A Calliope Hummingbird visiting a feeder on Cape Cod for a few days in late October was caught and banded. At the homeowner’s request, its presence was not announced to the birding community until after the bird had left. Sean Williams took the photo above.
Chris Floyd was looking for a reported Sedge Wren near Fort Hill but instead flushed a Yellow Rail! Over subsequent weeks, it was photographed in flight by a few other birders. Reports of it vocalizing remain controversial. Neil Hayward took the photo above.
Renée LaFontaine found an Empidonax flycatcher in the Middlesex Fells which turned out to be a Hammond’s, only the fourth state record! Neil Hayward took the photo above.
Immediately after Bird Observer’s article on finding birds in Turners Falls went to press for the December issue, James Smith discovered a Mountain Bluebird at the Turners Falls Airport (his photo above).
After watching a northbound Elegant Tern fly past them on the outer beach, Luke Seitz and his group raced up Cape Cod to get ahead of the bird so they could photograph it. Marshall Iliff took the photo on the right.
The first rare bird of 2017, a Boreal Chickadee visiting feeders at a couple of homes in Peru, was posted to MassBird by Richard Guthrie and seen by many happy birders since, though at least one needed to call a tow truck after the snow where he parked turned out to be a little too deep. Richard took the photo on the left.