Bird Sightings: The Voice of Audubon

To submit bird sightings call
(781) 259-2150.

The Voice of Audubon offers regular updates on birds sighted across the state to introduce you to the wide variety of species Massachusetts has to offer.

Below are the most recently published sightings. Sightings in the past month are also available.

Cape Cod

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

The following sightings were reported between August 13 and August 19, 2008.
Savy shorebird searchers may have noticed an increase in juvenile shorebirds as of late. Juvenile shorebirds usually symbolize the peak of shorebird migration. In May and June, shorebirds travel north, usually to the arctic, to breed. When they arrive they may find that the tundra is still frozen. The birds then wait for the landscape to thaw, which may take up to two weeks.

When all is well, they will nest. When the young hatch they are able to run around and feed them themselves within an hour or so, this is known as precocial.  The adults watch after the young and protect them until they became fledged, meaning they can fly, at which point the adults leave to make their way south.  This occurs mostly in July, with non-breeding individuals and adults that had failed nest attempts being first. Around mid-August, the newly fledged young have stored enough fat to begin their first migration and start to show up in Massachusetts.

This symbolizes both the peak and inevitable end of shorebird migration. At this time, these first time migrants may end up in an area where their species is not commonly seen, thus becoming a rarity.

The best places to see shorebirds include South Beach and North Monomoy in Chatham, Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Marsh in Eastham, and Goose Pond at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Shorebirds that have been seen at all these locations include:  black-bellied plover, semipalmated plover, piping plover, American oyster-catcher, greater yellowlegs, lesser yellowlegs, solitary sandpiper, willet, spotted sandpiper, whimbrel, ruddy turnstone, red knot, sanderling, semipalmated sandpiper, least sandpiper, white-rumped sandpiper, dunlin, and short-billed dowitcher.

Species only seen at a few locations include the folliwing; hudsonian godwits have been seen at South Beach, North Monomoy, and the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Marbled godwit has been seen exclusively at South Beach.Western sandpipers have been present at South Beach and a banded individual has been in Goose Pond at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary for almost two weeks. A Baird's sandpiper was present in Goose Pond on August 13 with others on South Beach and North Monomoy. Stilt sandpipers are usually fairly difficult to some across but this week they have been in Goose Pond, Nauset Marsh, North Monomoy, South Monomoy, South Beach, and Tern Island in Chatham. A red-necked phalarope was on South Beach on August 16.

Terns that have present through the Cape include; common, roseate, least, black, Forster's, arctic, and a royal tern that has been in Nauset Marsh and Coast Guard Beach this week.

Stellwagen Bank continues to be loaded with birds such as; greater shearwater, Cory's shearwater, sooty shearwater, manx shearwater, Wilson's storm-petrel, Northern gannet, Northern fulmar, pomarine jaeger, and parasitic jaeger.

If you have questions about these sightings, or want to report a sighting, call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary at 508-349-2615 or send e-mail to sightings@massaudubon.org

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Eastern Massachusetts

Monday, August 18, 2008

Weekend whale-watching trips to Stellwagen Bank proved fruitful for birds as well as whales. A trip to northern Stellwagen produced 165 Greater Shearwaters, 65 Cory's Shearwaters, 6 Manx Shearwaters, 5 Sooty Shearwaters, 150 Wilson's Storm-petrels, 2 Northern Gannets, while another trip to southwest Stellwagen tallied a Northern Fulmar, 50 Cory's Shearwaters, 175 Greater Shearwaters, 6 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 Manx Shearwater, 250 Wilson's Storm-Petrels, 2 Northern Gannets, 1 Pomarine Jaeger, 3 Parasitic Jaegers, and 4 Roseate Terns.

On Plymouth Beach on Saturday, there were 200 Black-bellied Plovers, 100 Semi-palmated Plovers, 10 Greater Yellowlegs, 6 Willets, 3 Spotted Sandpipers, a Marbled Godwit, 60 Ruddy Turnstones, 50 Sanderlings, 100 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 2 Western Sandpipers, 3 Least Sandpipers, 1 Dunlin, 50 Short-billed Dowitchers, 2 Roseate Terns, a Forster's Tern, 12 Least Terns, 300 Laughing Gulls, and a Peregrine Falcon. At Sandy Neck in Barnstable there were 1000 Ruddy Turnstones, 1500 Black-bellied Plovers, 700 Semi-palmated Plovers, 600 Sanderlings, 4 American Oystercatchers, 5 Piping Plovers, 4 Willets, 15 Whimbrels, 23 Least Terns, 15 Roseate Terns, and 1 Peregrine Falcon.

