February 2021https://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2021/February-2021Front Cover: February 2021https://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2021/February-2021/front-cover-february-2021Front CoverMon, 01 Feb 2021 00:17:00 GMT<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo49-1/GBBG_AW.jpg?ver=dYa6RDmynox5aRMpGX_R0Q%3d%3d" style="width: 750px; height: 1059px;" /></p> <p>Avery Whitlock is a freelance illustrator based in Massachusetts. She is a Brookline Bird Club featured artist, a volunteer bird banding assistant, and a parent to two boisterous finches. Avery is largely inspired by the illustrations of Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and aims to depict birds with realism and an essence of their character.</p> <p>To see more of Avery’s illustrations, go to <<a href="http://www.averywhitlockart.com/birds" target="_blank">www.averywhitlockart.com/birds</a><span>> </span></p> To view the rest of the article you'll need to subscribe. Bird Observer publishes original articles on birding locations, on avian populations and natural history, on regional rarities, field notes, field records, photographs, and art work. Birding Burlington, Vermont, along the Island Line Trailhttps://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2021/February-2021/birding-burlington-vermont-along-the-island-line-trailWhere to Go BirdingMon, 01 Feb 2021 00:15:00 GMT<p><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo49-1/Burlington_Locator.jpg?ver=cioLz7HB6hhc19M8n8Ozyw%3d%3d" style="margin: 12px; float: right; width: 245px; height: 276px;" />The city of Burlington, Vermont, is bordered by Lake Champlain to the west and Vermont’s highest peak, Mount Mansfield, to the east. To the north lie the Champlain Islands and the Canadian border, and to the south, the rich agricultural lands of the Champlain Valley. The Burlington area and all birding locations described in this article are located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Abenaki Nation and People. As visitors on the land of the Abenaki People, all are encouraged to pay their respects to them, to the wisdom of their elders, and to their culture.</p> <p>A confluence of birds, wildlife, lands, and people, Burlington has a robust ornithological history spurred on by an active community of longtime local birders and an ever-present group of budding ornithologists and nature-minded students at the University of Vermont. Professors at the Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources, including but not limited to Allan Strong, Trish O’Kane, and Michael McDonald, are the driving force behind the birding energy that radiates from this campus; they often can be found with binoculars slung over their shoulders and a group of students in tow. As one of those students, I spent several years getting to know the best birding locations within walking, biking, and driving distance of the campus.</p> <p>Many of the best birding spots in the Burlington area can be accessed along a biking and walking path along the shore of Lake Champlain called the Island Line Trail, so bring your bike or sturdy hiking shoes. Most of this article focuses on birding this trail by bike or on foot. I include several parking areas where drivers can access the bike trail and walk to the hotspots from there. Before exploring the Island Line Trail, I include two locations where you will drive: Centennial Woods Natural Area near the University of Vermont’s campus, then Red Rocks Park, along the shore of Lake Champlain.</p> <p class="caption"><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo49-1/WTG_Burlington_VT_Map_1_Final.jpg?ver=cQmjuktXG9n6eAnDyY2o-Q%3d%3d" style="width: 735px; height: 957px;" /><br /> Map of Burlington, Vermont.</p> To view the rest of the article you'll need to subscribe. Bird Observer publishes original articles on birding locations, on avian populations and natural history, on regional rarities, field notes, field records, photographs, and art work. Observations from Several Months Spent on the Island of Tuckernuck in 2020https://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2021/February-2021/observations-from-several-months-spent-on-the-island-of-tuckernuck-in-2020Feature ArticlesMon, 01 Feb 2021 00:14:00 GMT<p class="caption"><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo49-1/260773391.png?ver=ocV1SCW_OghYWo5OVuznBQ%3d%3d" style="width: 732px; height: 427px;" /><br /> The Gray Heron, originally found on September 5 on Tuckernuck, was subsequently refound the next day by a small party of observers on nearby Muskeget. All photographs by the author.</p> <p>Tuckernuck is a privately-owned, low-lying island just a stone’s throw away from the “faraway” land of Nantucket, 28 miles southeast of mainland Massachusetts. A few kilometers north of Tuckernuck lies Muskeget Island, a remote slump of sand with a well-documented breeding history of gulls, terns, skimmers, and ducks written and catalogued by Wetherbee, Forbush, Mackay, and Snow, among others. Renowned naturalist Skip Lazell called Tuckernuck “surely the most remarkable bit of land along our entire Atlantic coast.” (Lazell 1976, p. 36) Various organizations, including the Nature Conservancy and the town of Nantucket, have assumed responsibility for the endangered Roseate Terns that nest there, and actively work to combat the ongoing threats that other avian inhabitants and visiting humans pose toward these birds. Farther still, across the Muskeget Channel, the island of Chappaquiddick can be seen on clear days from Bigelow’s Point or North Head on Tuckernuck, and often Cape Poge Lighthouse is visible as well. Nantucket Sound protects this broken archipelago from mammalian predators such as raccoon and otter as well as more sedentary raptors like Barred and Screech owls, all of which are unreported or absent here.