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VOL. 23 N O .L F E B R U a R Y 1995 BIRD OBSERVER

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VOL. 23 N O .L F E B R U a R Y 1995 BIRD OBSERVER BIRD OBSERVER VOL. 23 N O .l F E B R U A R Y 1995 BIRD OBSERVER • a bimonthly journal • To enhance understanding, observation, and enjoyment of birds. Ma s s ?" V O L.23.n o . 1 FEBRUARY 1995 Editor in Chief Corporate Officers Board of Directors Martha Steele President Dorothy R. Arvidson Associate Editor William E. Davis, Jr. Alden G. Clayton Janet L. Heywood Treasurer Herman H. D'Entremont Lee E. Taylor Department Heads H. Christian Floyd Clerk Cover Art Richard A. Forster William E. Davis, Jr. Glenn d'Entremont Janet L Heywood Where to Go Birding Jim Berry Subscription Manager Harriet E. Hoffman Feature Articies and Matthew L. Pelikan John C. Kricher Field Notes Advertisements Wayne R. Petersen John C. Kricher Robert H. Stymeist Marjorie W. Rines Book Reviews Alden G. Clayton Associate Staff John A. Shetterly Bird Sightings Theodore Atkinson Martha Steele Robert H. Stymeist Simon Perkins Robert H. Stymeist At a Glance Wayne R. Petersen BIRD OBSERVER {\JSPS 369-850) is published bimonthly, COPYRIGHT © 1995 by Bird Observer of Eastern Massachusetts, Inc., 462 Trapelo Road, Belmont, MA 02178, a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation under section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Gifts to Bird Observer will be greatly appreciated and are tax deductible. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to BIRD OBSERVER, 462 Trapelo Road, Belmont, MA 02178. SECOND CLASS POSTAGE PAID AT BOSTON, MA. SUBSCRIPTIONS: $16 for 6 Issues, $30 for two years in the U. S. Add $2.50 per year for Canada and foreign. Single copies $4.00. An Index to Volumes 1-11 is $3. Back issues: inquire as to price and availability. CHANGES OF ADDRESS and subscription inquiries should be sent to Bird Observer Subsaiptions, P. O. Box 236, Arlington, MA 02174. ADVERTISING: full page, $80; half page, $40; quarter page, $25. Send camera-ready copy to Bird Observer Advertising, P. O. Box 236, Arlington, 02174. BIRD SIGHTINGS: Send reports of any given month in writing by the eighth of the next month to Bird Sightings, Robert H. Stymeist, 94 Grove Street, Watertown, MA 02172. MATERIAL FOR PUBLICATION: BIRD OBSERVERwe\comes tor publication contributions of original articles, photographs, art work, field notes, and field studies. Please send these or other suggestions to the editor in chief: Martha J. Steele, P. O. Box 236, Arlington, MA 02174. Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced on one side only of 8.5-by-11-inch paper. Manuscripts longer than 15 typed pages (about 4500 words) may be shortened when edited. Use the current A.O.U. Check-List for bird names and sequence. Type tables on separate pages. Black-and-white photographs and graphics are best. Include author's or artist's name, address, and telephone number and information from which a brief biography can be prepared. Indicate whether an IBM-compatible 5.25-inch diskette containing the article in ASCII or Microsoft Word can be supplied. Scientific and technical articles are peer reviewed. Views expressed in BIRD OBSERVER are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect an official position of Bird Observer of Eastern Massachusetts, Inc. ISSN: 0893-4630 CONTENTS ATHOL’S WINTER SPECIALTIES ....................................................... Dave Small and Bill Fregeau 5 TEN YEARS AND A YEAR: THE FALL WATERFOWL CENSUS AT FRESH POND, CAMBRIDGE, 1984-1993,1994 ..............................................................................James H. Barton 11 WHERE DO THE LOONS GO? A FIELD GUIDE TO DNA CLASSMCATION OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS ...............................................................................John C. Kricher 25 RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES AND THE WINTER OF 1993-1994 ............................. William E. Davis, Jr., and Wayne R. Petersen 38 BOOK REVIEW: The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan W einer............................................. John C. Kncher 43 BIRD SIGHTINGS: SEPTEMBER 1994 SUMMARY.......................... 46 BIRD SIGHTINGS: OCTOBER 1994 SUMMARY............................. 