). An additional 15% were systematic papers that involved naming of new species or subspecies, hybrids, or nomenclature problems. Reviews of other peoples work were another 9%. The remaining 13% I classified as miscellaneous, and included the occasional mammal or plant paper, obituaries, letters to newspapers, reports of AOU committees, and a few papers on bird protection that he published near the end of his life. Generally lacking were theoretical papers in the general field of biology or on evolution, a situation in contrast to several of his colleagues including J. A. Allen (Davis 2005). He lacked the formal biological training of colleagues such as Allen and Coues, and this may have been the key to his low output of theoretical work.

There were exceptions, however. His short monograph on bird migration (Brewster 1886) was a landmark paper on this subject and was the first Memoir published by the Nuttall Ornithological Club (the NOC still publishes them). It was a two-part paper that included a first part in which he reported his observations on nocturnal migration at a lighthouse in the Bay of Fundy and a second part that dealt with theories of bird migrations and the facts available to support them. His 1906 Memoir Birds of the Cambridge Region of Massachusetts was regarded as a classic for its long-term intensive study of a small region (Brewster 1906). Some of his short papers were theoretical in nature, for example his 1883 paper on the movements of birds in winter, which included suggested causes for the irregular movements of birds such as Snowy Owls and Pine Grosbeaks (Brewster 1883). Another of his important regional works, on Lake Umbagog, was edited and published posthumously in four volumes (1924, 1925, 1937, 1938). Volumes 1 and 2 were edited by Samuel Henshaw, volumes 3 and 4 by Ludlow Griscom.

It may be that Brewster realized his limitations in the realm of the theoretical. We see a hint of this in the following letter to Frank Chapman:

Dear Friend:

I have just read your paper on West Indian birds & bird life with the keenest pleasure and interest. It is far & away the best thing you ever have done and raises you at one bound, I should say, to the plane of such men as [J. A.] Allen and [C. Hart] Merriam and distinctly above that of all other living American ornithologists. Your chapter on the affinities and probable derivation of West Indian bird and mammal life is, of course, what I directly refer to. It is compact, philosophical and convincing to a degree. I have long predicted such progress and development on your part and now that it has come I rejoice exceedingly and congratulate you with my whole heart. . . (2 Jan 1893, Brewster letter to Frank Chapman)

Brewster did pretty much what he wanted to do, and his publications and journals suggest that being in the field was most important to him.

Brewster's Friends, Colleagues, Influence

Many descriptions of Brewster as an austere, formidable, and Jovian character came from people who knew him only late in life and mostly within the formal atmosphere of Nuttall Ornithological Club meetings at his private museum. In his younger years, up to about 1900, when he was most active in the ornithological endeavors, he had close personal friends and relationships with colleagues that indicate a warm personality and a sense of humor. One of his closest professional and personal relationships was with Frank Chapman, head of the ornithology department at the American Museum of Natural History, who, among his many accomplishments, initiated the Christmas Bird Counts near the turn of the twentieth century and founded and edited the journal Bird-Lore, which eventually became Audubon Magazine. Brewster accompanied Chapman on several collecting expeditions, including those far afield for Brewster, to the Suwannee River of Georgia and northern Florida and to Trinidad. Brewster's correspondence with Chapman indicates a warm and collegial relationship and a sense of humor. For example, in remarking about a trip in which Chapman visited Ball's Hill, Brewster provides evidence of his deep love of being in the field as well as a friendly and appreciative relationship with Chapman:

. . . It is a pleasure to know that you enjoyed your stay here so much but I am quite sure that you did not enjoy it more than we enjoyed having you with us. . . There are so few who appreciate the woods and birds in just the way that I appreciate them. . . it is a great delight to me to be in the woods with a man after my own heart—when I find him. (26 May 1890, Brewster letter to Chapman)

Fig. 6. William Brewster in 1916. Courtesy of the Ernst Mayr Library, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University.

