A Tale of Two Owls. Part 2: Duxbury

Duxbury Beach

I decided that I needed to find more owls. I had also been reading a lot about the unprecedented irruption of snowy owls this winter and decided that I was going to try again to see one of these ephemeral specters before the warm weather pushes them back north. (To read more about it, follow the link here.) As snowy owls prefer habitat reminiscence of their tundra homes, I would have to venture further a field than Newton. I read that Duxbury Beach is one of the best places to find snowy owls, as this long strip of beach is great habitat and also narrow enough that there are not lots of places for them to hide. That, and the fact that the snowy owls that find their way to Logan Airport are captured (for the safety of both planes and owls) and then released at Duxbury.

Piping Plover

Feeding

About an hour drive from Newton this thin ribbon of beach runs 4 miles from the main land to The Gurnet and separates Massachusetts and Duxbury Bays. I drove across Powder Point Bridge and and started my walk around 11:30am by walking north along the bay side looking for some reported Black-bellied Plovers that have been seen all winter. Without seeing them, I headed back south on the beach side and was pleasantly surprised when a small shorebird flushed in front of me. It wasn't a dunlin or sanderling, the most common shorebirds of the beach, but a piping plover!  Duxbury manages the beach to protect the endangered Piping Plover as this beach is a popular nesting site and beaches are increasingly developed. I quite enjoyed watching this little plover running around and pulling up small worms from the sand, reminiscent of a robin in wet grass. Later I managed to find a second hidden in the pebbly beach. The light gray back and black markings perfectly blend into the stones, making this second one nearly invisible until he flew off giving his high piping call.

Horned Lark

I continued to head south on the beach observing the common eiders, scoters, and noting that the horned grebes have started molting by shedding their drab black and white winter plumage for the golden horns for which they are named. The snowy owls are usually seen around High Pines or Gurnet Marsh, both of which are miles down the beach, so I took the time to enjoy the great scenery and the flora and fauna. The horned larks were one of my favorites. While unlikely to be found much in Newton, they thrive in barren environments like beach dunes and plowed fields. Their distinctive yellow and black facial pattern and their soft high tinkling bell-like song (listen to a sample here) has quickly made this a favorite. I continued down the road, occasionally using a cross-over to scan the beach side, turning up sanderlings, dunlin, great cormorants, and a distant American oystercatcher. The oystercatcher was a pleasant surprise as they have only just returned to MA. This bulky black and white shorebird with its long, thick orange bill certainly stood out from the gulls napping around it.

Snowy Owl

After about three miles I scanned the bay trying to identify any water foul and just as I reached the edge of the water with my binoculars, there it was! A large white snowy owl on a distant sand dune. Luckily this bird was quite close to the road, so I carried on and was able to get great views from the road. His head was quite white and round with piercing yellow eyes, while his body was mostly white with some dark barring. Younger owls tend to be darker, so this certainly wasn't a very young owl. Occasionally he would look straight at us, but he didn't seem too concerned (the picture to the right was provided to me by another birder present). He seemed almost docile sitting on this tuft of grass. Seeing this arctic visitor on on our Massachusetts shores was almost a shock, though he seemed quite at home in the sparse landscape. This brought back my first snowy owl encounter from just a few months ago, when one owl flew by me on his way to an evening perch. Watching this ghostly owl's slow, strong wing beats really hammered home the size and power of the snowy. When I had my fill of the snowy owl, I continued my way down the beach. My parting shot was of this snowy owl in stark contrast to the dark storm clouds and dusky marsh as I walked north back to my car.