Bird sightings
Recent bird sightings reported to Mass Audubon:
Last week’s highlight was a red phalarope flight along Cape Cod early in the week. This is a species that ordinarily migrates northward offshore at the edge of the continental shelf at this time of year, but the rain and strong southeast winds early in the week drove them shoreward. Large numbers of these handsome birds were seen off Nauset Light Beach for several days. By Friday, most of the phalaropes had returned to the open sea to continue their migration. Other notable species included a Mississippi kite, a black-necked stilt, a long-tailed jaeger, two prothonotary warblers, and two yellow-throated warblers.
► Berkshire County: A gadwall, a horned grebe, and three common terns at Onota Lake in Pittsfield, two sandhill cranes at the Hop Brook Wildlife Management Area, and three red-breasted mergansers and an unusual inland occurrence of a blacklegged kittiwake at Stockbridge Bowl.
► Bristol County: A yellowcrowned night-heron and a black-billed cuckoo in South Dartmouth, a Barrow’s goldeneye, eight Harlequin ducks, and long-tailed jaeger at Gooseberry Island, 36 roseate terns at West Island Beach in Fairhaven, and a Swainson’s thrush at Riverside Cemetery in Fairhaven.
► Cape Cod: Most of the red phalaropes were concentrated on the back side of the Cape, especially between Nauset Light Beach and North Beach off Orleans, although some were seen at other locations. They were joined by some red-necked phalaropes. Numbers were difficult to estimate, but clearly several thousand birds were involved. In addition to the phalaropes, small numbers of both Wilson’s and Leach’s storm-petrels were seen at several locations, especially in Dennis and at the Cape Cod Canal by the Sandwich Marina. Other highlights included a Mississippi kite in Truro, two little blue herons at High Head in Truro, a red-headed woodpecker at North Beach Island in Chatham, a tricolored heron in the marsh off Pochet Island in Orleans, single blue grosbeaks at High Head in Truro and Dennis Pond in Yarmouth, single hooded warblers in Harwich and the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, a yellow-throated warbler in Sandwich, and a glaucous gull at Dowse’s Beach in Osterville.
► Essex County: In Rockport, small numbers of both red and red-necked phalaropes at several locations, four Harlequin ducks at Gully Point, and a late thickbilled murre at Andrews Point. Three Caspian terns at Eastern Point in Gloucester, three Caspian terns at Castle Rock Park in Marblehead, a continuing whitefaced ibis in the salt pans by Route 1A in Newbury, a yellow-throated warbler at a yard in Swampscott, and four whiterumped sandpipers, several semipalmated sandpipers, a short-billed dowitcher, a summer tanager, and a Pacific loon at Plum Island.
► Franklin County: A stilt sandpiper at the Hatfield-Pilgrim airport and a continuing yellow-throated warbler at Cranberry Pond in Sunderland.
► Hampden County: Two upland sandpipers in Ludlow and three snowy egrets and two dunlin on the Longmeadow Flats.
► Hampshire County: Single sandhill cranes in Northampton and Hadley, an upland sandpiper and a dunlin in Northampton, and an American bittern in the marsh on Flat Iron Road in Cummington.
► Martha’s Vineyard: Thirty black skimmers at the Joseph Sylvia State Beach, two Swainson’s thrushes at the Wasque Reservation, a blue grosbeak at the Cape Poge Wildlife Refuge, and three Harlequin ducks.
► Middlesex County: A red phalarope at the Little Meadow Conservation Area in Bedford, a prothonotary warbler on Monument Street in Concord, a summer tanager at Callahan State Park, six glossy ibises and a late American tree sparrow at the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, a rednecked grebe at the Stony Brook reservoir in Waltham, and a white-rumped sandpiper at Horn Pond in Woburn.
► Nantucket: An early common nighthawk at Hummock Pond and 55 roseate terns at Coskata.
► Norfolk County: Two bluewinged teal in Medway, two Louisiana waterthrushes in Dedham and a Louisiana waterthrush at the Hale Reservation in Westwood, a sora at McCarthy Park in Medfield, two piping plovers at Wollaston Beach, and 12 red phalaropes at Black Rock Beach in Cohasset.
► Plymouth County: Small numbers of red phalaropes in Hull, at Brant Rock in Marshfield, and at Manomet Point, a black-necked stilt at the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary, a Barrow’s goldeneye at the Glades in North Scituate, a Caspian tern at Brant Rock, five sandhill cranes and two little blue herons at Burrage Pond Wildlife Management Area, a prothonotary warbler in Hingham, and an orangecrowned warbler at Ellisville Harbor in Plymouth.
► Suffolk County: Several red phalaropes and an Iceland gull at Deer Island and Winthrop Beach, and lingering dark-eyed juncos at Franklin Park and the Jamaica Pond area.
► Worcester County: A glossy ibis at the Bolton Flats Wildlife Management Area and four grasshopper sparrows in Bolton, a black vulture in Athol, and a cliff swallow in Westborough.