North Branch Noddies Score Big in Superbowl

For twelve consecutive hours, the North Branch Noddies scoured the coast of Essex County, MA, in search of all the birds that they could find in the Superbowl of Birding. This was our third year taking part in the competition and we tallied an impressive 66 species, more than we ever have before!

Fair weather and calm wind were a welcomed change form last year, and we were easily able to find Eastern Screech-Owl in two locations before dawn. At first light, we headed to Andrew's Point where birds were very active off the coast. Under good lighting and at close distances, we had great views of Red-throated Loon, Red-necked Grebe, Harlequin Ducks, and a group of a dozen Razorbill among others.

Before noon we had already found amazing birds such as the Barrow's Goldeneye at Loblolly Cove, the King Eider (pictured above) at Bass Rocks, and the Common Murre at Eastern Point. Every stop we made throughout the day seemed to add new species to our list. As the sun was setting, with less than 10 minutes left in the competition, a Short-eared Owl flew silently across the sky at Plum Island as our final bird.

After a fantastic day of birding, the Noddies were happy to learn that they won the Seeker's Award, which is given to the team that finds the most birds off of a special checklist of 30 species. The only species off the list that we didn't see were Northern Gannet, Iceland Gull, and Snowy Owl (which surprisingly wasn't found by any team). Learn more about Youth Birding events.

In this competition, birds are ranked by difficulty to find (1 point being easiest and 5 points being hardest). Our complete checklist is below:
* on the Seeker's Checklist
1 point (plain text)
2 points (bold)
3 POINTS (BOLD, CAPS)
4 POINTS (BOLD, CAPS, ITALICS)
5 POINTS (BOLD, CAPS, ITALICS, UNDERLINED)

Canada Goose
BRANT
Mute Swan
Gadwall*
American Black Duck
Mallard
Greater Scaup
KING EIDER
Common Eider
Harlequin Duck*
Surf Scoter*
White-winged Scoter*
Black Scoter*
Long-tailed Duck*
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye*
BARROW'S GOLDENEYE
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser*
Red-breasted Merganser*
Red-throated Loon*
Common Loon
Horned Grebe*
Red-necked Grebe*
Great Cormorant*
TURKEY VULTURE
Bald Eagle*
Northern Harrier*
COOPER'S HAWK
Red-tailed Hawk*
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK
PEREGRINE FALCON
Purple Sandpiper*
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
COMMON MURRE
RAZORBILL
Black Guillemot*
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eastern Screech-Owl
SHORT-EARED OWL
RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER
Downy Woodpecker*
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark*
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch*
Carolina Wren*
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird*
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing*
American Tree Sparrow*
SAVANNAH SPARROW
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow*
Dark-eyed Junco
SNOW BUNTING
Northern Cardinal
House Finch
American Goldfinch*
House Sparrow