Brewster made many collecting trips with his friends. In 1874, he collected with Ruthven Deane and Ernest Ingersoll in West Virginia. In 1878, he collected with Robert Ridgway at Mount Carmel in Illinois, and he was part of a group that in 1881 collected in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In 1882, he joined J. A. Allen in Colorado, and in 1883, he traveled to South Carolina where he was assisted by Arthur T. Wayne while carrying out his studies of Swainson's Warbler. For 20 years he was accompanied in the field at home by his manservant, "Mr. Gilbert," a black man with whom he became good friends and who in all probability was the photographer who took the more than a thousand glass-plate photographs that are attributed to Brewster (Mitchell 2005). For a decade, Brewster also hired his friend Walter Deane as his personal secretary and museum assistant. These companions in the field contributed to Brewster's high productivity—wealth has its advantages. He also hired professional collectors to work areas for him that he apparently could not or did not wish to visit. For example, Frank Stephens collected for Brewster in Arizona and California in 1881 and 1884, and R. R. McCleod collected for him in 1883–1885 in Arizona and Mexico (Henshaw 1920). These professional collectors not only helped Brewster acquire the largest private collection of birds in the United States, but their specimens became the basis for many of his publications, for example a paper on birds collected by Stephens (Brewster 1885b).

Brewster held several positions that provided him with authority and influence. From 1880–1889, he was curator of the bird and mammal collections of the Boston Society of Natural History, and from 1885–1900, he held the same position at the MCZ. From 1900 until his death in 1919, he curated just the birds. These positions gave him status and connections to powerful people in other museums. For example, he had influence with the head of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), Alexander Agassiz, who was the son of the Museum founder, the legendary Louis Agassiz. Brewster had influence that affected museum politics on the national level.

Bird Protection and the Conservation Movement

Brewster was always interested in the movement for the protection of birds, which developed into the modern conservation movement. He was well aware of the problems caused by development and wholesale destruction of forests. He did not return to his beloved Lake Umbagog region because of inroads of people and their destruction. He was appointed to the AOU's Committee on Bird Protection. He was the President of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the first of the regional Audubon societies (Walton and Davis 2010); and he later served as a Director for the National Association of Audubon Societies, the forerunner of the National Audubon Society. He served on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association and was its President for two years. He was a member of the Advisory Committee of the American Game Protective and Propagation Association from 1911 until his death (Henshaw 1920). He was an avid hunter throughout his life and steadfastly defended the rights of scientific collectors, but he understood the constraints that would be necessary to produce sustainable harvests.

What Made Brewster the Icon That He Became?

Brewster reaped many rewards for his contributions, including an honorary A.M. degree from Amherst College in 1880 and an honorary A.M. from Harvard in 1889. Why did Brewster become so successful? Part of the answer comes from his personality, part from his wealth, and part from being at the right place at the right time. He was a tall, handsome man with character traits that, at least in last half of the nineteenth century, were considered admirable. He didn't drink tea or coffee, rarely used alcohol, and in today's world might be considered a bit boring. But the people he worked with agree that he was an admirable person. Witmer Stone summed it all up in a 1919 note:

Great as were his attainments as an ornithologist it was not these alone that gained him the wide recognition that he received. His fair and impartial judgment of all questions that came before him created a profound and widespread respect for his opinion; his keen and unconcealed delight in everything out of doors, . . . was contagious and inspiring; while his uniform courtesy and kindliness to young student and master alike, endeared him to all with whom he came in contact. . . . Probably he himself never realized the part he played in shaping the ornithological activities of others, and his influence upon the development of American ornithology cannot easily be measured. (Stone 1919)

Even considering the early twentieth century hyperbole, it is clear that Brewster had a powerful personality that had an impact on the lives and careers of those who encountered him. But had he not been born in the right time and at the right place, it seems doubtful if he would have achieved such greatness. He reached early manhood at a time when interest in science and natural history was flooding the American scene. The American Ornithologists' Union, or a similar one with a different name, would have become reality, probably within a few years, because the time was right and many of America's ornithologists shared Brewster's views. But only Brewster and his cohort of Cambridge friends brought it to reality, through the founding of the Nuttall Ornithological Club and its Bulletin, thus forming the backbone of Brewster's success and greatness.

