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| Forster's Tern, Quabbin, July 3, 2013 (photo by Kiana Koenen) |
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| Forster's Tern, Quabbin, July 3, 2013 (photo by Kiana Koenen) |
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| Forster's Tern, Quabbin, July 3, 2013 (photo by Kiana Koenen) |
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| Forster's Tern, Quabbin, July 3, 2013 (photo by Kiana Koenen) |
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| Forster's Tern, Quabbin, July 3, 2013 (photo by Kiana Koenen) |
As we continue to endure the ongoing heat wave (entering day
six now with temperatures above 90) I have not spent a lot of time
outside. Today the temperature came
close to 100 with a heat index around 105.
With little time spent outside lately the only interesting bird related
item I have to write about occurred weeks ago and not to me! However, given the oddity of the sighting I
thought it would be interesting to cover.
While out on a recent loon survey with DCR staff at Quabbin a biologist
(Kiana Koenen) mentioned she found a Forster’s Tern during an earlier survey and obtained
photos. I got the photos forwarded to me
and the bird was indeed a Forster’s Tern, a very unusual species inland in
Massachusetts. Most previous records inland in Massachusetts have occurred in the fall and were associated with hurricanes. The only previous record
I could find for all of Franklin County occurred just a few weeks earlier when
an adult in breeding plumage was found at Turners Falls along with two Common
Terns (see http://pioneerbirding.blogspot.com/2013/05/ma-cerulean-warbler-forsters-tern-in.html
) The Forster’s Tern at Quabbin was a
first year bird and was seen on July 3 around 10:20 in the morning during some
inclement weather. The bird was perched
on a small limb in the water and allowed for photographs to be taken. Thanks to Ki for letting me post the photos and details of this very unusual inland record.
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