Bird Sightings: September-October 2019

Neil Hayward and Robert H. Stymeist

February 1, 2020 1 MIN READ Bird Sightings

October continued on the warm side with the temperature averaging 63.8 degrees in Boston, nearly three degrees above normal for the month. The high was 81 degrees on October 7. It was a wet month with rain noted on 20 days and totaling 4.45 inches, about two inches above the average. Much of the area north and west of Boston had significantly more rain, especially on the last days of the month, which resulted in many communities postponing Halloween.

R. Stymeist

WHISTLING-DUCKS THROUGH IBISES

A Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, photographed on Nantucket on September 8, may well be the same bird that was seen there back in June this year. If so, one wonders where has it been hiding all this time? The June sighting constituted the first record of this southern species for the island. Greater White-fronted Goose is an annual winter visitor to the state with the first arrival generally appearing in October, except for an early bird in September 2017. This year's earliest bird—an immature in Rochester, Plymouth County, on October 19—was a day later than last year's arrival. Cackling Geese were reported from three counties in October, which is about average.

A Rufous Hummingbird was banded in New Ashford in the northwest corner of the state in late October. It was determined to be a hatch year bird and probably a female based on the presence of only one iridescent feather in the gorget. Photographs taken by the homeowner indicated that the bird had actually been present since August. Rufous Hummers have been reported in the state every year this century with the exception of 2009.

The winner of the "most surprising yard bird of the period" award goes to an immature Purple Gallinule that was found strutting around a yard in Milton in mid-October. It was seen by many visiting birders, most of whom were surprised at how tame the bird was. That surprise, however, soon gave way to concern as the bird appeared to be suffering from a leg injury. It was taken to Tufts Wildlife Clinic in North Grafton where x-rays revealed multiple leg and wing fractures, likely the result of a collision with a vehicle. Based on a poor prognosis, the veterinary team decided on October 23 to euthanize the bird. Purple Gallinules have been reported in 14 years this century with October being by far the most common month in which to find one. Common Gallinules were reported from six counties this period, including the first fall eBird record from Hampshire County. Perhaps the most jaw-dropping report on the rallid front came from a canoe trip in Marshfield on September 28 on which Nate Marchessault recorded 81 Soras. That's over four times the previous state high count this century (18 recorded on Monomoy in July 2018). This is but a fraction of those seen historically in the fall; in the 1960s this species was recorded in the hundreds in the rice marshes along the Merrimack River in West Newbury (Veit and Petersen, 1998).

Sandy Point, Plum Island, was the place to be for rare shorebirds this period. An adult Common Ringed Plover, the sixth record for the state, was present September 13–15. Except for one May record, also at Sandy Point, the other records date from August and September. This year's bird set a new late date for the state, beating the September 12 record in 2017. Hot on the heels of this rare plover from the north came one from the south: a Wilson's Plover delighted many at Sandy Point from September 20–23. Despite appearing on average every two years, this was the first record since 2014. Given that most historical records have been one-day wonders from the Monomoy and South Beach area, this year's bird was one of the most accessible and chaseable in recent memory. American Avocets were recorded from three locations, with a bird at Belle Isle Marsh on October 1 being the first Suffolk County record since September 2007. Twenty-five Western Sandpipers at Monomoy on October 13 is a new eBird high count for October, eclipsing the 20 birds recorded there in 1983.

After a weather cancellation in August, the Brookline Bird Club (BBC) finally made it offshore on September 21–22. The overnight "Extreme Pelagic" is famous among continental birders for being the most reliable way to see White-faced Storm-Petrels in North America. Most Massachusetts sightings of this antipodean-breeding seabird occur in August, with late September representing the tail end of the season. And the lateness of this year's trip proved to be a real nail-biter; it was only as the captain was about to turn the Helen H. around and head back to port that a single kangaroo-hopping storm-petrel, the only White-faced of the trip, appeared at the bow. By that point, though, most participants were already feeling heady with an excellent trove of sightings including the state's second Bermuda Petrel, a South Polar Skua, Sabine's Gull, immature Brown Booby, and 19 Audubon's Shearwaters. While it's difficult to make generalizations about status and distribution of pelagic species with such limited exploration of our pelagic waters, it certainly seems that Black-capped Petrel numbers are on the rise; the BBC recorded a total of five birds in two days. Last period we reported 50 birds from a cetacean survey vessel with a high of 15 in one day. The previous high count for the state was just one bird.

October saw good numbers of our less common alcids. The 23 Dovekies that flew past Andrews Point, Rockport, on October 27 was the highest October count in Essex County since 1988. Ten Atlantic Puffins, also at Andrews Point, was the second-highest October count after the 104 that flew past Andrews Point on October 12, 2002. A stalled Nor'easter mid-month produced high numbers of Pomarine Jaegers off Cape Cod, with single South Polar Skuas past Race Point on October 11 and 12 and then four at Eastham on October 12. The same storm produced an adult Brown Booby flying past Eastham. Together with another booby on the BBC pelagic, this period saw an exceptional six Brown Booby reports including a first for Bristol County at Westport on October 28.

Cruise ships on the West Coast, especially when "repositioning" between seasons, have become popular ways for birders to see some of the deep-water Pacific seabirds such as Hawaiian, Cook's and Murphy's petrels. Birders are now finding similar opportunities in the northeast. The Princess Cruise line offers a five-day return trip in October from New York to the Canadian Maritimes that may well be one of the best ways to (comfortably) see Great Skuas. This year five birds were seen in Massachusetts waters on October 27.

