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August 2021

Vol. 49, No. 4

Eleven Years of Birding at Halibut Point State Park, Rockport, Massachusetts

Peter H. Van Demark


Frozen quarry, April 2015. All photographs by the author.

I started leading bird walks at Rockport’s Halibut Point State Park in 2003 with Greg Pronevitz, as a summer complement to the walks led in the winter months by John Nove, the park’s visitor services supervisor. The park is centered on a large quarry that was used until the collapse of the Cape Ann granite industry in 1929. The Trustees of Reservations acquired 12 acres in 1929 and created Halibut Point Reservation in 1934. What is now the visitor center was built as a fire control tower for coastal defense against German U-boats during World War II. The state purchased 56 acres in 1981 to create the park. It is a popular park, with recent renovations designed to increase parking, ease visitor access, and provide a modernized visitor center.

A brochure of “Summer 2004 Programs” listed my walks on June 20, July 18, and August 15 from 8:00 am to 10:00 am, starting what eventually became the pattern of park-sponsored walks on the third Sunday of the month. Thanks to Ramona Latham, then with The Trustees, the walks became year-round in 2009, only skipping December because the Christmas Bird Count for Cape Ann is also on the third Sunday. The Brookline Bird Club began listing these walks as Beginner Bird Walks after The Trustees stopped having scheduled events at their properties on Cape Ann.

I began a spreadsheet of sightings during these walks in November 2009, recording species seen or heard, with no counts. This list is not a scientific survey or a comprehensive overview of Halibut Point birds, but simply a snapshot of what one might expect to see or hear during bird walks through the seasons.

The result is eleven full years of sightings—2010 to 2020—for walks eleven months a year, always on the third Sunday from 8:00 to 10:00 am, usually with me as leader. For the months I was away Jim Berry, Barbara Buls, Caroline Haines, and Eric Hutchins acted as leaders. Only three walks were cancelled, due to really bad weather, although there were three walks when I was the only attendee and two more for which I have no record of the sightings.

On the 116 walks for which there are records, a total of 144 species was recorded. The two species most often observed were Herring Gulls, seen on 109 walks, and Blue Jays, on 101. The following list shows the 40 species that were recorded 22 times or more, for an average of at least twice a year. The species in italics were those that were observed at least once in each of the eleven months.

Herring Gull 109
Blue Jay 101
Black-capped Chickadee 94
American Crow 93
Great Black-backed Gull 89
Northern Cardinal 82
Mallard 81
American Robin 81
Common Eider 80
Double-crested Cormorant 79
American Goldfinch 66
Mourning Dove 57
Gray Catbird 57
House Sparrow 56
Northern Gannet 55
Tufted Titmouse 55
Downy Woodpecker 54
Song Sparrow 48
White-winged Scoter 44
Common Loon 43
Eastern Towhee 43
Harlequin Duck 42
Eastern Kingbird 34
White-breasted Nuthatch 33
Black Scoter 32
Tree Swallow 32
Common Yellowthroat 31
Carolina Wren 29
Cedar Waxwing 29
Surf Scoter 27
Red-breasted Merganser 27
Ring-billed Gull 27
Long-tailed Duck 26
Baltimore Oriole 25
Barn Swallow 24
European Starling 24
Common Grackle 24
House Finch 24
Northern Flicker 22
Brown Thrasher 22

At the other end of the spectrum, 33 species, listed below in taxonomic order, were recorded only once on these walks in the eleven years.

Greater Scaup
Hooded Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Spotted Sandpiper
American Woodcock
Dovekie
Thick-billed Murre
Black-headed Gull
Iceland Gull
Great Shearwater
Brown Pelican
Great Egret
Northern Harrier
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Common Raven
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Brown Creeper
Veery
Swainson’s Thrush
Purple Finch
Snow Bunting
Savannah Sparrow
Ovenbird
Nashville Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Hooded Warbler

In the same context, there are spectacular movements of seabirds from late fall to early spring involving many species and tens of thousands of birds. These movements are well described in Rick Heil’s excellent summary of his seawatches from Andrew’s Point (Heil 2001). The same migrations can be observed at Halibut Point, and large flocks have been seen on our monthly walks. Although my spreadsheet shows species recorded by our groups over the months and does not include counts, those counts are included on my recent eBird lists, as well as on earlier daily field cards that I submitted to the Brookline Bird Club.

