Tips for Bird-a-thon Birding
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Massachusetts's migrant species are returning from their wintering grounds attired in their breeding finery, and many species are singing and displaying in fine fashion across the Commonwealth. You'll see a variety of species depending on your birding location and local habitat.
Where are the best places to spend time and what special birds should be looked for?
The following are a few basic examples:
Marshes
Bitterns, ducks, rails, moorhen, snipe, marsh wren—best at dawn
Fields
Upland sandpipers, bluebirds, grassland sparrows, bobolinks, meadowlarks
Upland Coniferous Forests
Owls, red-breasted nuthatches, a variety of warblers, possibly lingering northern finches
Pine Barrens
Saw-whet owls, fish crows, hermit thrushes, brown thrashers, pine and prairie warblers
Salt Marshes
Egrets and herons, willet, other shorebirds, sharp-tailed and seaside sparrows
Tidal Estuaries and Mudflats
Waterfowl, shorebirds, gulls, terns
Sandy Coastal Beaches & Islands
Oystercatchers, gulls, terns, horned larks
Rocky Beaches & Headlands
Cormorants, scoters, eiders, possibly lingering purple sandpipers
Open Ocean (offshore)
Gannets, sooty shearwaters, Wilson’s storm-petrels, possibly red-necked phalaropes