December 2023

Hot Birds: December 2023

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:00:17 GMT

Virginia’s Warbler had been documented in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, multiple times in New York, and at least four times on Monhegan Island in Maine, but never in Massachusetts, until Amy O’Neil found one in a community garden in Orleans. She found it too late in the day on October 6 to be chased, but it was relocated the following two days, making numerous birders happy. Lisa Schibley took the photograph.

Tufted Duck occurs more or less annually along the Massachusetts coast, especially on Nantucket, but none had shown up in the masses of waterfowl in the western half of the state. Ted Gilliland finally found one on the day before Halloween on the Whiting Street Reservoir in Holyoke. Birders studied it closely without detecting any hints of hybrid parentage. It was still being seen there at press time. Joe Oliverio took the photograph.

Using iNaturalist to Understand Marine Bird Mortality

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:00:14 GMT

A dead Common Loon washed on shore. Photograph by Mark Pokras.

Loons, trash, and disease. How do these three subjects coalesce into a research project involving ornithologists across North America? It all started with a simple question.

In early 2022, far from the beaches of the Atlantic Coast, researchers with the National Loon Center in Minnesota contemplated how to study the winter lives of Common Loons. Encountering two geographic hurdles–the location of the biologists themselves and the loons’ ability to be miles offshore–they turned to seeking mortality reports of loons along the coast. Together with veterinarians from Tufts University, who have conducted mortality research on breeding Common Loons in the Northeast since 1987, they questioned: How can beachgoers report sightings of loons that wash up on shore?

Doug Chickering (August 14, 1941, to September 17, 2023): Plum Island Birders Lose a Dear Friend

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:00:12 GMT

Doug Chickering. Photograph by Bonnie Buxton.

Doug Chickering passed away suddenly at his Newbury, Massachusetts, home on Sunday, September 17, 2023.

We have lost a long-time friend and extraordinary birder, whose smile, enthusiasm, and willingness to share birds and the birding experience was felt by all who knew him. He was truly the ambassador of Plum Island birding. His reports on Massbird and his book Reflections on a Golden-winged Warbler brought us descriptions not only of birds, but of the whole experience and excitement of birding. I have shared many of Doug’s stories with you in my newspaper column “Words on Birds;” he was a much better writer than I, and I always received such positive comments on his writing.

Plum Island birding will not be the same without him. We miss you already, dear friend.

About Books: Ticks and Tipples

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:00:08 GMT

Inn Search of Birds: Pubs, People and Places. John Lawton. 2023. Caithness, Scotland, UK: Whittles Publishing LTD.

“I may well be unique among living birders (or if not unique then very unusual) in that I also keep a list of pub birds—birds on pub signs and in pub names—that I started in 2010.” (p. 1)

Some years back I was on one of those long pelagic trips far off our coast. The boat was returning to port after a day that started well before dawn, so we were all dog-tired. As many of you know, there are typically a few hours on such trips when there is not much to look at except a great expanse of rolling waves with the occasional gull. You’re still looking, of course, but there is nothing to look at. Looking for something to occupy our twitchy minds, someone started listing all the bird species on people’s hats, tee shirts, and pins. Suddenly we were deeply involved in creating a new kind of bird list, and quite a list it was with parrots, trogons, night herons, and so many more. Those of us who participated found ourselves with renewed energy on this most boring part of the trip. All because we were creating a different bird list.

Of course birders keep lists. Not just a life list, but regional lists, state lists, county lists (one of my favorites), city lists, and lists of birds seen in your backyard. But many birders get more creative. I know birders who keep lists of birds seen while attending Sox games at Fenway. Other birders keep “loo lists,” birds seen or heard around whatever “facility” they are attending. Many birders keep a list of birds seen on their local patch, some park or property near where they live that they bird often. I keep a list of birds seen on the grounds of Worcester Art Museum where I taught for decades. That list includes Golden Eagle (flyover), Barred Owl (roosting in a sapling in our tiny courtyard), Bohemian Waxwing, and American Woodcock (also found roosting in the courtyard). Of course, I also have a long and exotic list of the birds found in the museum’s artworks. Many birders likely have a list of their own lists.

At a Glance: December 2023

Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:00:03 GMT

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