New Englandersthat 2002-2003Was a Return to Business As Usual in the North- New England Temperatezone
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fter the previouswinter of record-breakingwarmth, it should have come as no surprise to New Englandersthat 2002-2003was a return to business as usual in the north- New England temperatezone. Over the Regionas a whole, averagetemperature ranked in the lowest 25% of winters on record, with statesbordering the Gulf of Maine •rt (Maine, New Hampshire,Massachusetts) ß colder than the Regional average. In Canbou manyareas, there was no hint of a Janu- ary or February thaw. Snowfall was roughly normal, although this was a result of below-averageprecipitation to ß Baxter SP the north and above-averageprecipita- tion to the south.The latter was aidedby five northeasters that swept ashore MAINE between mid-December and mid-Febru- ary ß ß Bangor The effects of this "normal" winter on Chaml)lain Island Pond New Englhnd'sbirdlife were generally ß Augusta pretty obvious.Early freezingof north- Mtl•. •t.besert I em lakes and rivers forced waterfowl and -- • i NF &Acadia NP ..... 10NT eaglessouth by mid-winter, and cold r • Wint,e- • MonheganI. temperatures in general probably _••au/•e Portland resulted in one of the lowest totals of lin- HAMPSHIRE gering half-hardiesin recent years. In rea,Bay.IßP_.nuL.. contrast,there werefour hummingbirds Pad.awayS•a -• •s•esor•noa•s in the Region,including Massachusetts's first Calliope Hummingbird and a Berkshire/_•SS•C•OSE•S ••½• •c, CapeAnn .... Selaphoruswell to the north in coastal •uny• f •Qu•? BOto•t•gen Maine. Carolina Wrens, a species not / •r,--h=H• •s. •h• BankPr•ir=etown known for its cold tolerance,managed to Litchfi• ., . •)• Stor=0'• I R_I.fi , [ '• hold on to most of the range expansion County• .a•ora•" I .... • ß• •Ch•ham facilitatedby the winter of 2001-2002. The northeastersresulted in exceptional • e• • • I • Martha's• ß numbersof seabirds,particularly alcids, • • • •mmo•••,B,oc• I.I X Vin•ard along the Massachusettscoast, with Stam•rd..... • -. I S•h•st Pt. higher-than-usualnumbers of Razorbills ugnmou••. Jamest•n even penetratingwell into Long Island Sound. Rarities not associatedwith any par- ticular weather event included Massa- LOONSTHROUGH VULTURES Pam Hunt chusetts'ssecond Long-billed Murrelet, The exceptionalflight of Red-throated three Tufted Ducks in Vermont, a Black- Loons observed in e. Massachusetts in 66 ParkStreet #2 throated Gray Warbler in Connecticut Nov apparentlydid not result in more (continuing from November), and an than the usualnumber of birdswintering Northfield,New Hampshire 03276 intriguingkingbird on CapeCod. North- in the Region.This season'sPacific Loons ern fincheswere essentiallyabsent, and included one in Portland, Cumberland, ([email protected]) evennorthern areas reported fewer birds ME in mid-Dec(fide WT), and 2 in Mass- than normal for a non-invasion year. achusetts: Eastham 12 Dec and Woods And finally,several now-famous visitors Hole, Barnstable4-5 Jan. The Eared Grebe to Massachusetts returned for another returned to Gloucester,Essex, MA for its winter, including Eared Grebe, Tufted 8th consecutive winter. Another was seen Duck, and Gyrfalcon. sporadicallyat Groton, New London,CT 16 Jan+ (D. Provencher).A singleRed- Abbreviations: Eastham (Eastham, necked Grebe lingeredthrough 5 Jan at Barnstable, MA), M.A.R.C. (Massachu- Ferrisburg,Addison, VT (TM, A. Strong). setts Avian Records Committee), Nan- Western Grebes were all in Massachusetts: tucket (Nantucket I., MA), P'town Plymouth 7 Dec, Scituate 1 Jan, and (Provincetown, Barnstable,MA), Quab- Nahant 2-20 Jan. bin (Quabbin Res., w. MA), Rockport During the northeasterof 12 Dec, 3 (Rockport,Essex, MA). Greater Shearwaters were seen off Rock- VOLUME 57 (2003) NUMBER 2 177 port (RH). A total of 440 Northern Gan- appearsthat the large flocks departed soon Burlington,Chittenden, VT 19 Feb (TM). nets was seen from the same location on thereafter.The Regionaltotal of 6 Greater Lingeringdiving ducks included 6 Red- the samedate, but this numberpaled in White-fronted Geese is a little below aver- headat Stratham,Rockingham, NH i Dec comparison to age for recent (onestaying though 12 Dec) and3 more counts elsewhere years.There were 2 ] . at theCrown Point Bridge, Addison, VT 26 in Massachusetts • m Connecticut and Dec--10Jan. Redheads paled in compari- during Dec, a group of 4 that son to another waterfowl find at the including1000 in ; i spentall of Febat Crown Point Bridge.On 26 Dec, birders Chatham,Barnsta- • Fairhaven, Bristol, located 2 male Tufted Ducks (2nd state ble 7 Dec and ' a i MA.A Barnaclerecord) in a flockof 1400Greater Scaup 1650 at P'town 25 r • Gooseat Upton, (itself an impressivefind; TM, m. ob.). Dec (bothBN). By _ Worcester, MA 31 Thesewere joined by a female,and one of late Dec, good • Jan was suspected the maleswas still present5 Jan. Five numbersof gan- = to be an escapee, moreTufted Ducks were in Massachusetts, nets had also