While I will eventually get to another one of those rare birds you’re never heard of, another one that came to light in an unusual way, I want to first catch up on where we are at with work-a-day spring migration, because it’s ramping up quickly with exciting new arrivals every day.
First, let’s talk about everyone’s favorite garden accessory, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Quite a few have been reported already, with the first sighted back on the 17th in Brewster. Many of us won’t see ours until early May, but I put my feeders out today and you should too - what have you got to lose? Someone yesterday said they saw a male within a few minutes of hanging up their feeder. Males come first in spring because they need to secure a good feeding territory. You might notice that not much is blooming in the wild, so why do they come back so early? In April, these early hummers may depend on tree sap from the holes made by Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, comically-named woodpeckers who have been quietly migrating through over the last few weeks – I saw three sapsuckers chasing each other around at Wellfleet Bay sanctuary last week. That sugary sap probably gives the early hummingbirds enough carbs to complement their spring diet of mostly small insects snapped from midair and spiders plucked from webs.
Also in your yards, you may have noticed Chipping Sparrows have gone from zero to everywhere over the last week or so, their dry trills are now a major component of the neighborhood bird chorus. A few folks have reported returning orioles already, so get an orange half out if you are so inclined. For bigger fare, keep your eyes and ears skywards, as I had my first Broad-winged Hawks over the yard yesterday, revealing themselves with their high-pitched, not so tough calls. These smaller, shier relatives of Red-tailed Hawks are just back from wintering grounds as far away as Bolivian cloud forests.
Beaches have been great places to witness April migration, which can otherwise be subtle. About 140 Horned Grebes were off Sandy Neck last week, and Red-throated Loons numbers got into triple digits off Race Point multiple times recently. Even landbird migration can be evident at beaches, with 88 Turkey Vultures and 40 flickers reported from Race Point one recent day.
Some lucky birders doing an early morning vigil at the airport near Race Point were treated to an April migration bonanza, including over 100 flickers, an impressive and unusual count of 174 migrating Purple Finches, over 80 Yellow-rumped Warblers, and a baker’s dozen of the rare and rapidly declining Rusty Blackbird, an obscure cousin to Red-winged Blackbirds limited to far northern bogs in breeding season.
As for that rare bird I teased, it was the first ever sighting for the Cape and Islands of a White-faced Ibis, and it almost snuck through unnoticed, which would have been rude. Peter Crosson, who has earned many frequent birder miles at Sandy Neck, was enjoying a birdy morning of spring migration that came with up to 10 bonus North Atlantic right whales feeding in the glass-calm bay. At one point he photographed a big flock of Glossy Ibis heading north over the beach. Luckily he submitted photos with his eBird checklist, and his high count of ibis tripped the filter, triggering an expert review. In reviewing the photos, volunteer eBird reviewer Jeremiah Trimble noticed one with a semicircle of bright white bordering the facial skin, making it a White-faced Ibis, a species of the western US that no birder had ever managed to see here in the long ornithological history of the region. Oddly, they are annual visitors north of Boston and even breed among Glossy Ibis in a colony up there. There’s a photo of this Sandy Neck bird trying to pass as a Glossy Ibis above.
As you can see, from the wacky to the expected, new stuff is dropping in every day. So for crying out loud, stop puttering in your garden for five seconds and look up — a first state record is probably sneaking by right now.
