Rhode Island Hotspots

Day 1 - The small group of four met up at Lawton Valley Reservoir in Portsmouth, RI to find a very rare bird, the Tundra Bean-Goose.  There, we also found several other bird club members among the dozens of birders gathered to find this species in amongst a throng of Canada Geese.  It was cold and breezy, but weather does not matter to birders when the opportunity to observe such a rare bird presents itself.  The Bean-Goose was found at 7:45 AM.  Other birds on the reservoir included 15 Ring-necked and 13 Ruddy Ducks, 12 Shovelers, 5 Mallards, 2 Coot and a Hooded Merganser.

Our next stop was Fort Adams State Park where we missed finding the reported Lark Sparrow, but did find 9 Snow Geese, a perched Cooper’s Hawk, 2 Bufflehead and 4 Common and 2 Red-throated Loons, both of which would become frequent sightings over the weekend.  While in the area, we made a few stops along the shoreline of Brenton Point State Park.  Here we added a Razorbill, seen well by all, a Common Goldeneye, 6 Harlequin, 5 Horned Grebe, 6 Black and 1 White-winged Scoter, 150 Common Eider, 7 Brant, 8 Double-crested Cormorant, 2 American Wigeon and a fly-by of 40 Purple Sandpipers.

It was lunchtime, but unfortunately, we did not find a place to stop on the way to our next destination, Easton Pond.  Though mostly frozen, we managed looks at Mallard, Common Merganser, a Coot, a Great Blue Heron, and 3 Green-winged Teal that Jim spotted in a ditch beside the road.  Nearby at Green End Pond, we counted 30 more Coot, 5 Brant, another Great Blue Heron, over a hundred Canada Geese, 10 Common and 4 Red-breasted Mergansers, a dozen Ruddy Ducks and one Sanderling.

It was well into the afternoon when we headed to Third Beach.  Here the wind subsided for a short time, allowing us to bird in relative comfort.  The light was perfect, and we got beautiful views of 40 Black and 5 Surf Scoters, 3 Horned Grebe, 8 Common Goldeneye, 8 Bufflehead, 20 Greater Scaup, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 6 Brant, a Common Loon and 13 Sanderlings.

Nearby Sachuest gave us a rest stop and a long walk.  Here we added a Harrier, a Great Cormorant, a Long-tailed Duck and a Catbird to our list.  Also there were 80 Greater Scaup, 22 Black and 1 White-winged Scoter, 40 Common Eider, 2 Harlequin, 5 Horned Grebe, 4 Red-throated Loons and a Red-breasted Merganser.

It was getting near dark when we headed to Newport State Airport in hopes of finding a reported Short-eared Owl.  It was not to be.  Now tired and very hungry, after missing lunch, we headed directly to dinner at the Atlantic Grille. Nice to end the birding day with food, laughter, and a review of our day’s good bird finds!

Day 2 – Usually, we begin the second day of our RI trip at Beavertail State Park, but to save time we skipped this spot and headed straight to Narragansett. We stopped briefly at the end of Newton Ave, off Ocean Rd, to try for reported Bonaparte’s Gulls and Razorbills.  We dipped on those species but spotted all the usual sea ducks plus 2 Red-necked Grebes and 9 Brant.

Next, we visited Scarborough Beach State Park, picking up two of our target birds, 15 Snow Buntings and a Black-headed Gull.  Also there were 30 Black, 6 White-winged and 2 Surf Scoters, a dozen each of Bufflehead and Red-breasted Mergansers, 3 Horned Grebe, 3 Great Cormorant and 2 fly-by Purple Sandpipers.  We missed the reported Iceland Gull at Galilee Harbor, but Salty Brine State Beach gave us 2 Wigeon and 2 Long-tailed Duck, along with the usual scoters, eiders and mergansers.

Moonstone Beach Rd and a walk down the beach gave us views of Trustom Pond, where many waterfowl huddled together on the only open water in the distance.  Our scopes allowed us to get views of 4 Tundra and 4 Mute Swans, 2 Gadwall, a Bald Eagle sitting on the ice, 2 Redhead and 30 Ring-necked Ducks, 40 Wigeon, 12 Common and 12 Hooded Mergansers, 30 Coots, 4 Bufflehead and 10 Red-breasted Mergansers.  We then headed to the Trustom Pond Visitor Center and added several feeder birds to our list, including two targets, Fox Sparrow and Eastern Towhee.

The South Shore Management Area was a brief stop, failing to find any of the seven different sparrow species that were reported, but the flat open fields looked right and maybe earlier in the day would have been a better time to visit.  The group split up after this stop, but two continued, going to nearby Green Hill Beach and then back to Trustom Pond NWR to walk the mile-long trail to the viewing deck that looks over the same pond visited earlier from a different angle.  Canvasback was reported to be there somewhere in the huddled masses and it was a life bird for Tim.  The sun was behind our right shoulders, casting great light on the ducks, who were still far away in the open water.  Panning carefully with our scopes we picked out the lone Canvasback, with its sloping forehead and bright white body.  A third Redhead, 20 more Ring-necked Ducks, and 3 Harriers added to previous totals. We left very happy for all the great birding RI provided on this winter weekend, a total of 71 species!