Although most of the land birds have migrated through by now, this is a good time of year to see migrating sea birds on the coast. One day Pam and I took advantage of a Joppa Flats program called Wings Over Water. The program, led by Wayne Peterson, was designed to introduce birders to shore and water bird identification and migration patterns. Wayne Petersen is Mass Audubon's director of the Massachusetts Important Bird Areas (IBA) program and is a very knowledgeable and charismatic leader.

We left early one morning, forgetting what a terrible time it was to drive to Plymouth on the South Shore (how do those commuters do that every day?). Our destination was Manomet Point in Plymouth. This point of land juts out into the ocean and is an especially good place to see migrating sea birds coming from as far away as Alaska, Canada, and the Maine coast. The birds fly by or over the point on their way to their wintering areas in Nantucket Sound and other points down the coast to the Carolinas.

Cormorant (Courtesy photo)

When we arrived at Manomet, the fog was thick. As the day warmed up and the sun appeared, the birds started moving through. Right in front of us on the rocks sticking out of the water were several cormorants. There are two species of cormorants on our coast—the Double-Crested Cormorant and the Great Cormorant. Birds of both species were on the rocks, some side-by-side, giving us a great opportunity to compare the two. Wayne told us the Great Cormorant is larger than the Double-Crested. Seeing them so close together made this comparison easy to grasp. The Double-Crested has a bright orange throat and lores and a dark belly, whereas the Great has a much smaller yellow/orange chin-patch and a white belly. Soon, only the Great Cormorants will be around, as the Double-Crested go farther south to winter.

The scoters promised to be more of a challenge. We thought these small dark-colored ducks appeared similar until Wayne showed us how to identify the three species in flight. As the day warmed up, dozens and dozens of the ducks kept flying by in thread-like formations consisting of 20 to 50 birds. The White-Winged Scoter was the easiest to identify because in flight the white wing patches were obvious. The Surf Scoter and the Black Scoter were, for me, a little harder to tell apart. After 10 or 15 of these groups had passed by, I was able to identify the difference. The Surf Scoter has a larger multicolored bill than the Black Scoter, which has a smaller bill with a yellow knob. Next time I see scoters it should be easier for me to see the differences.

We also saw Common Loons, Red-Throated Loons, Red-Breasted Mergansers and a single Red-Necked Grebe at Manomet. Loons and mergansers in flight can also be challenging for me to identify, but it's easier when they're swimming. Wayne pointed out the difference between the flight silhouettes of the two loons. Common Loons tend to be stockier and fly with their large feet extended beyond their tail.

One week after our visit to Manomet Point, we had an afternoon meeting in Newburyport and decided to leave in the morning to take in the Wednesday Morning Birding program with Bill Gette at Joppa Flats. This trip took us to Salisbury Beach with the hope of seeing Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs, and Horned Larks.

At the first parking lot, Bill noticed a flock of small birds feeding on the ground. As we started watching them, they took off en masse and their bright white wings and body feathers dazzled us—sure enough, we had found some Snow Buntings. While we were watching these birds, another group whirled in to join them and we ended up with what we estimated to be at least 200 Snow Buntings. Among the flock, Bill saw a single Lapland Longspur, but the rest of us did not get a good look. On another part of the parking lot we found five Horned Larks and got excellent looks as they gleaned seeds from the grass in the cracks in the tarmac.

Continuing on to the beach, we saw lots of Black Scoters, Surf Scoters, and White-Winged Scoters close enough for us to check the different field marks. There were also Common Loons and Red-Throated Loons. Having them in close proximity to each other again gave us a good opportunity to compare field marks and reinforced what we had learned a week before.

As we were scanning the ocean from the beach, one in the group noticed a bird not 20 feet from us in some goldenrod on the side of a dune. To everyone's surprise, there were two White-Winged Crossbills, a very unusual sighting, especially in this habitat. Their normal habitat is fir and spruce in the northern boreal forest. Occasionally we get what are called irruptions, when birds come farther south than their normal wintering grounds, usually in search of food. Maybe this is a start of an irruptive year.

David Durrant lives with his wife, Pamela, on East Bare Hill Road at Micheldever Farm, where they watch birds—their own peacocks, chickens, and wild birds.