In other coastal news, this was a good fall for Manx Shearwaters, with counts of 1,400 and 860 in September and October, respectively, setting new month highs. This was also a good year for Gull-billed Terns with birds reported in April, May, June, and September, with a bird at Plum Island lingering until September 30, setting a new late date for the state. The year's third Brown Pelican record came from Salem Harbor on September 7.

White-faced Ibis is a regular spring visitor to the state and probable breeder, albeit by hybridizing with Glossy Ibis. A record of a bird in Sterling this year on October 19–21 was not only wildly late—beating the previous late date of July 25 by almost three months—but only the second inland record for the state. The other inland record came from the neighboring town of Holden in 1990.

Let's end this section with the story of the one that got away. On the morning of September 19, Rick Heil noticed a diminutive cormorant in a flock of Double-crested Cormorants that was migrating past parking lot one on Plum Island. While the flock lazily winged its way through the sky, Rick ran back to his car, retrieved his scope, set up his scope, re-found the flock, opened his iPhone, and snapped three digiscoped photos, which predictably showed three extremely distant and blurry birds flying away. It could have been the state's first Neotropic Cormorant—a small, long-tailed cormorant ranging from the tip of South America through Central America into Texas and the Southwest. The species, once known as Olivaceous Cormorant, has recently been expanding to the north with vagrants turning up across the Great Lakes. Canada recorded its first in Ottawa in April 2018 and New England its first in Gorham, New Hampshire, in August 2018. While the documentation on this recent sighting might not conclusively add the species to the state list, it is surely only a matter of time before one does. Readers are reminded to be on the lookout for small, long-tailed cormorants.

N. Hayward

VULTURES THROUGH DICKCISSEL

The fall hawk migration in our region gets underway in earnest during this period. Hawkwatchers congregate at favorite sites, such as Mount Watatic in Ashburnham and Wachusett Mountain in Princeton, where they hope for a big flight, especially of Broad-winged Hawks. This year was yet another disappointment; Wachusett totaled only 2,832 Broad-wings, which was 2,210 less than last year and just barely above the lowest seasonal count of 2,364 in 2011. The hawkwatch at Mount Watatic reported 2,069 Broad-wings for the period and the Russell hawkwatch logged 2,565. Other noteworthy reports from Wachusett included 125 Bald Eagles, 136 American Kestrels, and 26 Peregrine Falcons. A new record count of 52 Merlins was tallied, surpassing the previous high of 42 set just last year. Golden Eagles were noted from four locations, including two different individuals from the hawkwatch site in Russell.

The big birding story this season, which made national headlines, was the disappearance of three billion birds. This disturbing report, published in the September issue of the journal Science, found that wild bird populations in the United States and Canada have declined by almost 30 percent since 1970 (Rosenberg et al, 2019). That certainly felt true this fall, when many of my birding friends and I commented that this year's migration was lackluster, particularly the numbers of warblers. Trevor Lloyd-Evans of Manomet noted that new bandings of Neotropical migrants were down significantly, with this fall producing the lowest total since Manomet first started banding in 1966. Mark Blazis, a birdbander in Auburn, reported that for the first time in over 30 years of banding, he did not mist-net a single warbler during the fall migration. The wet weather that prevailed over much of October may have also contributed to lower numbers.

Despite all this gloom, birders around the state did find some interesting birds. The fall migration typically brings more surprises than the spring migration, and this fall was exceptional for its surprises. Topping the list was the first state record of Pacific-slope Flycatcher, discovered in Hadley on October 23. The bird was conclusively identified by its diagnostic calls and remained in the area throughout the period to the delight of many birders. Only one other record for this species exists in New England, an individual discovered on the New Haven, Connecticut, Christmas Bird Count on December 19, 2015. That bird was identified based on a fecal sample collected at the site. A Yellow-green Vireo—the second record for the state and only the fifth record north of Florida—was found and banded on South Monomoy on October 15. The first state record was of a bird banded at Plum Island on September 5, 2011. A Tropical Kingbird, the fourth state record and the first record for Middlesex County, took up residence for a week at Rock Meadow in Belmont giving quite a performance for photographers. A Bell's Vireo was photographed in Westport on October 26, the thirteenth state record and the second for Bristol County. Rounding out the rarities this period included six Western Kingbirds, two Sedge Wrens, a Lark Bunting that was photographed in Salisbury, a LeConte's Sparrow that spent five days in Deerfield, and Summer Tanagers from Fort Hill, Eastham, and from Chatham. During the period, 33 warbler species were noted, including two Black-throated Gray Warblers, two Townsend's Warblers, a Yellow-throated Warbler, and two Golden-winged Warblers. Other exceptional observations included the number of Connecticut Warblers, which were noted in nearly 50 different locations.

R. Stymeist

References

• Rosenberg, Kenneth V., Adriaan M. Dokter, Peter J. Blancher, John R. Sauer, Adam C. Smith, Paul A. Smith, Jessica C. Stanton, Arvind Panjabi, Laura Helft, Michael Parr, and Peter P. Marra. Decline of the North American avifauna. Science 366 (2019): 120–124.
• Veit, R. R., and W. R. Petersen. 1993. Birds of Massachusetts. Lincoln, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Audubon Society.