A Lark Bunting at Val Cabral’s feeders in Norton on August 21 was Bristol County’s first record of the species. It stuck around for one day and Val graciously welcomed dozens of birders to enjoy the bunting’s brief visit. Peter Modest took the photograph.
On August 22, Tanya Rathbun saw a large white bird by the deck of her home near Mount Greylock and the New York border. It was a Wood Stork, the first record for Berkshire County. It showed no fear of Tanya or her family as it ate slugs in their yard for over an hour, then disappeared. Three days later, John Young found a Wood Stork near Wellfleet, Cape Cod, that similarly vanished after a couple of hours. Ross Sormani took the photograph.
Jeff Hendricks photographed a shrike at Forest Beach, Chatham, on September 11. He initially thought it was a Northern Shrike. When he posted a photograph to Cape Cod Birders on Facebook, viewers identified it as a Loggerhead Shrike, even rarer in our state. Hans Holbrook took the photograph.
Several South Polar Skuas appeared in New England waters this summer. On July 11, Jonathan Eckerson photographed Bristol County’s first record of South Polar Skua during a seawatch from Gooseberry Neck. Another was observed from the BBC’s overnight “extreme” pelagic trips on August 24–25 and 26–27, and two more—one in New Hampshire waters, the other in Massachusetts—were seen on a New Hampshire Audubon pelagic trip over Jeffrey’s Ledge on September 4. Liam Waters spotted another two from a Northeast Fisheries Science Center research vessel even farther offshore on August 13–14. Pam Hunt took the photograph.
On August 26, Hans Holbrook took a whale watch with his family out of Provincetown on the Dolphin Fleet, photographing four species of shearwaters around the boat. When he processed the photographs, he realized that one “shearwater” was a Fea’s Petrel, only the third record for the state. Hans took the photograph.
The second of the BBC’s overnight “extreme” pelagic trips this year crossed paths with a Black-capped Petrel, the only one spotted in New England waters this year. The species has been reported only four times from land in Massachusetts but is seen almost annually over the deep-water canyons. Sebastian Jones took the photograph.