Bird Sightings: The Voice of Audubon

Ross's Goose, photo courtesy of David W. Baker, Wikimedia.

To submit bird sightings, call Mass Audubon’s Wildlife Information Line at (781) 259-2150, or send us an email.

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.

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Cape Cod

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

A possible western kingbird was reported from Fort Hill in Eastham this week.

Harlequin ducks have been spotted recently at the traditional spots at Nauset Beach and the canal entrance at Scusset Beach.

At First Encounter Beach in Eastham birders noted 100 greater shearwaters, hundreds of black-legged kittiwakes, 3 Forster's terns, an eastern meadowlark, and 50 snow buntings. Snow buntings, newly arrived from the arctic, were also noted from Skaket Beach in Orleans and Falmouth. Other birds noted around Falmouth included a redhead on Little Pond and a Virginia rail.

Seabirds noted off Cahoon Hollow in Wellfleet this week included 250 common eider, 75 surf scoter, 300 white-winged scoter, 10 black scoter, 25 red-throated loons, 4 common loons, a Cory's shearwater, 400 greater shearwaters, a Manx shearwater, 800 northern gannets, 30 black-legged kittiwakes, a laughing gull, an Iceland gull, 15 unidentified terns, an unidentified  jaeger, plus an American pipit.

At Wellfleet Bay sanctuary this week 2 great-horned owls, a Virginia rail, 50 fish crows, and a rusty blackbird were noted.

Other notables from around the Cape include a Eurasian wigeon at Mill Pond  in Cotuit a late osprey and long-billed dowitcher in Chatham, a great egret at the canal in Buzzards Bay, a white-rumped sandpiper at Sandy Neck in Barnstable, 2 American golden-plovers and a long-billed dowitcher at First Encounter Beach in Eastham, an American bittern at Fort Hill in Eastham, a glossy ibis at Herring Pond in Eastham, a northern pintail elsewhere in Eastham, a Baltimore oriole at the Highlands Center in Truro, and a northern shrike elsewhere in Truro.

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Eastern Massachusetts

Monday, November 2, 2009

The LeConte's Sparrow at the Cumberland Farms fields in Middleboro was still there at least as recently as yesterday, and other weekend reports from the Cumberland Farms fields included 4 Northern Harriers, 1 Northern Shrike, 5 American Pipits, 1 American Tree Sparrow, and 4 White-crowned Sparrows.

Weekend reports from Plum Island included 1 Cackling Goose, 30 Northern Shovelers, 2 American Golden-Plovers, 1 Lapland Longspur, and 35 Snow Buntings, and in Ipswich there were 5 Snow Geese, 1 Cackling Goose, 1 Great Egret, 1 Hudsonian Godwit, 21 White-rumped Sandpipers, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, 50 Horned Larks, and 20 American Pipits.

Seen in the farm fields near the West Concord rotary were 1 Cackling Goose, 62 Killdeer, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, and 1 American Pipit, and at the Great Meadows refuge in Concord there were 2 Blue-winged Teal, 11 Northern Pintails, 4 Green-winged Teal, 4 Ring-necked Ducks, 1 Bufflehead, 3 Pied-billed Grebes, 12 American Coots, a late Spotted Sandpiper, and 3 American Tree Sparrows.

A report from Westport included 14 Red-throated Loons, 7 Pied-billed Grebes, 5 Great Egrets, 7 Harlequin Ducks, 8 Ruddy Ducks, 8 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, and 19 Laughing Gulls, and miscellaneous reports from the weekend included 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers in Dracut, 20 Ruddy Ducks and 3 Pied-billed Grebes in Melrose, a Common Raven in Lynnfield, 2 Common Goldeneye in Lincoln, 12 Common Mergansers and a Red-necked Grebe at the Cambridge Reservoir in Waltham, a Greater White-fronted Goose in Sharon, a Least Sandpiper in Scituate, a Northern Shrike and a Snow Bunting at the Daniel Webster sanctuary in Marshfield, and 2 Common Terns in Plymouth.

 

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Western Massachusetts

Monday, November 2, 2009

This is the surest time to find migrant ducks lingering on our ponds, lakes and rivers. They may be accompanied by seabirds, stopping briefly on their way to the ocean shore. Sparrows are still in the fields and visiting feeders in good numbers. Flocks of winter birds are beginning to show up in the open fields as well, while crows, robins, bluebirds, waxwings and blackbirds are gathering for the trip farther south that most, but not all, will take.

Two cackling geese, a gadwall, a golden plover, a short-eared owl, two Lapland longspurs, a snow bunting, seven white-crowned sparrows, 45 American pipits, and a palm warbler were reported in Hadley.

Three lesser scaup, three surf scoters, a white-winged scoter, a long-tailed duck, seven bufflehead, two common loons, an eastern phoebe, and an American pipit were seen in Quabbin Park at the Quabbin Reservoir.

A cackling goose was found in Egremont, two long-tailed ducks were on Richmond Pond, a Brant was on Onota Lake, and two gadwall were seen on Pontoosuc Reservoir.

The Berkshire lakes also produced nine common loons, a common goldeneye, 10 wood ducks, 600 ring-necked ducks, five ruddy ducks, five pied-billed grebes, an osprey, and a killdeer.

A northern goshawk, a golden eagle, a ruby-crowned kinglet, a fox sparrow, and two snow buntings were seen in Granville.

Three snow buntings, 100 horned larks, and 100 American pipits were seen in Northampton, and  eight red-necked grebes, three pied-billed grebes, and 36 wood ducks were found on Ashley Reservoir in Holyoke.

 

 

 

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About the Voice of Audubon

These bird sighting reports are transcripts of recorded messages from each of three regional "bird alerts" maintained by Mass Audubon, known as the Voice of Audubon. The phone number for the Voice of Audubon is (781) 259-8805. All three recorded reports from throughout the state are accessible through this number, and the transcripts are available anytime at www.massaudubon.org/voa). Not all sightings that are submitted are included in the VOA reports. Those that are included are intended to provide a "snapshot" of the current, noteworthy bird activity in each region within Massachusetts, and might 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 the transcripts (with limited editing) each Sunday. To submit bird sightings call (781) 259-2150.

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*.

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