Like many birders, working on the statelist in my home state has been one of my key birding objectives for a number of years. Ever since I moved to MA in the summer of 1993, I’ve been chasing most every MA rarity that I could. And there have been many rarities to chase. For such a small state, the Massachusetts statelist of 488 (or more) is remarkable, complete with many megararities, first North American records, firsts for the US Atlantic coast, etc. And the small size makes it relatively easy to get to most parts of the state. That is except for some locations that unfortunately happen to be some of the best birding spots in the state, including –
· Distant islands like Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket requiring a ferry or plane ride to reach and then a bike/taxi/rental car once you get there;
· Monomoy Island requiring a boat ride and wading to get to the island, and then considerable walking on the island; and
· Of course those necessary but evil pelagic trips where the best birds are at the edge of the Continental Shelf due east of New Jersey (but in still in MA waters!).
The difficulty in getting to some of these spots has certainly hampered my quest to grow my MA statelist.
But finally after 19 ½ years of MA birding, I was within reach of the magic 400 threshold in MA. Number 399 was a great bird – Northern Lapwing. What would 400 turn out to be? Just a few days after I got to see the Lapwing came reports about two different sightings of a very late Snowy Egret in Hyannis, though both observers wondered whether it could be a Little Egret. After several experts reviewed excellent point-blank photos, it was concluded that the bird was indeed an immature Little Egret. I had chased Little Egret once before in MA without luck, so I definitely wanted to see this one. And what a great bird for #400 if I could be successful.
It took me two days to free up enough time to make the 2-hour trip to Hyannis, but since the bird had been around for at least a couple weeks I wasn’t too worried. When I arrived at the location where the bird had been most reliable there were two birders already there and the bird was right in front of us feeding in a tidal channel. The bird gave us some great views while it actively fed in the shallows. The photos below show the heavy, sword-like bill which was much heavier than a Snowy, and the bluish-gray lores. A couple photo show 2 short plumes coming out of the back of the head. The greenish-yellow coloration of the feet and legs was also atypical for a Snowy.
The third picture shows one of its feeding techniques of shuffling its foot in the muddy bottoms to stir up food.
MA is my third state for Little Egret – a species which is becoming a bit more regular in the northeast. I wonder if this bird was blown into North America by Superstorm Sandy the way the Lapwings were