Literature Cited

Audubon, J. J. 1827–1838. Birds of America. London: Robert Havell.
Audubon, J. J., and W. MacGillivray. 1831–1839. Ornithological Biography, or an Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America. 5 volumes. Edinburgh, Scotland.
Barrow, M. V., Jr. 1998. A Passion for Birds, American Ornithology after Audubon. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Batchelder, C. F. 1937. An Account of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 1873–1919. Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, No. 8. Cambridge: Nuttall Ornithological Club.
Brewster, W. 1868. A Variety of Blackbird. American Naturalist 2(June): 217–218.
Brewster, W. 1883. The Movements of Certain Winter Birds. Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 8: 245–246.
Brewster, W. 1885a. Swainson's Warbler. Auk 2: 65–80.
Brewster, W. 1885b. Additional Notes on Some Birds Collected in Arizona and the Adjoining Province of Sonora, Mexico, by Mr. F. Stephens in 1884; with a Description of a New Species of Ortyx. Auk 2: 196–200.
Brewster, W. 1886. Bird Migration. Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, No. 1. Cambridge: Nuttall Ornithological Club.
Brewster, W. 1893. A Brood of Young Flickers (Colaptes auratus) and How They Were Fed. Auk 10: 231–236.
Brewster, W. 1906. Birds of the Cambridge Region of Massachusetts. Cambridge: Nuttall Ornithological Club, Memoir No. 4.
Brewster, W. 1924, 1925, 1937, 1938. The Birds of the Lake Umbagog Region of Maine. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 66: Parts I–IV.
Chapman, F. M. 1919. William Brewster, 1851–1919. Bird-Lore 21(5): 277–286.
Dexter, S. O., ed. 1937. Concord River, Selections from the Journals of William Brewster. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Davis, W. E. Jr. 1987. History of the Nuttall Ornithological Club 1973–1986. Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, No. 11. Cambridge: Nuttall Ornithological Club.
Davis, W. E. Jr. 2005. J. A. Allen: The Shy and Retiring Giant. Bird Observer 33: 30–41.
French, D. C. ed. 1936. October Farm: From the Journals and Diaries of William Brewster. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Henshaw, H. W. 1920. In memoriam: William Brewster. Auk 37: 1–27.
Lewis, D. 2012. The Feathery Tribe, Robert Ridgway and the Modern Study of birds. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Mitchell, J. H. 2005. Looking for Mr. Gilbert, the Reimagined Life of an African American. Washington D.C.: Shoemaker Hoard.
Stone, W. 1919. Brewster, William. Auk 36: 628.
Walton, R. K., and W. E. Davis, Jr. 2010. Massachusetts Audubon Society: The First Sixty Years. Pp. 1–63 in Contributions to the History of North American Ornithology, Volume III. Memoirs of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, No. 17. Cambridge: Nuttall Ornithological Club.

Note: An expanded version of the biography has been published as a chapter in Volume IV of the series Contributions to the History of North American Ornithology, W. E. Davis, Jr., editor, published by the Nuttall Ornithological Club, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Copies of this book can be purchased from Buteo Books at https://www.buteobooks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=BBBAO&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CHNA4 or on their toll free line: 800-722-2460.

William E. (Ted) Davis, Jr. has been on the Bird Observer Editorial Staff for more than three decades and is an Emeritus Professor from Boston University. He is an ornithologist who has done most of his research fieldwork in Australia.

Evening Grosbeaks: Winter Jewels of My Childhood

Tue, 01 Oct 2019 00:00:13 GMT

Surprisingly for their bill's seed-crushing size and their reputation for emptying sunflower-seed feeders, Evening Grosbeaks prefer spruce budworms (Choristoneura spp.) and similar grubs, and also feed on seeds from trees, especially maple (Acer sp., Gillihan 2001). They do, however, feed on many seed types and in seed-size experiments they chose larger seeds and ingested more of the seed kernel than smaller-beaked finches (Benkman 1988).

Their range expansion from the Rocky Mountains to the east, beginning in the mid-1800s, is thought to coincide with the planting of boxelders (Acer negundo) as wind blocks and ornamentals. And boxelder's extended retention of seeds may have promoted some birds to forgo migration, leading to the first breeding records in the northeastern United States (Forbush 1929).

