Words On Birds 09-06-24

 

     Last week, I repeated a column from 2009 that tried to answer the question of what is the rarest bird that I have seen. I promised that I would update you on my rarest birds in the last fifteen years. Once again, I have to consider whether we are talking about rarest bird in the world, in the US, or more locally.

 

     The Ross’ gull that appeared in Newburyport Harbor in the winter of 1975 was certainly rare for Massachusetts, but also for the US. I stated that I hadn’t seen another since, which was true in 2009. However, one showed up in Montreal, Canada in November of 2013. Since it was the 100th anniversary of the Brookline Bird Club, the club was doing a sort of “Big Year” to see how many birds they could tally that year. Many impromptu trips were organized to chase rare birds, usually in Massachusetts.  However, I organized one to go to Montreal. 

 

     Ten of us traveled over the border to Canada to see this rare gull.  It was so rare, that the border patrol person asked if we were there to see “THE gull”? I wrote about our success in my Words on Birds on Nov 23rd, and you can read about our success in the archives on our store website.

 

     The only other International trip that we took was to Thailand in Jan 2010. There, Margo and I saw one of the rarest birds in the world, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. We saw several birds of this species on their wintering ground south of Bangkok, and only about 100 pairs of these birds existed at the time. Again, I shared our Thai experience with a couple of Words on Birds on February 20 and Words on Birds February 27 of that year.

 

     Since then, most of our birding trips have been in the United States. California, Southeast Arizona, Texas and Florida all have their specialty birds, many of which are considered rare. Yellow-footed Gull in California; Aztec Thrush in Southeast Arizona; Egyptian Goose, Bahama Mockingbird and LaSagra’s Flycatcher in Florida to name a few. We scored big in South Texas earlier this year with Roadside Hawk, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Gray-collared Becard, and Cattle Tyrant. A trip to New Jersey in early March of this year for the rare Red-flanked Bluetail that was visiting a feeder was successful. These birds are all considered rare for the United States. 

 

     There have been many rarities in New England these past years that we didn’t have to drive so far to see: A Little Egret in Scarborough Marsh in 2011, and the Great Black Hawk in Portland were two rare Maine birds that were a short drive away. We went to Hollis, New Hampshire to see a Redwing, a rare thrush from Europe. Rhode Island had its share of rare birds that we have seen including a Wood Sandpiper in October of 2011, and Terek Sandpiper and Common Cuckoo in 2020.

 

     Massachusetts has had its share of rarities. We have seen a White Ibis on Plum Island 2011, a White Pelican in Mattapoisett, a Brown Pelican in Wellfleet in 2012 and a Wood Stork in Gloucester 2021.  Mountain Plover and Lesser Sand Plovers were on Cape Cod beaches last year.  All rare birds for Massachusetts. Another rare European thrush, a Fieldfare, was in Carlisle in 2013. A very rare Caracara was at Folly Cove in Gloucester in August of last year and seen a few days later in Amesbury. A rare Garganey duck was in Ipswich this past April.

 

     Then there was the “bird of the century”, the Steller’s Sea Eagle. We were among the hundreds of birders who saw this East Asian bird, one of the largest raptors in the world, on December 20, 2021 in Dighton along the Taunton River. It was perched along-side a Bald Eagle, which looked half its size in comparison. All scopes were fixed on this amazing bird before it took flight around 1pm and disappeared north.  It has since been seen in Labrador, in Maine, and recently in Newfoundland. 

 

     So, I have seen all these rare birds. Most have been chronicled in this weekly column. Some are rare because they are near extinction, some are rare because they are many miles from where they usually reside. Those closest to extinction would be the California Condor back in 1966, before it went into captivity and since re-released to the wild. The other would be the cute Spoon-billed Sandpiper which will, hopefully, survive to be seen by many more birders.

 

     Of those rarest birds that travel far from home, the Steller’s Sea Eagle is from half way around the world and never recorded on the east coast of the United States. It would get my vote as my rarest long traveler. What would be your vote?