Field Records: April 1990

April was mostly wet and cloudy, averaging 1.1 degrees below normal in spite of record-breaking heat on April 27 and 28.These two days were the first consecutive 90-degiee days in April in 118 years of record keeping.Temperatures plunged in the afternoon of April 28, and the high temperature for April 29 was 47 degrees.Precipitation was nearly six inches, more than two inches above normal.Snow fell on only one day, April 7.Only 52 percent of possible sunshine was seen.Southwesterly winds conducive to migration were scarce.However, there were three periods when winds averaged from the southwest for three consecutive days: April 9-11, April 19-21, and April 25-27.The weather pattern for the month had a strong influence on migration. LOONS THROUGH CRANESBy and large the waterbird situation was very quiet, and the general paucity of reports reflects this.Loons, grebes, and most sea ducks were sparsely reported.The few notable reports were mostly holdovers from previous months, but the small flock of Harlequin Ducks at North Scituate was apparently augmented by migrants.Early April found good numbers of Red-necked Grebes, particularly in Hull where a Western Grebe returned for a brief stay for the second consecutive year and almost on the same day as previously.Observers canoeing along the Sudbury River April 16 reported 11 Pied-billed Grebes calling.This is an impressive number for a species that is now considered scarce and declining.The good number of gannets on Cape Cod was fairly typical for early April.Herons were reported in low numbers with the exception of a flight of Glossy Ibises in Salem on April 28, comprising three flocks.Freshwater ducks averaged a below normal migration, especially Northern Shoveler, which has declined in recent years as a spring (and fall) migrant, being only reliably recorded in numbers at Monomoy.Hooded Mergansers were so unremarkable that no reports were received!Routine coverage by hawkwatchers at several locations produced modest counts on favorable days, especially in Ashbumham and at Plum Island, where kesuels were prominent on April 16.At North Truro on April 28 Sharp-shinned and Broad-winged hawks were the feature along with Red-breasted Nuthatches!A Black Vulture at Bolton Flats on April 14 provided further evidence of an increase in this species not too far to our south.An American Swallow-tailed Kite added spice at Martha's Vineyard on April 27, and what was certainly the same individual was observed the following day at Nantucket A Sandhill Crane was seen flying in Provincetown on April 12, appeared in Wellfleet the following day, and shortly thereafter took up residence on the airport runway in Provincetown where it spent the rest of the month. SHOREBIRDS THROUGH SHRIKESShorebird migration was slow.Typical April migrants of this group filtered through in small numbers through midmonth.Large aggregations of snipe were few, and Pectoral Sandpipers were almost unrecorded.The gem during this period was a well-described Stilt Sandpiper in a flooded field in Ipswich.With the coming of the heat wave, both migrant and resident shorebirds surged in numbers with the count of Greater Yellowlegs in Newburyport Harbor tripling overnight on April 29.Larids continued the slow trend for the month.Very few Bonaparte's Gulls were in evidence at Newburyport Harbor, so the presence of at least two Little Gulls is mildly surprising.A second Mew Gull joined the wintering individual at Raccoon Island in Quincy concurrent with the presence of 350 Ring-billed Gulls in Middleboro.A flooded field in Acton hosted an Iceland Gull and a Lesser Black-backed Gull amongst their more numerous brethren on April 15.An unseasonable and inexplicable Forster's Tern appeared on April 16 in Concord, where it was well seen by a handful of observers and photographed." Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, an unpredictable and mysterious migrant, was almost unreported during its typical migration period.

Récupéré en direct depuis OpenAlex et désinversé. Les résumés ne sont pas conservés dans cette base de données : les index inversés représentent 8,6 Go des 9,3 Go de texte de la base, et le serveur dispose de 13 Go libres.