Notably, Evening Grosbeaks are more active in morning than in evening, in contrast to their moniker, which stems from accounts by Schoolcraft and later Major Joseph Delafield, both misinterpreted by Cooper (Farrand 1992). Variously stating that they only sing in the evening and that a roosting flock was disturbed in the evening, in 1825 Cooper named the species Evening Grosbeak and gave the specific epithet vespertinus (evening). Despite numerous descriptions of their daytime activities, the evening designation was further amplified in 1903 when the genus Fringilla was replaced with Hesperiphona (Gillihan and Byers 2001), meaning evening cry. In 1982, it was placed into the genus Coccothraustes, leaving only Cooper's original misnomer (Gillihan and Byers 2001).

Evening Grosbeak flocks can't help but attract attention with their colors and constant chatter. Males are conspicuously yellow and black with quizzical yellow supercilliaries (eyebrows). The bright yellow breast and belly contrasts boldly with the black-and-white wings. Females and juveniles are duller than males with brownish yellow bellies and with less boldly contrasting wings (Gillihan and Byers 2001). Evening Grosbeaks' striking sexual and age polymorphism certainly aids in studying their behaviors and distribution.

Reminiscent of the birds at my feeders, Balph and Balph (1976) documented a female-biased sex ratio, on average about four females for every three males. At their location in Logan, Utah, the sex ratio shifted from even more females in winter to a nearly equal sex ratio in spring. But Bekoff and Scott (1989), in Colorado, had sex ratios consistently skewed toward males, on average about three males for every two females averaged over all calendar months. Differential patterns of migration, with females migrating farther than males, may affect local sex ratios, which can be seen in banding records across a wide geographical range (Balph and Balph 1976). Some research suggests that females migrate farther than males due to their smaller body size, making them less tolerant of cold, or due to male aggression at feeding sites (Gillihan and Byers 2001).

Aggression in Evening Grosbeaks, although rare, appears to be mostly within the sexes not between them. In a three-year study, Bekoff and Scott (1989) demonstrated that males were more aggressive than females. Antagonism was mostly intrasexual, more frequent among males than females and correlated with the number of males in a flock. As you might suspect, aggression rates were highest just before the breeding season. Dominance tended to be related to weight and wing length measured at the time of banding, differences that could be maintained in the field (Bekoff and Scott 1989). Despite low levels of aggression between the sexes, males are dominant to females, perhaps also as a function of body size. Interestingly, social dominance may be further complicated by individual recognition in small flocks where intersexual relationships between individuals are maintained through a season (Balph et al 1979).

Another behavioral difference between the sexes occurs in response to predators. Balph (1977) noted that females were more likely than males to freeze in place upon a "fright." She suggested that the vulnerability of males due to their bright colors selected for finding cover. Males fleeing from predation also may distract predators from the immobile females.

This chubby bird with its flagrant colors is an irruptive species that wanders in large flocks usually in response to low food supplies (Gillihan and Byers 2001). So I wasn't surprised that I hadn't many encounters with them for more than 40 years. But upon further reading, I learned that Evening Grosbeaks appear to have been declining across their range for several decades (Bonter and Harvey 2008, Ralston et al. 2015). I decided to look at the Massachusetts Christmas Bird Count (CBC) data (Pardieck 2019) for myself and was relieved to see that in this century the numbers of observations varied year to year as expected but didn't appear to be declining (Figure 1A). For some reason I decided to rebuild my graph with an even 20 years and that's where I was shocked (Figure 1B). The decline at the end of the 1990s was dramatic, showing that the 18 years in my first look were only 25% of 1998–1999. As I looked at the entire CBC data set (Figure 1C) the pattern was clear, counts per party hour in the 50s to 80s were about 4, with peaks of 11 and 17 during my years in Grafton, compared to the twenty-first century average of 0.024 counts per party hour.

Fig. 1. Christmas Bird Count data for Evening Grosbeaks for a) 2000-2017, b) 1997-2017, c) entire historical data 1900-2017.

