The rarest bird in the state during the past couple of months was probably also the least seen. Rick Heil photographed a Virginia’s Warbler at Spencer Peirce Little Farm, Newbury, on September 7. The bird played 15 minutes of hide-and-seek with Rick, flitting through the vegetation and allowing just one identifiable photo, then disappeared and was never relocated. Rick’s photo is above.
A Crested Caracara was one of the tourists spending summer vacation on Cape Cod. It was first spotted flying past Race Point, Provincetown, on July 11, and a few birders saw it nearby on July 12. A month and a half passed without further sightings until a caracara was photographed at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary on August 27. It vanished again, then turned up at Duck Harbor, Wellfleet, where it continued to be seen through press time. Keegan Burke took the photograph.
Mark Braatz found a flock of 11 Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks incongruously walking around a residential neighborhood in Beverly on August 9. They were relocated later that day on a pond at Kernwood Country Club, and a crowd of birders gathered to admire them from the nearest road. The flock turned out to be a one-day wonder. Margo Goetschkes took the photograph.
The Brookline Bird Club’s overnight pelagic on August 24 and 25 encountered several exciting bird species. The highlight was probably a White-tailed Tropicbird that made a low pass right over the Helen H. Other species from the state review list included a Scopoli’s Shearwater, a Brown Booby, and multiple Black-capped Petrels. Elias Markee-Ratner took the photograph.
Ted Bradford found a Gull-billed Tern near Race Point on July 17. Other birders found it lingering in the area for at least a couple of days. It was the second of its species found in Massachusetts so far this year, following a May 9 bird that was not identified in the field but was photographed by Vivian Ives, who recognized the species when she reviewed her photos later. Valerie Burdette took the photo.
Tim Spahr photographed a Curlew Sandpiper on the Nauset Bay marsh mudflats in the early morning of July 15. Late sleepers missed out, as no other birders reported seeing it after Tim. Tim’s photograph is above.