Bird sightings
Recent bird sightings reported to Mass Audubon:
A fairly quiet week with the most outstanding reports being a flock of 24 sandhill cranes in flight over Townsend, single ashthroated flycatchers in Cambridge and Rockport, and a greater white-fronted goose in South Egremont.
► Berkshire County: Two redheads and four red-breasted mergansers at Pontoosuc Lake in Pittsfield, a lingering osprey at Stevens Pond in Monterey, 20 Northern shovelers, a long-tailed duck, and three white-winged scoters at Laurel Lake in Lee, a greater white-fronted goose, a snow goose, and a cackling goose at Smiley’s Pond in South Egremont, and six red crossbills near the Mount Williams Reservoir in North Adams.
► Bristol County: A continuing clapper rail at the Egypt Lane Ponds in Fairhaven, and at Town Beach on West Island in Fairhaven there were two great egrets and a short-eared owl.
► Cape Cod: At Race Point in Provincetown, a king eider, a Pacific loon, two common terns, a black-headed gull, six thickbilled murres, and 66 common murres. On Race Point Road in Provincetown, a Western kingbird was spotted. Three willets continued to be seen at Forest Beach in Chatham, and at Morris Island in Chatham an American oystercatcher and a long-billed dowitcher. At High Head in Truro a rough-legged hawk, and three great egrets and a Nashville warbler at Long Pasture WIldlife Sanctuary in Cummaquid. A blue-gray gnatcatcher was spotted near Depot Pond in Eastham.
► Essex County: A continuing ash-throated flycatcher and a white-eyed vireo at Halibut Point State Park in Rockport, along with four red crossbills, 20 laughing gulls in Beverly, and five white-rumped sandpipers, a common gallinule, a common yellowthroat, and eight red crossbills at Plum Island.
► Franklin County: A red-throated loon and three lesser scaup at Barton Cove in Gill, two redbreasted mergansers at Lake Mattawa in Orange, and an Eastern phoebe in Leverett.
► Hampshire County: A Lapland longspur near Great Pond in Hatfield, where a ruby-crowned kinglet was also spotted, two marsh wrens at the Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area in Northampton, and eight continuing pine warblers near the Quabbin Reservoir Headquarters building in Belchertown.
► Martha’s Vineyard: Two Northern shovelers and a Eurasian wigeon at Crystal Lake in Oak Bluffs, five laughing gulls, 36 tree swallows, and a common raven at Aquinnah, and a willet observed from West Basin Road in Chilmark.
► Middlesex County: A flock of 24 sandhill cranes in flight at Squannacook River Wildlife Management Area in Townsend, a continuing ash-throated flycatcher at Danehy Park in Cambridge, a yellow-breasted chat and a white-crowned sparrow at Nahanton Park in Newton, three orange-crowned warblers and a house wren at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, a claycolored sparrow at Weston Station Pond in Weston, and Eastern phoebe at Upper Vine Brook Conservation Area in Lexington.
► Nantucket: Nine great egrets at Great Point, three at Hummock Pond, and a single at Sesachacha Pond, a tufted duck at Long Pond, a Western kingbird see along Hummock Pond Road, four American oystercatchers at the UMass Field Station, and a black-and-white warbler at an undisclosed location.
► Norfolk County: Three great egrets at the Sailor’s Home Pond in Quincy, a lesser black-backed gull at Lake Massapoag in Sharon, a laughing gull and a black guillemot at Sandy Beach in Cohasset, and a continuing Wilson’s warbler at Hall’s Pond in Brookline.
► Plymouth County: A snowy egret at Nelson Beach in Plymouth, a laughing gull at Green Harbor in Marshfield and two more in Hull, two greater yellowlegs in Duxbury, and a great egret at Broad Cove in Hingham, a house wren, a clay-colored sparrow, and a vesper sparrow at the Nemasket Trail in Plympton, Eastern phoebes were tallied at the great river preserve in Bridgewater and the Tidmarsh Wildlife Sanctuary in Manomet.
► Suffolk County: A pileated woodpecker at Allandale Woods in West Roxbury, two Virginia rails, a Wilson’s warbler, a gray catbird, a clay-colored sparrow, a dickcissel, and a yellow-headed blackbird among a large flock of red-winged blackbirds at Millennium Park in West Roxbury, three greater yellowlegs, four black-bellied plovers, and a black-headed gull at Crystal Cove in Winthrop, two snowy egrets at the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation, a rough-legged hawk at Boston Logan International Airport, a yellow-breasted chat at Lewis Lake in Winthrop, a continuing lark sparrow at Forest Hills Cemetery, a Cape May warbler at Franklin Park, a Baltimore oriole at the Arnold Arboretum, and a black-andwhite warbler in the Fenway Victory Gardens.
► Worcester County: A surf scoter at the Westboro Wildlife Management Area in Westborough, 15 red crossbills at Quabbin gate 43 in Hardwick, two orange-crowned warblers at the Coes Reservoir in Worcester, a migrating golden eagle at Wachusett Mountain State Reservation in Princeton, and a longtailed duck and an Iceland gull at the Wachusett Reservoir in Clinton.
For more information about bird sightings go to www.massaudubon.org.