Recent bird sightings as reported to the Massachusetts Audubon Society:
Notable reports last week included a Ross’s goose in Boston at Harbor Point Park and two more at Nantucket; nine greater white-fronted geese at Shipyard Farms on Sconticut Neck in Fairhaven; an eared grebe at Fourth Cliff in Marshfield; two sandhill cranes in a field off Barney Avenue in Rehoboth; and a continuing summer tanager at a feeder in Plymouth.
►Saugus: A report from Bear Creek Sanctuary included two snow geese, a bald eagle, two snowy owls, two short-eared owls, a peregrine falcon, 65 horned larks, two Lapland longspurs, and an Eastern meadowlark.
►Newburyport: There were 40 common goldeneyes, three bald eagles, and a snowy owl.
►Ipswich: Sighted at Crane Beach were a rough-legged hawk, a snowy owl, a merlin, 18 snow buntings, and two Ipswich Savannah sparrows.
►Deer Island: Observed in Boston Harbor were a Barrow’s goldeneye, three Iceland gulls, a snowy owl, and 60 snow buntings.
►Nantucket: Among the highlights from the Nantucket Christmas bird count were three snow geese, two Ross’s geese, two Northern shovelers, 13 Northern fulmars, a grasshopper sparrow, a summer tanager, two indigo buntings, and a dickcissel.
►Fairhaven: Reports featured 500 brant, a cackling goose, a remarkable flock of nine greater white-fronted geese, 840 greater scaups, a Barrow’s goldeneye, and a black-headed gull.
►Miscellaneous: Reports included a Barrow’s goldeneye in Lowell; eight great egrets and a short-eared owl at Allens Pond in South Dartmouth; two rough-legged hawks at Dunback Meadow in Arlington; three Virginia rails in Peabody; a Townsend’s solitaire on the Martha’s Vineyard Christmas Bird Count; a short-eared owl in Bedford; three short-eared owls, two palm warblers, and three Eastern meadowlarks at the Cumberland Farms fields in Middleborough; 42 rusty blackbirds in Wayland, and 16 more in East Bridgewater.
For more information about bird sightings or to report sightings, call the Massachusetts Audubon Society at 781-259-8805 or go to www.mass-audubon.org.
