Peter Flood, at his usual haunt on Race Point, spotted a Brown Booby feeding with a flock of gulls near shore on July 5. It was photographed again later that day, and twice on July 14 by people on whale watch boats offshore. The photograph is by Yiming Qiu.
Just after Hurricane Erin passed offshore, Erik Nielsen visited Gooseberry Neck near Westport and found several hundred terns of at least five species resting on the beach. One of them was a Bridled Tern. Erik was the only birder to enjoy this tropical visitor before it disappeared back into the masses of Common, Roseate, Forster’s, and Black terns. Erik Nielsen took the photograph.
Apparently one good tern deserved another: the day after Erik Nielsen found the Bridled Tern near Westport, a group of birders on Nantucket discovered a Gull-billed Tern near Sesachacha Pond. This tern was a bit more cooperative than the Bridled, remaining in the same spot through the following day. Trish Pastuszak took the photograph.
The state’s first Golden-winged Warbler of 2025 waited until the end of the summer to appear on August 29 at Westboro Wildlife Management Area. Tim Spahr took the photograph.
On September 6, a Magnificent Frigatebird flew over the beaches near Barnstable. It eventually settled onto a ship’s mast near Chatham to spend the night. It was still there the next morning but flew away around 5:30 am and was never relocated. Mary Keleher took the photograph.
Curtis Mahon was surveying thousands of terns along Hatches Harbor near Provincetown on September 14 when they all flushed. The cause was an immature Swainson’s Hawk, the second in the state this year following the popular bird that spent much of the winter and spring around Plum Island and Cape Ann. Curtis took the photograph.
Correction to Juan Fernandez Petrel entry in Hot Birds, August 2025.
Andy Sanford rode on the Seven Seas Whale Watch boat on July 11. As the boat was heading back in, he photographed what he thought was a shearwater in the distance. When he reviewed his photos, he started to question his ID assumptions. Upon sending his photos to Sam Zhang, Sam recognized that the bird was a petrel of the genus Pterodroma and proposed Juan Fernandez Petrel, a species not usually found off New England. Opinions have initially favored this ID; if accepted by MARC, it would be not merely a first state record, but the first for the entire North Atlantic, and fourth for the Atlantic Ocean.