Common Ground-Dove, Lexington, MA, November 2015

Mid-morning a post came across the MA listserve passing along an early morning sighting of a Common Ground-Dove, with photographs, in Lexington, MA.  It was at a place I had never heard of before, Waltham Street Farms, which was likely a small spot visited by birders local to the area.  With a bit of research I found the location, but wondered if the bird would stick around.  And even if it did, I worried about getting micro-directions to find the bird.  Although the spot was pretty small, there was still quite a bit of habitat that one lone Dove could use.  I traded e-mails with the person who posted the sighting, and soon thereafter got an e-mail back with excellent directions.  And a few minutes later came a post that the bird was still there.  It was time for a chase!

I arrived at the Waltham Street Farms about Noon, less than an hour after the post that the bird had been refound.  There were 6 cars parked there on the roadside, so I assumed that a number of birders were there looking for the Dove.  After a short walk I could see 10 or 12 birders up ahead along the edges of one of the fields, but only a couple were looking through their binoculars.  I worried that that meant the bird was not in view.  Or maybe it meant that most already had great looks at the target bird.  Luckily it was the latter – when I got up to them they said the bird was just a few feet away in a grassy edge.  Even though they pointed out the specific spot I couldn’t find the bird.  Then I looked through one of their scopes and saw movement – the small Ground-Dove was well camouflaged and pretty much obscured by the taller grass.  I took this phonescoped photo – with the Ground-Dove barely visible.

Can you find the Ground-Dove?

Good thing others were on the bird when I arrived.  Otherwise it might have been very difficult to find. 

That was only the second record of this species in MA, so quite a rarity.  And it was my first for anywhere in New England - #431 for my New England list, and #406 for my MA list.  And only my 8th state seeing this diminutive and declining species, though my statebird map is a pretty good match for its regular range across the southern states, except for the gap in LA and MS.