An evening watch for migrants in Leicester tallied 4 American Kestrels, 4 Black-bellied Plovers, and 20 Common Nighthawks. Migrating Common Nighthawks were also reported in Haverhill and Natick. At Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary in South Dartmouth over the weekend there was a Stilt Sandpiper, a Forster's Tern, two Black Terns, and a Seaside Sparrow. Highlights from South Beach in Chatham included a Red-necked Phalarope, 20 Hudsonian Godwits, an Arctic Tern, a Black Tern, and a Whimbrel.

Miscellaneous reports included a Black Tern and 50 Bonaparte's Gulls at the entrance to Gloucester Harbor, 7 species of migrant warblers in Nahant and Marblehead, a Stilt Sandpiper at Scituate Spit, a Least Bittern at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, a Cerulean Warbler on the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, and a Buff-breasted Sandpiper was reported from Sandy Point State Reservation at the south end of Plum Island today.

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Western Massachusetts

Monday, August 18, 2008

There is some indication that the songbird migration has started, with night calls being heard and early moving species being reported. It's also time to start watching for migrating common nighthawks in the early evening.  Early reports include eight common nighthawks in East Longmeadow, five in Westfield and six in Southwick.

An unusual sighting of a white-winged crossbill last week in the Moran Wildlife Management Area in Windsor was followed this week by a report of four white-winged crossbills in October Mountain State Forest in the town of Washington.

A red-throated loon was reported on Cheshire Lake, a late orchard oriole was seen in Northampton, an early osprey was in Tyringham and two least sandpipers were found in Huntington.

A common loon, a Cooper's hawk, three yellow-bellied sapsuckers, a pileated woodpecker, 17 eastern wood pewees, a red-breasted nuthatch, a blue-gray gnatcatcher, two chestnut-sided warblers, a magnolia warbler, five American redstarts, three Canada warblers, two scarlet tanagers, two field sparrows, three indigo buntings and two Baltimore orioles were seen in Quabbin Park at the Quabbin Reservoir.

A green heron, 24 wood ducks, four hooded mergansers,  two red-shouldered hawks, two red-breasted nuthatch, four brown creepers, six black-throated green warblers, three American redstarts, two ovenbirds, eight bobolinks and three Baltimore orioles were reported in the town of Petersham.

Five killdeer, three pileated woodpeckers, a wood thrush, two scarlet tanagers and three Baltimore orioles were seen in Belchertown.

A fish crow was reported in West Springfield, a solitary sandpiper was seen in Hadley, a Cooper's hawk and eight ruby-throated hummingbirds were in Florence and seven American kestrels were found in Windsor.

A Cooper's hawk, a green heron, two killdeer, two pileated woodpeckers and two Baltimore orioles were seen in Southwick.

 

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About the Voice of Audubon

These bird sighting reports are transcripts of recorded messages from each of three regional bird hotlines maintained by Mass Audubon, known as the Voice of Audubon. Beginning November 1, 2006, the phone number for the Voice of Audubon is (781) 259-8805. The toll-free number will no longer be in service, but all three recorded reports from throughout the state will continue to be accessible through the new number, and the transcripts will still be available anytime on our website (www.massaudubon.org/voa). The Voice of Audubon is the oldest phone-based bird alert in the United States, first established on December 1, 1954 (original phone number, KEnmore 6-4050). See the original 1954 press release*.

These reports are intended to provide a "snapshot" of the noteworthy bird activity in each region within Massachusetts. Sightings incorporated into these reports include, for example, rarities, early/first-arriving migrants, late-departing migrants, high counts, unusual sightings (e.g., a seabird found on an inland lake), or simply those that represent exemplary sightings for the time and place.

The Boston Globe publishes one or more of these transcripts (with limited editing) each Sunday. To submit bird sightings call (781) 259-2150.

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