</p> To view the rest of the article you'll need to subscribe. Bird Observer publishes original articles on birding locations, on avian populations and natural history, on regional rarities, field notes, field records, photographs, and art work. Second Report of the Rhode Island Avian Records Committeehttps://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2021/February-2021/second-report-of-the-rhode-island-avian-records-committeeFeature ArticlesMon, 01 Feb 2021 00:13:00 GMT<p class="caption"><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo49-1/2012-7__Little_Stint__Ph1-Pedro-4July2012_copy.jpg?ver=oq6ph9hLYyXNe-RAVd5Wig%3d%3d" style="width: 732px; height: 489px;" /><br /> Little Stint, Charlestown Breachway, Washington, July 4, 2012. © Carlos Pedro.</p> <p>The current report describes the Committee’s evaluation of 224 records from 1998 to 2015, involving 80 species, plus the species pair Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird. We extend our deepest appreciation to Richard Ferren and Christopher Raithel for their hard work and expertise on behalf of the Committee, and we welcome Paul L’Etoile and Peter Paton.</p> <p>Highlights of this multi-year compendium include eight additions to the state list: <strong>Trumpeter Swan</strong>, <strong>Eurasian Collared-Dove</strong>, <strong>Calliope Hummingbird</strong>, <strong>Wood Sandpiper</strong>, <strong>Little Stint</strong>, <strong>Band-rumped Storm-Petrel</strong>, <strong>Zone-tailed Hawk</strong>, and <strong>Swainson’s Warbler</strong>. Also notable are two additions to the list of species documented to breed in Rhode Island: Black Vulture and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.</p> <p>The Committee recognizes its indebtedness to the birders of Rhode Island and gratefully acknowledges their contributions of written descriptions, photographs, and other kinds of information concerning unusual birds in the Ocean State. Reports are always welcome, even long after an observation, but reports prepared promptly after an observation tend to be more detailed and more reliable. Guidelines for preparation of reports are presented at our website. A report should express clearly who saw the bird, where and when it was seen, exactly what features were observed and which of these were regarded as diagnostic, whether photographs, audio recordings, or drawings document the observation, and how similar species were ruled out. Although the Committee welcomes reports in any format, Microsoft Word documents and jpeg images are the most convenient and can be sent to Doug Wilson, Secretary of RIARC, at <a href="mailto:Secretary%40RI-AvianRecords.org?subject="><span>Secretary@RI-AvianRecords.org</span></a>.</p> <p>Unlike the first report (Mitra et al. 2010), which was organized by year of occurrence, the current report is organized by species in the following format:</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong>Common name (<em>Scientific</em> name) (a, b, c)</strong><br /> <strong>RIARC Record Number (RIARC Committee members vote: Accepted-Not Accepted-Natural Status Uncertain)</strong>, # of birds reported; location; date(s); reporters (I = initial observer, R = report submitted, P = photograph submitted).</p> <p>The definitions of the numbers in parentheses following the species names are as follows:</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong>a</strong> the number of historical records accepted for the period 1900–2002. This number is derived principally from the <em>Checklist of Rhode Island Birds</em> (RIOC 2002), which represents a synthesis of information from Ferren (<em>in litt.</em>), Conway (1992), and records accepted by a pre-RIARC committee of reviewers for <em>Field Notes of Rhode Island Birds</em> through 2002 (Raithel 2001, 2002). The historical totals are imprecise but presented here to summarize each species’s history of occurrence in Rhode Island. A “++” is used to represent relatively frequent historical occurrence where it is not possible to estimate the total number of records.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong>b</strong> the number of accepted records from 2003 to 2007, including those published in the first report of the RIARC (Mitra et al. 2010), plus additional records from this period published here. None of these records pertains to 1900–2002.</p> <p style="margin-left: 40px;"><strong>c</strong> additional accepted records published in the current report from 2008 to 2015. Records published here but dating from 1900 to 2002, or from 2003 to 2007, are counted under categories “a” or “b,” above. Thus, the sum of these three numbers represents the total number of accepted records from 1900 to 2015.</p> To view the rest of the article you'll need to subscribe. Bird Observer publishes original articles on birding locations, on avian populations and natural history, on regional rarities, field notes, field records, photographs, and art work. Staff Changes for 2021https://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2021/February-2021/staff-changes-for-2021Feature ArticlesMon, 01 Feb 2021 00:07:00 GMT<p>After six years as a copyeditor, <strong>Melinda S. LaBranche</strong> has retired from <em>Bird Observer</em>. Mindy worked at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology before she moved back to southeastern Massachusetts, where she taught biology at several local colleges. Her combination of experience, sharp eyes, and attention to detail served <em>Bird Observer</em> well. Mindy also wrote about “Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens: a Globally Rare Habitat in Southeastern Massachusetts” (<em>Bird Observer</em> August 2016, Volume 44, Number 4) and “Evening Grosbeaks: Winter Jewels of My Childhood” (<em>Bird Observer</em> October 2019 Volume 47, Number 5). Thank you, Mindy, for the professionalism and expertise you brought to the journal.</p> To view the rest of the article you'll need to subscribe. Bird Observer publishes original articles on birding locations, on avian populations and natural history, on regional rarities, field notes, field records, photographs, and art work.