To provide some context regarding birds seen at Halibut Point on these walks, Chris Leahy—Mass Audubon’s emeritus Bertrand Chair of Field Ornithology—has provided me a list of 271 species that have been recorded by keen observers of birds at Halibut Point. The list includes observations from:

  • Robert C. Hooper, an ardent birder and conservationist, who lived on a property abutting the park for more than two decades and recorded a total of 234 species, including 28 listed only by him.
  • Leahy himself, who has lived on Cape Ann since the 1970s and birded frequently at Halibut, with a total of 217 species, including 25 listed only by him.
  • Martin Ray, Gloucester naturalist, photographer, and blogger, who has focused on the biota of Halibut in recent years, with a total of 166 species, including three listed only by him, all documented with photos.

    Among the 144 species seen on the walks, four were not listed by Hooper, Leahy, or Ray—Brown Pelican, Common Raven, Hooded Warbler, and Warbling Vireo. In addition, Leahy lists 41 other species known to occur on Cape Ann but not yet recorded at Halibut Point on these lists; other observers may well have recorded some of these “missing” species.

    Table 1 shows, for the eleven years of bird walks, the number of years a species was observed each month, in taxonomic order. Table 2 shows the variation in sightings by month. April, May, and November were the three months with the largest number of species recorded.

    In winter, the species at the park include winter diving birds—a primary reason why “Rockport Headlands and Inshore Waters,” including Halibut Point, have been designated a Massachusetts Important Bird Area by Mass Audubon. The Important Bird Site section of the Mass Audubon website also has information about Halibut State Park (Mass Audubon 2021).

    For more on winter birding at this site, see “A Guide to Winter Birding on Cape Ann” by Christopher Leahy (2010a, 2010b).

It has been a joy to lead these walks for all these years and to share my local state park, with its wonderful variety of habitat, with so many avid birders, both beginner and expert. I look forward to many more walks!

