Rufous Hummingbirds in Massachusetts are becoming more common; a few each year are scattered across the state, with nearly all sightings in fall or early winter. Spring sightings are much rarer, but Josh Rose had a female visit his feeder in Amherst on April 24 through the evening of April 28. Brian Zylich took the photograph. The Rufous Hummingbird is on the left, interacting with a Ruby-throated Hummingbird on the right.
Jonathan Pierce’s adverse-weather tolerance was rewarded when a Tundra Swan appeared on Cheshire Reservoir in the pouring rain on April 5. Other birders observed it through April 11 as the weather improved. J. Kyron Hanson took the digiscoped photograph.
A wave of White Ibises hit New England in May with a sighting in Maine, one or more pairs in Rhode Island, and reports from Connecticut that included a flock of 29 birds. In Massachusetts, single birds, or possibly the same bird, were spotted in Mashpee, Taunton, and South Dartmouth. Carol Molander took the photograph.
A White-faced Ibis visited the North Shore in early May, with sightings from Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, north to Newbury, fitting the pattern we have come to expect of the species in our state. Less expected was another ibis that showed up around Boston Harbor from the Squantum marshes north to Belle Isle Marsh, Revere, and south to the National Sailors’ Home Cemetery, Quincy, from April 24 through at least May 13. Jason Forbes took the photograph.