The undisputable bird of the winter so far is the dark-morph Ferruginous Hawk that Krzysztof Kurylowicz photographed on December 29 on Morris Island, Chatham. A first state record, it has continued to show up there through press time. It appeared half a year after the first record for New England, a light-morph bird in Maine in mid-July. Mary Keleher took the photograph.
Val Burdette heard an odd towhee call at Provincetown Airport on November 16. After some effort, she recorded, saw, and photographed a Spotted Towhee. It has remained at the airport through mid-January and press time. This is the ninth record for the state; the tenth record followed just before the end of 2024 when a Spotted Towhee appeared on Stephen Turner’s patio in Salem. Ted Bradford took the photograph.
Louis Dentiste found a Northern Lapwing at Bartlett’s Farm on Nantucket on November 29. It disappeared after a couple of weeks. It or another bird was found in Rhode Island toward the end of December, eventually working its way east and back into Massachusetts to New Bedford, where Joao Faustino found it on January 10. It is being reported there as of press time. Carol Molander took the photograph.
On December 1, at Spencer-Pierce-Little Farm in Newbury, Rick Heil found a Lazuli Bunting perching side by side with an extremely late-season Indigo Bunting, which emphasized the distinctions between the species in their nonbreeding plumages. The Lazuli stayed in the area for almost two weeks and the Indigo hung around into early January. Jason Barcus took the photograph.
This winter’s annual appearances of Pink-footed Geese in Massachusetts have been a trio of one-day wonders. Liam Waters found a pair in Sharon on December 24, giving Norfolk County its first record of the species. A lone bird spent New Year’s Day at Cumberland Farms in Middleborough, and another goose was in Marion on January 4. Carol Molander took the photograph.
Evan Lipton encountered a lone meadowlark at an unlikely time of year—just before Christmas—in the Pioneer Valley birding hotspot called the Hadley Honeypot. A Western Meadowlark found there in November 2021 had stayed into early January 2022. Evan’s meadowlark turned out to be a Western as well, and like its predecessor, remained into January, at least through the 11th. Sara Griesemer took the photograph.