Bird Sightings: July-august 1999 Summary

The Summer o f 1999 was hot, dry, and sunny.The average temperature was 75.6° in Boston and, predictably, even higher in central and western portions o f the state.In Boston the mercury reached over 90° on seven days, two more than average.The worst o f the month's heat came around the Fourth of July weekend, when the temperatures were accompanied by high humidity.August was a bit cooler and saw the temperature reach into the 90s only twice.Rainfall totaled 4.83 inches for the two-month period in Boston, with August about 2 inches under normal.Thunderstorm occurrence in the Greater Boston area was typical for the period, with a few more storms than usual reported in the central and western parts o f the state.Dense fog was noted along the coast on three days in July, one more than the average.All in all, it was great weather for birding, especially along the coast for the start o f the fall shorebird migration.R.H.S. LOONS THROUGH WOODPECKERSThe discovery of an adult Pied-billed Grebe with three nearly grown juveniles at Nantucket represented the first confirmed nesting record for that species on the island.Stellwagen Bank remained very productive for seabirds, especially shearwaters, more or less throughout the summer.For the second consecutive year, Cory's Shearwaters were much more numerous than usual north o f Cape Cod, a phenomenon that was probably related to the above-average sea surface temperatures.The remains of an A udubon's Shearwater, which represented only the second or third specimen collected in the state, were frozen in preparation for accession into a museum to be named later.A huge count of W ilson's Storm-Petrels was recorded during a round-trip ferry cmise between Gloucester and Provincetown that incorporated most o f the length of Stellwagen Bank, and reports o f W ilson's Storm-Petrels from Rockport and Provincetown represented large totals for shore-based counts.A single Leach's Storm-Petrel at Stellwagen in mid-August was noteworthy because that species is seldom seen over our inshore waters except during or after storms.Areas o f open water remaining in marshes, ponds and rivers continued to dry up as the record-breaking drought wore on during the summer.These conditions proved to be highly favorable throughout the state for large numbers o f waterbirds, especially herons and egrets, which exploited the increasingly concentrated supply of frogs and fish in the shrinking pools.This was clearly apparent at the Great Meadows NWR in Concord, and at various inland localities, especially within the Connecticut River Valley.Most noteworthy was a report o f nine Snowy Egrets in Longmeadow, a total that represented the highest inland count for that species since the Great Heron/Egret Invasion during the summer o f 1948, the event that ultimately led to those species' colonization of New England.In stark contrast, an immature Little Blue Heron flying over the ocean at Stellwagen Bank was out o f its element, to say the least.Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, a species that is rarely found nesting in the state (though it probably does so annually) was noted in W. Barnstable.The midsummer sighting o f several Black Vultures in Western Massachusetts fueled further speculation that this stork relative already is, or will soon be, a regular breeder in the state.Nesting Mute Swans continued to make inroads inland.A pair o f Mute Swans produced young in Worcester County, an event that first occurred in the county only two Sightings for July/August 1999 332 V olum e 27, No. 6, 1999 or three years ago.Within the last several years, Mute Swans have also been found nesting in at least three towns within the Connecticut River watershed (Chicopee, Holyoke, and Southwick).Nine Mutes were reported from Northhampton.A single Whooper Swan was present at Plum Island in early July.Gadwalls were found again at Muskeget, a nesting site for that species first found in the summer o f 1998.Migrant scoters were noted on schedule at the end of August, Ring-necked Ducks in West Newbury and Southboro were a bit early, and a Greater Scaup over-summered in Marshfield.Other instances o f over-summering waterfowl species that are typically here only in spring, fall, and winter included Oldsquaw, Bufflehead, and Common Goldeneye.One of the two Common Goldeneyes was on the Connecticut River, making it doubly noteworthy for being inland.Many o f the "winter" ducks that summer locally are cripples from the previous hunting season.Common Merganser is a rare breeder in western Massachusetts.All three sightings of Commons this summer came from potential breeding areas from the Connecticut River west.South Monomoy in Chatham is currently the only known nesting site in the state for Ruddy Duck.A breeding-plumaged drake Ruddy spent most of the summer at Nantucket.A pair of Ospreys in Westboro, one o f only two pairs in the state that are known to nest inland, produced three young.The pair o f Cooper's Hawks found nesting this spring