What does this decline signify? Given the grosbeak's nineteenth century range expansion, prior to the first reports of Evening Grosbeaks in the CBC, this may simply indicate a natural range reversal (Ralston et al. 2015). Alternatively, other issues may be at play including forest management practices, urban expansion, or changes in their food availability. The State of the Birds 2014 Report lists a 32% drop in eastern forest-obligate species since 2009 and the report lists development and changes in forests—especially fire and exotic plant species—as the major threats (NABCI 2014). Using Project FeederWatch data, Bonter and Harvey (2008) indicate that the decline in both abundance and range could be related to recent changes in management of Canada's boreal forests, particularly increased logging. They add that disease and spruce budworm control using pesticides in the United States and Canada also may be contributing factors.

In another evaluation of the plummet in grosbeak numbers, Ralston et al. (2015) documented significant declines in obligate and associated spruce-fir species. Among the species that are not currently listed as of conservation concern, Evening Grosbeak and Canada (Gray) Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) demonstrated severe declines. Indicator species for these northern forests—such as two listed as threatened, Bicknell's Thrush (Catharus bicknelli) and Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi)—are in significant decline. Ralston et al. suggest habitat degradation as a cause for all of these declines.

For my part, I surmise that range contraction and forest changes such as logging practices and pest control are contributing to the disappearing grosbeaks. I agree with the authors noted that the declines are complex and no one factor is responsible throughout the bird's range.

Back at home in Rochester, I'm hoping that these beautiful jewels of my childhood will return this winter to decorate my feeders and trees. If not, maybe my Pine Siskins will zzzzzzip back after a three-year hiatus.

References

Balph, M. H. 1977. Sex differences in alarm responses of wintering Evening Grosbeaks. Wilson Bulletin 89 (2): 325–327.
Balph, M. H. and D. F. Balph. 1976. Some factors influencing observed sex ratios in a population of Evening Grosbeaks. Bird-Banding 47 (4): 340–344.
Balph, M. H., D. F. Balph, and H. C. Romesburg. 1979. Social status signaling in winter flocking birds: an examination of a current hypothesis. Auk 96: 78–93.
Bekoff, M. and A. C. Scott. 1989. Aggression, dominance, and social organization in Evening Grosbeaks. Ethology 83 (3): 177–194.
Benkman, C. W. 1988. Seed handling ability, bill structure, and the cost of specialization for crossbills. Auk 105 (4): 715-719.
Bonter, D. N. and M. G. Harvey. 2008. Winter survey data reveal rangewide decline in Evening Grosbeak populations. Condor 110 (2): 376–381.
Farrand, J. Jr. 1992. How the Evening Grosbeak got its name. American Birds 46 (5): 1184–1186.
Forbush, E. H. 1929. Birds of Massachusetts and Other New England States. Part III: Land Birds from Sparrows to Thrushes. Norwood, MA: Norwood Press for the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture.
Gillihan, S. W. and B. E. Byers. 2001. Evening Grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus), version 2.0 in The Birds of North America Online (A. F. Poole and F. B. Gill, eds). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology: https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.599 [accessed September 19, 2019]
Harrison, G. 2001. Charming yellow gluttons. Birder's World. December 44–47.
National Audubon Society. 2019. The Christmas Bird Count Historical Results [Online]. Available from: http://www.christmasbirdcount.org [accessed July 28, 2019]
North American Bird Conservation Initiative, U.S. Committee. 2014. The State of the Birds 2014 Report. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior. Available from:
Pardieck, K.L., D.J. Ziolkowski Jr., M. Lutmerding, V. Aponte and M-A.R. Hudson. 2019. North American Breeding Bird Survey Dataset 1966 - 2018, version 2018.0. United States Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. Available from: https://doi.org/10.5066/P9HE8XYJ.
Ralston, J., D. I. King, W. V. DeLuca, G. J. Niemi, M. J. Glennon, J. C. Scarl, J. D. Lambert. 2015. Analysis of combined data sets yields trend estimates for vulnerable spruce-fir birds in northern United States. Biological Conservation 187: 270–278.

Melinda S. (Mindy) LaBranche is an adjunct professor of biology at Bridgewater State University and Massasoit Community College where she teaches environmental biology, general biology, ecology, and sometimes ornithology. She also is a copy editor for Bird Observer and lives with her husband and large menagerie in Rochester, Massachusetts.