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  Hot Birds: February 2020

  Painted Bunting, Chatham, by Tom Auer. Painted Bunting, Sandwich, by Sean Williams. Painted Bunting, Brewster, by Sue Finnegan. Painted Bunting, Carver, by Chris Floyd. One of the many amazing birding phenomena of the fall and winter of 2019 was an influx of Painted Buntings into the northeast. Massachusetts, in a roughly 2-month period, apparently had seven of them, all on or near Cape Cod, with birds photographed in Brewster, Dartmouth, Provincetown, Harwich, Sandwich, Carver, and Chatham! The event was not restricted to Massachusetts, with at least four more birds on Long Island NY, and several more around Delaware Bay and Chesapeake Bay. Most of the birds were visiting feeders; the bird in Carver was still being reported up until press time. At the same time that the two Townsend’s Solitaires and the first of the seven Painted Buntings showed up, so did the first of at least five Western Tanagers! As with the buntings, most of the birds were visiting feeders in private yards, some of which did not allow visitors. Birders did manage to catch up with a couple of them, including one ...
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  Front Cover: February 2020

  About the Cover Artist John Sill is a freelance wildlife artist living in the mountains of North Carolina. He was the illustrator for the Bird Identification Calendar for Mass Audubon for many years. His work has appeared in Birds In Art at the Leigh-Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau, Wisconsin, and in Art of the Animal Kingdom at the Bennington Center for the Arts in Vermont. He continues to illustrate the "About" and "About Habitats" series of natural history books for children written by his wife Cathryn. Hooded Merganser The Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) is the smallest, and arguably the most beautiful, of the North American mergansers and the only one endemic to North America. Because of its secretive nature and widely dispersed population, its biology is poorly known. Males are identified by their small size; their black face, neck, and back; orangey-brown flanks; and a white fan-shaped crest that is edged in black. The crest appears as a white line extending back from the eye when it is depressed. The bill is long and narrow. The female's small size, brownish crest, and ...
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  At a Glance: December 2019 Revealed

  Sandpipers in the Family Scolopacidae are typically small and slim shorebirds, often streaked below, and frequently with streaked or strongly patterned upperparts, especially in breeding plumage. The legs may be either dark or light in color. Many sandpiper species also exhibit fine bills that are straight and uniformly dark in color. The mystery sandpiper's characteristics differ from most sandpipers in that it has a relatively long, slightly curved bill that appears bicolored at the base, and it also has a robust, chunky shape. Especially notable on the pictured sandpiper are prominent dark spots on the white lower belly. Few sandpipers other than the atypical Spotted Sandpiper have such prominent spots on their underparts in combination with light-colored legs and a strongly colored bill. A Spotted Sandpiper, however, would present a more even-textured appearance to the back and its longer tail projects beyond the folded wing tips. A Spotted Sandpiper also would not have the dark-centered and pale-fringed scapulars and back feathers, streaked appearance of the throat, or pale fringes to the greater coverts on the wing shown by the ...
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  Winter Birding in the Plymouth-Manomet Area (1975)

  Thicket birding during the colder months will often yield Winter and Carolina wrens, Gray Catbird, American Robin, Hermit Thrush, both kinglets, Cedar Waxwing, lingering blackbirds, House Finch, Rufous-sided Towhee, and Field Sparrow. Although Plymouth Beach peninsula is inaccessible to most winter birders, the area is attractive to roosting gulls and winter shorebirds, and the hardy dune-hiker will often be rewarded with Savannah (Ipswich) Sparrow, Short-eared Owl, Brant, and Snow Bunting. (Note: see article on Plymouth Beach birding in BOEM May-June 1973). Map of Plymouth area. Red-throated Loon. Photograph © Shawn P. Carey. The following suggested route can be variously worked to suit your own interests, but don't limit yourself just to the winter season, for most of the spots are productive from October through May. If one approaches from the north, take Rte. 44 to the east off Rte. 3. This will take you toward Plymouth and to Rte. 3A. Turn left (north), proceed 1/2 mile, and turn right onto Nelson Street. Go to the parking lot beyond the end of the street. This is a fine spot from which to observe ...
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  About Books: Locally Sourced

  Nelson came to birds rather late in his life, and this gives him a different perspective than one reads in work penned by hard-core birders obsessed since their childhood. "I turned to birding only after a midlife run of orthopedic insults ended my amateur careers in basketball, touch football, and tennis." (p. 3) It was while he was recuperating from the surgeries in Monteverde, Costa Rica, that on a whim he decided to try a professionally led bird walk. He enjoyed it and something clicked. When he returned to his home on Cape Ann, he took up bicycling as exercise and began to notice all the birds he passed on his outings. A birder was born. But Nelson's writing is never just about the birds. After I returned, I looked to combine my newfound love of birds with my long-standing love of literature. I hatched a plan to write a grand book tracing the history of American literature from a birder's perspective. After several editors persuaded me I'd never find a publisher, I kept reading anyway, partly as research for essays, but ...
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  Birding Plymouth Beach (1985)

  THE SPECIES LIST In order to fully understand this bird list, it is necessary to explain some of the arbitrary conventions used in its compilation. Average abundance during the season when the species is most frequent is indicated as follows: C = common (should be seen), U = uncommon (might be seen), R = rare (worth looking for), and V = very rare or vagrant (recorded on one or two occasions, i.e., apparently exceptional). These four simplified categories are used to convey the chances of a species being seen in ideal conditions by a knowledgeable observer. Therefore, the abundance rank selected for each species not only depends on its average numerical abundance, but also on its conspicuousness and the awareness of the observer. Seasonal occurrence is indicated as follows: S = summer, M = migration, and W = winter. A capitalized symbol marks the season of most frequent occurrence (to which the above abundance ranking—C, U, R, or V—refers), and a lowercase symbol indicates a lesser occurrence. The migration period of each species occurring on Plymouth Beach is typical of ...