John Kricher
Mountain Plover. All photographs by the author.
In his classic book Birds Across America (1948), Roger Tory Peterson included an account of the first sighting of a Painted Redstart in Massachusetts. That event occurred at Marblehead Neck on October 18, 1947 (Veit and Petersen 1993). With obvious admiration for the birders of the Bay State, Peterson wrote,
During the day this rare visitor was seen by 100 to 150 observers from all over the state, including a busload of Massachusetts Audubonites on a scheduled trip. Even Kodachrome movies were taken for the record. That is the way they do things in Massachusetts. When a rare straggler turns up, so many people see it that there is no question as to its authenticity.
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