but 2 at Rehoboth, includinga bird at the WachusettRes., moved into Rhode ' ,a• Bristol,MA i Feb Worcester for the 8th winter in a row Island waters, (M. Larson et al.) Rhode Island hosted 2 of this Eurasian with 1672 and 750 were deemed more species:one in Wakefield,Washington 28 on theS. Kingston likely to be wild. Dec+ and one in Providence,Providence C.B.C. and Block Final word on 15-28Feb. King Eiders in unusualplaces I. C.B.C., respec- these birds awaits includedone on GreatBay, NH 9-13 Dec tively Finally, a deliberationby the and 2 in coastal Connecticut. A Black gannet in Way- M.A.R.C. There Scoterwas similarly out of placealong the land, Middlesex, were 3 Tundra Connecticut R. in Greenfield, Franklin, MA 4 Dec (A. ThisRufous orAllen's Hummingbird wasphotographed at Swans in Connecti- Hancock,Maine 2 December2002, a firstwinter-season MA 9 Jan. Even Long-tailed Ducks Webber)provided recordfor the state.The bird was last seen after a snowstorm cut in early Dec, showedup inland,with birdsin Laconia, one of fewer than thefollowing day. Photo9raph byKen and Sue Noddin. and 5 appearedin NH 28 Dec, TurnersFalls, Franklin, MA 9 a dozen inland Coventry, Kent, RI Jan, and Hinsdale,NH in Jan (C. Petrak). recordsfor the Bay State. Great Cor- in lateJan, marking about the 20thwinter WhereLong-tailed Ducks are supposed to morants seemed more common inland thatthe specieshas wintered in thisloca- be, 250,000 were tallied in Nantucket than usual this season. Some 43 were tion (fide M. Tucker). Sound 22 Dec (a number similar to the reported along the Merrimack R. in Despitethe earlyfreeze and generally C.B.C.total in the previouswinter). Lawrence,Essex, MA 25Jan, and up to 10 cold temperatures,a Numbers of Harle- werefarther upriver in Manchester,Hills- few ducks managed quin Ducks at tradi- borough,NH 27 Feb. One bird was even to show up in tional locations in presentuntil 21 Jan at Laconia,Belknap, unusual inland loca- Maine, Massachu- NH (C. Anderson)_ In the Connecticut tions. Three Wood setts, and Rhode Valley,single individuals were at Holyoke, Ducksduring Feb in Island were roughly Hampden,MA 14 Dec, Quabbin 28 Dec, New Hampshirewas normal,with a peak and Hinsdale,Cheshire, NH 29 Jan. Seven definitely an above- regionalcount of 104 spentall or partof thewinter up the Nan- averagetotal, as was at Rockport during gatuckR. in Waterbury,New Haven,CT the count of 3 Gad- Jan (lB). More (M. Szantyr). wain in w. Massachu- unusualwere a single Lingeringherons were scarce--repre- setts. Eurasian Harlequin at Stam- sentedby a singleGreat Egret at Weeka- Wigeon numbers ford,Fairfield, CT 10 paug,Washington, RI 5 Jan and a total of were about normal Jan, and another well 17 Black-crownedNight-Herons in e_ and included one in up the Connecticut Massachusettsin Jan and Feb. The only New Hampshire,8 in R. in Littleton, BlackVulture report away from Connecti- Massachusetts, at Grafton,Nit 3 Jan (T, cutwas a singlebird at Ashaway,Washing- least5 in Rhode • MacPherson). One of ton,RI, a locationwhere several were pres- Island,and 3 in Con- •. only a handful of ent during the previouswinter. Eight necticut. Northern ,,_ inlandrecords for the Turkey Vultures on the Newburyport Shovelers were lim Granite State. With C.B.C. (Essex,MA) 22 Dec represented ited to 12 scattered • the early and thor- only the 2nd recordfor the count (lB), around e. Massachu- oughfreeze, numbers and otherwayward buzzards included sin- setts,with the excep- of Hooded Mer- glesin Amherst,Hampshire, MA 20 Feb tionof a singlebird in Thisdark-morph Gyrfakon atBlack Fakon Marine Terminal, gansers seemed and Portland,ME throughmost of Feb Exeter, Rockingham, SouthBoston, Massach.,cetts 19January 2003 had been lower in inland areas, (DL). NH ! Dec. The only bandedatLogan Airport in1998. Photograpl• byPhiIBrown. an observation con- Common (Eurasian veniently balanced Green-winged)Teal was at Eastham11 by slightlyhigher numbers in s. coastal Dead Creek W.M.A., Addison, VT still Jan. An unusual male hybrid between areas.A flockof 500 RuddyDucks in Old WATERFOWLhosted 2500 Snow Geese l Dec, but it Wood Duck and Mallard was observed in Saybrook, Middlesex, CT 1 Jan (D. Sosen- 178 NORTH AMERICA" BIRDS sky)was an impressiveearly-winter total (fideGH). A bird describedas an ad.Yel- reviewby theVermont records committee. for the Nutmeg State. low-leggedGull was seen in Salisbury, Amongn. owls,Snowy Owls staged one of Essex,MA 19 Feb (RH) and awaitsreview their weakest incursions in recent winters. RAPTORSTHROUGH ALCIDS by M.A.R.C.In conjunctionwith thebig Forexample, the statewide total for Mass- It wasnot a particularlyinteresting winter alcidflights, 1500 Black-legged Kittiwakes achusettswas only 6-7 birds,a number for birds of prey. Lingering Ospreys were tallied at Rockport14 Dec (RH), oftenexceeded at LoganAirport alone.A included one well to the n. on the Orono with another1260 in CapeCod Bay4Jan singleNorthern Hawk Owl brieflyvisited C.B.C.(Penopscot, ME) 15 Dec,an appar- (m.