Bird sightings
For the second week in a row, a major movement of seabirds off Cape Ann and Cape Cod captured the stage of unusual sightings. Other notable bird reports last week included the continued presence of three trumpeter swans in Northbridge and a scissor-tailed flycatcher at Nantucket.
Berkshire County: A golden eagle soaring over Pittsfield and a northern shoveler on Pontoosuc Lake.
Bristol County: Two clapper rails at the Egypt Lane Ponds in Fairhaven and five great egrets at Allens Pond in South Dartmouth.
Cape Cod: High winds on Thanksgiving Day drove a significant number of seabirds onto the Cape for the second week in a row that included 5,350 large alcids, 175 dovekies, 40 razorbills, 3,410 black-legged kittiwakes, 2,600 northern gannets, a brown booby, and four sooty shearwaters. A Pacific loon and a black-headed gull were seen at Race Point in Provincetown. A little gull was seen at Corporation Beach in Dennis and a black-headed gull was spotted at Salt Pond in Falmouth. A western tanager and a dickcissel were spotted at Fort Hill in Eastham, and a late great crested flycatcher in the vicinity of Scorton Harbor in East Sandwich. 94 red knots were counted at Minimoy Island and 3 willets near Forest Beach in Chatham.
Essex County: A massive seabird flight last week at Andrew’s Point in Rockport on Wednesday with a carefully tallied total of 15,260 dovekies, 1,020 razorbills, 19 common murres, 5,075 black-legged kittiwakes, 1,450 northern gannets, 360 redthroated loons, four parasitic jaegers, three pomarine jaeger , and a single red phalarope. The number of dovekies was far and away one of highest counts on record in Massachusetts. There were also 120 late laughing gulls at West Beach in Beverly, a latelingering ruby-throated hummingbird in Gloucester, 10 white-rumped sandpipers at Plum Island, two American golden-plovers at the Newburyport Airport, a yellow-billed cuckoo at the Bear Creek Sanctuary in Saugus, a lark sparrow at the Salisbury Beach Reservation, and single brown thrashers at the Marblehead Neck Sanctuary and the Babson Museum in Rockport.
Franklin County: Three pinkfooted geese that have been trading back and forth all fall between Tri-Town Beach in Whately and in neighboring Hampshire County, a golden eagle on River Road in Sunderland, two black vultures in Greenfield, and three whitewinged crossbills in New Salem.
Hampden County: A tufted duck at the Whiting Street Reservoir in Holyoke and a late bluewinged teal at the Longmeadow Flats in Longmeadow.
Hampshire County: A western cattle egret at the Northampton Airport, eight northern shovelers over Quabbin Reservoir near the Windsor Dam Park Headquarters in Belchertown, and an ash-throated flycatcher at Arcadia Sanctuary in Northampton.
Martha’s Vineyard: One-hundred-fifty tree swallows and a blue-headed vireo near Aquinnah, five laughing gulls spotted on Lagoon Pond in Tisbury, and three northern shovelers at Crystal Lake in Oak Bluff . Two common ravens and an ash-throated flycatcher were observed offshore at Cuttyhunk Island.
Middlesex County: A western kingbird and an orangecrowned warbler at Drumlin Farm Sanctuary in Lincoln, a lesser yellowlegs at the Arlington Reservoir , an osprey at the Rocky Hill Sanctuary in Groton, a blue-winged teal on the Hager Land in Boxborough, a late ovenbird in Lexington, and seven evening grosbeaks at Great Meadows Refuge in Concord.
Nantucket: A scissor-tailed flycatcher near Settler’s Landing in Madaket, a western kingbird in the vicinity of Bartlett’s Farm, a western cattle egret near the Nantucket Airport, three late common terns near Esther’s Island, and a spotted sandpiper at Sesachacha Pond.
Norfolk County: A barrow’s goldeneye at Great Pond in Randolph, a short-eared owl at Baker Beach in Quincy, and a Wilson’s warbler at Hall’s Pond in Brookline.
Plymouth County: Eleven sandhill cranes at the West Meadows Wildlife Area in West Bridgewater, 45 black-legged kittiwakes and a little gull at Manomet Point, a glue-gray gnatcatcher and a black-throated blue warbler at the Manomet Bird Observatory, a black-headed gull at Plymouth Beach, and a Forster’s tern in Duxbury Harbor.
Suffolk County: A black-headed gull, eight greater yellowlegs, and a long-billed dowitcher at Crystal Cove in Winthrop.
Worcester County: Three trumpeter swans and a western tanager at the Blackstone River in the vicinity of North Street in Northbridge. Late Ospreys in South Grafton and Quaboag Pond in Brookfield, six killdeer and a pectoral sandpiper at Bartlett Pond in Northborough, and a great egret at the Coes Reservoir.