 
Species Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov
Brant 1   3 4           1  
Canada Goose       1             1
Gadwall                 1   1
Mallard 5 4 7 9 10 8 8 8 10 6 6
American Black Duck 4 2 1 1       2   1 1
Greater Scaup     1                
King Eider   1                 2
Common Eider 10 6 9 10 4 2 5 7 6 10 11
Harlequin Duck 10 7 9 6             10
Surf Scoter 4 4 3 6 1       1 4 4
White-winged Scoter 8 3 6 1 4       4 9 9
Black Scoter 6 2 6 4 1         4 9
Long-tailed Duck 5 5 7 4             5
Bufflehead 5 1 1 1             1
Common Goldeneye 1                   2
Hooded Merganser                     1
Red-breasted Merganser 8 4 7 4             4
Ruddy Duck                     1
Ring-necked Pheasant                   1  
Wild Turkey 2     2 2   2 1 1    
Pied-billed Grebe                   1 1
Horned Grebe 2   1 1             1
Red-necked Grebe 1 1                 3
Mourning Dove 1 3 5 5 8 9 9 6 5 4 2
Black-billed Cuckoo           1 1        
Chimney Swift         1 3 3 2      
Ruby-throated Hummingbird         7 1 5 2      
Semipalmated Plover               1      
Ruddy Turnstone 1             1 1    
Sanderling       1         2 1  
Purple Sandpiper 2       1   1 1     3
Semipalmated Sandpiper               1      
American Woodcock     1                
Spotted Sandpiper         1            
Dovekie   1                  
Common/Thick-billed Murre 1                    
Razorbill 1 1                  
Black Guillemot 1 1                 1
Bonaparte’s Gull                 2   1
Black-headed Gull       1              
Laughing Gull               1 3    
Ring-billed Gull 3 1   2     2 4 4 5 6
Herring Gull 10 7 10 10 10 10 11 10 10 10 11
Iceland Gull 1                    
Great Black-backed Gull 9 4 5 5 8 9 11 10 8 10 10
Common Tern               2      
Red-throated Loon 3                 1 1
Common Loon 7 6 6 5 2       4 3 10
Great Shearwater                     1
Northern Gannet 3 1 4 8 3 1   5 8 11 11
Great Cormorant 4 3 4 2         1   4
Double-crested Cormorant 1   1 10 11 10 11 10 8 11 6
Brown Pelican             1        
Great Blue Heron       2 1 1 3 1      
Great Egret     1                
Green Heron         2 4 3        
Black-crowned Night-Heron           2          
Turkey Vulture     1 3 4   1 2   1 1
Northern Harrier                     1
Sharp-shinned Hawk       1 2     1 1 2  
Cooper’s Hawk     1 2 1         3 1
Bald Eagle               1     1
Red-tailed Hawk   1 3 2 1         1 1
Eastern Screech Owl   1     1   1        
Belted Kingfisher       1 2 1          
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker       1              
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 1         1     3 2
Downy Woodpecker 3 2 7 5 4 4 6 6 6 5 6
Hairy Woodpecker 1     2         1    
Northern Flicker 1   4 6 4 1     3 1 2
American Kestrel           1 1        
Merlin         2       1    
Peregrine Falcon       1 1            
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher               1      
Eastern Phoebe       4 1 1 2   3 1  
Great Crested Flycatcher         1 1 3 1      
Eastern Kingbird     1   9 9 10 4 1    
Blue-headed Vireo         1            
Warbling Vireo         1            
Red-eyed Vireo                 2 1 1
Blue Jay 9 5 8 8 11 10 10 9 10 11 10
American Crow 10 7 9 9 10 9 5 8 8 10 8
Common Raven                 1    
Black-capped Chickadee 7 6 9 10 10 6 9 8 9 9 11
Tufted Titmouse 4 2 6 9 5 3 5 6 5 6 4
Northern Rough-winged Swallow           1 2 2      
Tree Swallow       3 7 4 7 8 3    
Bank Swallow               2      
Barn Swallow     1   5 5 8 5      
Golden-crowned Kinglet                   1  
Ruby-crowned Kinglet       3         1 1  
Red-breasted Nuthatch               1 1 2 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 2 2 4 5 2 1 1 4 5 4 3
Brown Creeper                   1  
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher         3       1    
House Wren         3 2 1 2 1    
Carolina Wren 3   3 1 3 3 3 3 1 3 6
European Starling 5 2 5 3 1   1 2 1   4
Gray Catbird 1     1 10 10 11 10 10 3 1
Brown Thrasher       1 5 4 7 3 2    
Northern Mockingbird         2 6 6 3 1    
Eastern Bluebird     1               1
Veery         1            
Swainson’s Thrush         1            
Hermit Thrush 1     3 1           2
American Robin 9 6 5 9 10 9 10 6 4 7 6
Cedar Waxwing   2 2 1   5 6 7 4 2  
House Sparrow 3 6 7 6 6 7 6 3 5 2 5
House Finch 2 3 3 2   4 3 2 2 2 1
Purple Finch                 1    
Pine Siskin     1               1
American Goldfinch 3 2 2 8 8 10 8 10 6 3 6
Snow Bunting                     1
Chipping Sparrow 1 1 1 3 6 1 3     1 2
Field Sparrow       1         1   1
American Tree Sparrow                     2
Dark-eyed Junco 2 1 5 1           4 3
White-throated Sparrow     1 5 1       1 2 2
White-crowned Sparrow                   1 2
Savannah Sparrow                 1    
Song Sparrow 1   6 8 4 7 8 2 2 7 3
Eastern Towhee       4 11 10 11 2 5    
Baltimore Oriole         9 4 7 5      
Red-winged Blackbird     4 6 4 4 1        
Brown-headed Cowbird       6 4 2 3        
Common Grackle     1 1 8 6 6 2      
Ovenbird                   1  
Black-and-white Warbler         4     3      
Nashville Warbler         1            
Common Yellowthroat         10 6 10 2 3    
American Redstart         6       2    
Northern Parula         8            
Magnolia Warbler         7       2    
Blackburnian Warbler         1            
Yellow Warbler       1 6   1   1    
Blackpoll Warbler         1       1    
Black-throated Blue Warbler         4       1    
Palm Warbler       2              
Pine Warbler       2         1 1  
Yellow-rumped Warbler     2 3 1     1 2 4 3
Black-throated Green Warbler         1       2    
Hooded Warbler         1            
Northern Cardinal 6 6 9 9 11 9 9 5 6 7 5
Rose-breasted Grosbeak           1 1        

Table 1. The number of years a species was observed each month from 2010 to 2020.

Month Total Number of Species Observed Average Number of Species Observed per Walk Range in Number of Species Observed per Walk
Jan 51 19.5 12–26
Feb 40 15.5 3–25
Mar 51 21.0 15–31
Apr 67 26.7 13–39
May 75 29.5 19–50
Jun 48 22.8 18–30
Jul 53 24.5 20–31
Aug 56 21.8 16–31
Sep 63 21.0 11–34
Oct 53 18.8 12–28
Nov 67 22.7 12–39

Table 2. Monthly variation in sightings 2010-2020.

References


Peter H. Van Demark lives with his wife Kathleen (Kate) in Rockport, Massachusetts. He studied geography and cartography and for 18 years has worked in Newton, Massachusetts, for Caliper Corporation, which creates geographic analysis and mapping software. He is an avid birder and leads a monthly Beginner Bird Walk in Halibut Point State Park on Cape Ann. He is also a lifelong photographer and has provided photographic documentation for numerous groups.


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