Bird Sightings: The Voice of Audubon

To submit bird sightings call
(781) 259-2150.

The Voice of Audubon offers regular updates on birds sighted across the state to introduce you to the wide variety of species Massachusetts has to offer.

Below are the most recently published sightings. Sightings in the past month are also available.

Cape Cod

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The staff of Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge recently completed their annual census of the nesting birds of the island complex, and the results included close to 7000 common tern nests, 1400 laughing gull nests, and 144 least tern nests at South Monomoy, plus another 1200 common tern nests, 29 roseate tern nests, and 5 black skimmer nests at Minimoy Island. Another 70 common terns were nesting on North Monomoy Island along with a yet uncounted number of herring and great-black-backed gulls, with many big, fuzzy chicks in tow. Stop on over and see them while they're still cute.

The previously reported snow goose is still summering at an exclusive baseball field near Wellfleet Harbor.

Among the sightings this week at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary were a continuing little blue heron and whimbrel, 3 snowy egrets, 5 American oystercatchers, a short-billed dowitcher, 4 recently fledged piping plovers, at least 12 saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrows, and one reported seaside sparrow.

A trip to South Beach in Chatham produced a few hints of the shorebird flood to come in a month or so, including 300 black-bellied plovers, 14 American oystercatchers, 40 willets, 11 ruddy turnstones, 140 red knots, 20 least sandpipers, 6 white-rumped sandpipers, 150 short-billed dowitchers, plus 4 snowy egrets and 12 sharp-tailed sparrows.

Whales and seabirds were in abundance on recent whale watch trips to Stellwagen Bank, drawn by large schools of sand lance. Humpback and fin whales were joined by Wilson's storm petrels, greater shearwaters, sooty shearwaters, Manx shearwaters, and northern gannets, and off Race Point a Cory's shearwater was seen, along with a black-legged kittiwake and an Iceland gull.

Bewildered motorists are still being welcomed to the Cape by a bombardment of periodical cicadas bouncing off of their cars as soon as they come over the bridge, but their season is beginning to wind down. The cicadas, that is, not the motorists. One observer noted a young red-tailed hawk hunting the large bugs.

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Eastern Massachusetts

Monday, June 30, 2008

In the Princeton/Holden area, a Breeding Bird Atlaser found 2 Green-winged Teal, an Osprey, a Black-billed Cuckoo, 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, 2 Yellow-throated Vireos, 31 Veerys, 8 Hermit Thrushes, 5 Wood Thrushes, 16 Chestnut-sided Warblers, 17 Black-throated Blue Warblers, 5 Black-throated Green Warblers, 16 Pine Warblers, 5 Prairie Warblers, 13 Black-and-white Warblers, 3 American Redstarts, 36 Ovenbirds, 2 Northern Waterthrushes, 26 Common Yellowthroats, 2 Canada Warblers, 16 Scarlet Tanagers, 36 Eastern Towhees, 56 Chipping Sparrows, and 1 Field Sparrow.

In the Gardner/ Templeton area, another atlaser found an American Bittern, a nesting Sharp-shinned Hawk, and 2 Dark-eyed Juncos. In Ashburnham, there were an American Bittern, 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and the following warblers, 5 Chestnut-sided, 3 Magnolia, 8 Black-throated Blue, 5 Yellow-rumped, 5 Black-throated Green, 2 Blackburnian, 3 Pine, 1 Prairie, 3 Black-and-white, 24 Ovenbird, 2 American Redstart, and 5 Common Yellowthroat.

Birds recorded on the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island over the weekend included 15 Green-winged Teal, an American Bittern, a Least Bittern, a Tricolored Heron, a King Rail, 4 Virginia Rails, 1 Sora, 12 Short-billed Dowitchers, 16 Bonaparte's Gulls, 180 Cedar Waxwings, 15 Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows, and 1 Seaside Sparrow.

Pelagic birds off Race Point and east of Truro included 14 Cory's Shearwaters, 16 Greater Shearwaters, 3 Sooty Shearwaters, 1 Manx Shearwater, 45 Wilson's Storm-petrels, and 2 Common Terns. An all-day pelagic trip from Hyannis to Atlantis Canyon yielded 225 Cory's Shearwaters, 1170 Greater Shearwaters, 28 Sooty Shearwaters, 15 Manx Shearwaters, 4500 Wilson's Storm-Petrels, 30 Leach's Storm-Petrels, 1 Northern Gannet, and 1 Pomarine Jaeger.

Miscellaneous reports included a Royal Tern on Martha's Vineyard, an Eastern Screech Owl in Westwood, an Evening Grosbeak in Ipswich, 3 Manx Shearwaters off Manchester, and a Peregrine Falcon on a light pole on the Tobin this morning.

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Western Massachusetts

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The nesting season is well along with many young birds following their parents around begging for food.  Early nesters like song sparrows, bluebirds and phoebes have already begun a second brood.

Two common mergansers, two Cooper's hawks and an Acadian flycatcher were reported in Quabbin Park at the Quabbin Reservoir. The Acadian flycatcher was found on the left-hand side of the road as you approach the rotary.

Two Cooper's hawks, a black-billed cuckoo and two singing Acadian flycatchers were seen at Gates 8 and 10 on the western side of the Quabbin Reservoir.

Eight common loons, a hooded merganser, a sharp-shinned hawk, a black-billed cuckoo, a barred owl, and two golden-crowned kinglets were reported at the northeast end of the reservoir.

Three Acadian flycatchers were found  in Granville. A red-shouldered hawk, a broad-winged hawk, a hooded merganser, two green herons, two winter wrens, and three Canada warblers were also seen.

An Acadian flycatcher was reported on Reservoir Road in Lenox., and a yellow-billed cuckoo was observed in Pelham.

A green heron, a Virginia rail, a cerulean warbler, a worm-eating warbler, and a Canada warbler were seen in Southwick.

Two barred owls were seen in Longmeadow, two broad-winged hawks were reported in Agawam, and a Cooper's hawk was found in Westfield. A red-shouldered hawk and a northern waterthrush were seen in Montgomery.

Three American bitterns, 47 great blue herons, a broad-winged hawk, three Virginia rails, a black-billed cuckoo, two cliff swallows, 10 winter wrens, and five marsh wrens were reported in Tyringham.

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About the Voice of Audubon

These bird sighting reports are transcripts of recorded messages from each of three regional bird hotlines maintained by Mass Audubon, known as the Voice of Audubon. Beginning November 1, 2006, the phone number for the Voice of Audubon is (781) 259-8805. The toll-free number will no longer be in service, but all three recorded reports from throughout the state will continue to be accessible through the new number, and the transcripts will still be available anytime on our website (www.massaudubon.org/voa). The Voice of Audubon is the oldest phone-based bird alert in the United States, first established on December 1, 1954 (original phone number, KEnmore 6-4050). See the original 1954 press release*.

These reports are intended to provide a "snapshot" of the noteworthy bird activity in each region within Massachusetts. Sightings incorporated into these reports include, for example, rarities, early/first-arriving migrants, late-departing migrants, high counts, unusual sightings (e.g., a seabird found on an inland lake), or simply those that represent exemplary sightings for the time and place.

The Boston Globe publishes one or more of these transcripts (with limited editing) each Sunday. To submit bird sightings call (781) 259-2150.

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