February 18-20 - Cape Ann/Gloucester

For President's Weekend my wife & I went up to northeastern Massachusetts for a visit to Cape Ann. This island is composed of the towns of Gloucester & Rockport.  Unfortunately the prevailing winds were from the West & North, which are the wrong directions to bring in seabirds close to shore.  Nevertheless there were good birds to be seen, and in greater numbers than I would see closer to home.

The rarest bird I saw has to be the Spotted Towhee that has been reported for some time now in Rockport.
Other good birds seen were a couple dozen Red-Necked Grebes, a pair of male King Eiders, a male Barrow's Goldeneye, several Black Guillemots & a handful of Iceland Gulls.

I also enjoyed seeing over 100 of the beautiful Harlequin Ducks, Common Eider of which there were too many to count, a few Razorbills, Purple Sandpipers, and some Great Cormorants.

Here's one Common Eider showing off his green neck patch