June 2022

Hot Birds: June 2022

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:17 GMT

A Willow Ptarmigan that appeared in southern Worcester County in late April was by far the most astonishing bird of the season. Meaghan Keefe posted an eBird record with photos from Charlton on April 30. (Meaghan’s photo is above.) Photos of presumably the same bird, taken in West Boylston two days before the Charlton sighting, later surfaced on FaceBook. This would be the second record of the species for Massachusetts, following a specimen collected on May 10, 1859.

In a more normal spring, a Swainson’s Warbler would have been the best bird of the season. It was seen by more birders than the ptarmigan was, even though it was a one-day wonder. Jonah Levy found it early in the morning on May 6; by the end of that day, dozens of birders had gathered to admire the state’s seventh record of this species. Justin Lawson took the photo above.

Swallow-tailed Kites appeared in Massachusetts in three different months this spring. Hans Holbrook spotted the first one over his yard in Barnstable on March 28. In April, Liam Waters found a kite flying past Pilgrim Heights. Carrie Almeida caught the third on video over Swansea on May 12. Liam Waters took the photo above.

About Books: The Wanderers

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:07 GMT

Vagrancy in Birds. Lees, Alexander and James Gilroy. 2021. London: Helm.

“Birds have wings, and they use them.” [Often quoted in several variations in many bird books, but I have been unable to discover the origin.]

Way back on January 9, 1983, I was leading a BBC trip to South Quabbin, also known as Quabbin Park. There was not much around, which is typical for that time of the year, but we pulled into Enfield Lookout in the hopes of seeing an eagle. Back in those days many birders got their year or even life eagle from that lookout. If we were lucky, we were hoping to see turkeys across the water on the Prescott. Nobody even thought about ravens; they were not that widespread then. Unexpectedly, three geese flew in front of us, a bit of a way out, almost at eye level. They flew left and out of sight, then appeared again this time flying left to right, then away from us along the Prescott Peninsula, and eventually to the right and out of sight. These three geese were strikingly plumaged. Their entire inner forewing was white, they were gray underneath, but their heads had rusty tones. Their light eyes were outlined in black. The entire trip was dumbfounded because none of us had any idea what we had just seen. Did we witness a flock of vagrants? But what species and from where?

At a Glance: June 2022

Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:03 GMT

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Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:02 GMT

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Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:01 GMT