February 2022https://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2022/February-2022Front Cover: February 2022https://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2022/February-2022/front-cover-february-2022Feature ArticlesTue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:15 GMT<p class="caption"><img alt="Steller's Sea Eagle by Zachary Holderby" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo50-1/8.jpg?ver=lg-qNzqYocw-HLo2R3CZgw%3d%3d" style="width: 750px; height: 1002px;" /><br /> Steller's Sea Eagle by Zachary Holderby</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. Hot Birds: February 2022https://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2022/February-2022/hot-birds-february-2022Hot BirdsTue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:14 GMT<p class="caption"><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo50-1/HB_Tropical_Kingbird_Albro.png?ver=-drjqgYIaXbcrNmyJYeszw%3d%3d" style="width: 366px; height: 274px;" /><br /> Even one <strong>Tropical Kingbird</strong> in Massachusetts would likely have been the talk of the season, had that season not also included a Steller’s Sea-Eagle. The state had only a single accepted record of the species as recently as 2018. Two more were added in 2019. “Hold my beer,” said 2021 with double the state’s total. A one-day wonder showed up in Provincetown on May 15; a mid-November bird stayed for five days at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary; and in early December, one spent four days in Rockport. Benny Albro took the photo above.</p> <p class="caption"><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo50-1/HB_Trumpeter_Swan_Kardell.png?ver=OVIEXsVfC2CBZWE5z66WNw%3d%3d" style="width: 366px; height: 211px;" /><br /> On December 23, Skyler Kardell and Ginger Andrews encountered a swan on Sesachacha Pond, near the eastern end of Nantucket. They initially identified it as a Tundra Swan, but soon realized it was a <strong>Trumpeter Swan</strong>. The re-introduced population of this species around the Great Lakes has boomed in recent years, and is thought to be the source of recent New England records. This bird remained on the pond through at least mid-January. Skyler Kardell took the photo above.</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. Letter from the Editorhttps://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2022/February-2022/letter-from-the-editorGeneralTue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:13 GMT<p>Welcome to Volume 50 of <em>Bird Observer</em>. We are celebrating our fiftieth anniversary year throughout 2022 with this volume of our journal. Other organizations might have waited until February 2023, the fiftieth anniversary of Volume 1, Number 1, in 1973. Not us. We cannot wait to highlight the success of our journal that, since its inception, has been produced entirely by an all-volunteer staff and supported by a volunteer board of directors.</p> <p>Below is the masthead for the inaugural 1973 issue of <em>Bird Observer of Eastern Massachusetts</em> with Paula Butler at the helm. Compare it to our masthead on page 4 to see how staffing the journal has changed to reflect today’s times.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo50-1/BO_first_masthead.png?ver=LZduOdQpa3R0KOmHgSS9gA%3d%3d" style="width: 732px; height: 206px;" /></p> <p>How many volunteers have worked on <em>Bird Observer</em> in the past 50 years? We will answer that question in a later issue. Indeed, we will be featuring articles about <em>Bird Observer</em> in all six of our 2022 issues starting in this issue with “<em>Bird Observer</em> Turns 50: Reflections of the Editors.”</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. About Books: Becoming Enchantedhttps://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2022/February-2022/about-books-becoming-enchantedBook and Video ReviewsTue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:08 GMT<h3><em><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo50-1/book_cover.png?ver=v595dQwU3DZyTS8y8yti2Q%3d%3d" style="margin: 12px; float: right; width: 150px; height: 219px;" />Why Peacocks? An Unlikely Search for Meaning in the World’s Most Magnificent Bird</em>.<br /> Sean Flynn. 2021. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster.</h3> <h4>There is always the potential when dabbling with birds—and this no one tells you beforehand—of becoming enchanted, and it is impossible to understand this until it happens. (p. 217)</h4> <p>What was the last bird you can honestly say you were “enchanted” by? Not just wowed briefly by its colorful plumage or awed by some crazy behavior or thrilled by how rare it was? There have certainly been birds I have momentarily been knocked out by, like the cassowary in Queensland that cornered us and started booming. In that case I am not sure I was not just exceedingly thrilled that we were not disemboweled. After some thought, my “closest to enchanted” moment was watching the Fairy Terns nest on Lord Howe Island. The shocking pure white of the adults was surreal looking. It seemed whiter than anything I had seen in birds before. This white contrasted with a solid dark eye and bill, giving the tern an unreal appearance. They lay their single egg on bare branches, with not even the idea of a constructed nest. When the young hatch, they cling to that branch for dear life. Every time we passed a nesting bird over the course of a week, I had to watch it. That may be as close as I have gotten to being enchanted by a bird.</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. At a Glance: February 2022https://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2022/February-2022/at-a-glance-february-2022At a GlanceTue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:04 GMT<p class="caption"><img alt="" src="/Portals/0/Assets/bo50-1/AAG.Rusty_Blackbird..png?ver=l0mrnQtK8tYqopLWIG9BKA%3d%3d" style="width: 429px; height: 403px;" /><br /> DAVID CLAPP</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. Zaps: 50-1https://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2022/February-2022/zaps-50-1ZapsTue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:03 GMTTo 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. Advertisers: 50-1https://www.birdobserver.org/Issues/2022/February-2022/advertisers-50-1AdvertisersTue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:02 GMTTo 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.