at Nantucket (representing the first confirmed breeding record for the island) remained through the summer, though no evidence o f fledged young was reported.While Broad winged Hawk is a fairly common and widespread breeding resident in the state, in summer it is seldom seen in numbers, so a kettle o f seven in Mattapoisett that contained at least two adults was noteworthy.Seven reports o f Merlins in August represented a higher-than-average total for that month.Only ten years ago.Merlin was rarely seen in the state in August.This increase might be a reflection of the recent documented increase in the numbers o f breeding birds in northern New England and adjacent Canada.A single Clapper Rail at Nantucket may have been one o f a pair (or progeny o f the pair) that produced young there two years ago, and the observation of a pair o f clappers copulating at Plum Island provided the only confirmation o f breeding activity in the state this season.Also, a King Rail was seen again at Plum Island throughout most o f the summer.This and other King Rails in past years at Plum Island have generated controversy.There is no question that King Rails have occurred there.However, questions remain as to whether more than one has occurred in a given season, whether kings have mated with the local clappers, and whether some o f the birds there are actually hybrids.It has been well documented that hybrid pairings between any two species occur most frequently at the geographical margins of one or both of the species' breeding ranges, and the King Rails at Plum Island are at that species' northern-most margin.The secretive nature o f both o f these species will continue to make this mystery difficult to solve.The presence o f two juvenile American Coots in the company of an adult at Nantucket represented a rare nesting record for this species in New England, and only the second for the island.High shorebird counts included 3500 and 5000 Semipalmated Plovers in Chatham and Eastham, respectively, and 1300 Lesser Yellowlegs and over 10,000 Semipalmated Sandpipers in Newburyport Harbor.Shorebird rarities included an American Avocet, a Ruff, and the Red-necked Stint at Plum Island that was first found June 26 (see previous issue).For both Baird's and Buff-breasted Sandpiper, there were as many reports from inland localities as there were from the coast.Two reports o f Bonaparte's Gull found inland were noteworthy, as were the season's first Sabine's Gulls.The later of the two Sabine's alit briefly on the beach, an event very rarely observed anywhere away from their breeding grounds.A Caspian Tern put in an out-of-season summer appearance in Provincetown.Following their complete abandonment o f Plymouth Beach early in the summer, the thousands o f Common Terns and handful o f Roseate Terns from that colony relocated to other sites.The majority moved to the existing colony at the north end o f South Monomoy Island in Chatham, while others dispersed elsewhere.A relatively small colony at Muskeget, (roughly 50 BIRD OBSERVER 333 Sightings for July/August 1999 pairs o f Common Terns and 5 pairs o f Roseate Terns), newly established this late spring and summer, may have comprised some o f the Plymouth birds.The appearance o f this colony was highly significant for a couple o f reasons: it represented the first nesting activity among terns (other than leasts) at that site since the first half o f the 20th century; and it was a potentially important step for the recovery o f the federally-endangered Roseate Tern as a breeding species in the state.Virtually all o f the state's breeding Roseates (under 2000 pairs, representing nearly half o f the entire North American population) nest on two islands in Buzzard's Bay -a precarious situation.Local efforts among members of a federally appointed Roseate Tern recovery team have centered around trying to induce the species to establish additional colonies.If more birds are recruited in the next few years at the new Muskeget colony, that site might eventually provide this endangered species with an additional level o f security.By the end o f July, at South Beach in Chatham, Roseates were already beginning to assemble in staging flocks prior to migration (as they do each year at that time), some coming from breeding colonies outside the state such as that on Great Gull Island in Long Island Sound, New York.By the end o f August, the Chatham flocks were approaching their peak numbers.Six pairs o f Arctic Terns at Penikese Island represented the largest number of Arctics that had been documented nesting at a single locale in the state for decades.Even though Black Terns nest on fresh water marshes no closer to Massachusetts than central Maine and northern Vermont, an over-summering Black Tern was attracted to the activity at the new Muskeget colony, as one or more usually are each summer at the tern colony at Bird Island in Marion.A sizable flock o f Black Terns had collected at the west end of Nantucket b

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