56 ABOUT THE COVER: Gyrfalcon.................................W. E. Davis, Jr. 68 ABOUT THE COVER ARTIST: Paul Donahue....................M. Steele 69 AT A GLANCE....................................................... Wayne R. Petersen 70 Cover Illustration: Gyrfalcon by Paul Donahue SPRING HAWK WATCH Prime spring hawk migration time is from mid-March to mid-May, with the largest numbers of hawks seen from mid-April through early May. The Eastern Massachusetts Hawk Watch (EMHW) seeks hawk reports from anyone seeing numbers of hawks at any time, or who has hawkwatched for an hour or more, even if they don't see any hawks. To obtain complete information on the Spring Hawk Watch, including information on several free hawk watching field trips led by experienced hawk watchers in April, call Paul Roberts at 617-483-4263 or write him at 254 Arlington Street, Medford, MA 02155. BREEDING BIRDS OF WESTON Volunteers are needed for a study of the breeding birds of Weston, MA, with a focus on Ovenbirds. Volunteers are needed to census breeding birds and study Ovenbird nesting success and territory use patterns. Dates of assistance are from late April to mid-July 1995, but the length of service for any one volunteer is flexible. Some positions may become paid research positions pending funding. Please contact David Morimoto, Department of Biology, Regis College, 235 Wellesley Street, Weston, MA 02193. Tel. 617-893-1820, exL 2341, or 617-734-4756. Email: [email protected]. BIRD OBSERVER Vol. 23, No. 1,1995 Spring Workshops Spring Warblers - A Workshop Revisited Over thirty species of wood-warblers regularly occur in Massachusetts in spring. Bound for breeding areas in New England and eastern Canada, the warbler migration can be among the most exciting events of the avian year. Because of their great diversity, warblers offer a wonderful oprportunity to examine topics in speciation, migration, foraging ecology, and bird song. Many of these topics also provide useful tools when trying to identify unfamiliar warbler sptecies. A field trip to Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge and selected spots in Essex County will help to enrich impressions gained during the indoor session. Leader: Wayne R. Petersen. Seminar: Friday, May 5,1995 (7:30-9:30 P.M.). Field Trip: Saturday, May 13,1995. Cost: $35 The Barrens and their Beasts - A Workshop on Pine Barren Ecology Southeastern Massachusetts lies close to the northern edge of a unique association of plants and animals called the pine barrens. To the uninitiated, pine barrens appear desolate and relatively devoid of life, yet several of the state’s rarest plant and invertebrate species occur there. Breeding birds in the pine barrens include species with a southern affinity, such as Whip-poor-will and Fish Crow, and more northern species, like Hermit Thrush and Nashville Warbler. Participants will be introduced to the interesting and often imderstated ecology of the pine barrens. The indoor session will present an overview of the environment and its bird life, and the field trip to the Myles Standish State Forest in Plymouth will offer the opportunity to observe firsthand some of the representative birds and plants. Leader: Wayne R. Petersen. Seminar: Friday, June 2,1995 (7:30-9:30 P.M.). Field Trip: Sunday, June 4, 1995. Cost: $35. Massachusetts Breeding Birds - What are They and How do They do it Approximately 200 bird species breed in Massachusetts. These species occur in a multitude of habitats between the Cape and the Berkshires. Some are rare and local; others breed throughout the state in a wide variety of habitats. In addition to this variety in habitats, there is an equally great variety of breeding strategies, nest types, and interesting behaviors that are associated with nesting. This workshop will focus on the state's breeding birds and will specifically examine some of the imptortant biological phenomena associated with the breeding season. A field trip to the Quabbin area will explore the rich breeding populations there and will provide an opJpx)rtunity to see breeding bird activity near the height of the nesting season. Leader: Wayne R. Petersen Seminar: Friday, June 23, 1995 (7:30-9:30 P.M.). Field Trip: Sunday, Jime 25,1995. Cost: $35. These workshops are cosponsored hy Bird Observer and the Needham Bird Club. Seminar sessions will be held in Needham, MA, firom 7:30-9:30 P.M. Directions to the seminars will be sent to registrants. Details about the field trips will be announced at the seminars pJreceding them. If you have questions, please call 617-666-8934 (evenings). Workshops limited to 20 participants. Preregistration is required. To register, send your name, address, and phone ntimbers with your check (payable to Bird Observer) to Bird Observer Workshops, c/o H. D'Entremont, 45 Montrose Street, Somerville, MA 02143. BIRD OBSERVER Vol. 23, No. 1,1995 ATHOL’S WINTER SPECIALTIES by Dave Small and Bill Fregeau The town of Athol is known in birding circles more for exporting enthusiastic twitchers than as a birding destination. The area hosts the Athol Bird and Nature Club, which was established in 1963 as a diverse group of natural history enthusiasts. The 100-plus member club provides programming and field trips in astronomy, geology, herpetology, botany, entomology (lepidoptery), and of course birds. For more than a century bird sightings from the area have been recorded in numerous publications, from Bagg and Eliot's 1937 work. Birds of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, to Veit and Petersen's 1993 Birds of Massachusetts, not to mention Bird News of Western Massachusetts, Bird Observer, and The Chickadee. This brings us to one of the problems of being an Athol birder: the identity crisis. Athol and Royalston are the most northern and western extremes of Worcester County. Orange and Warwick are on the northeastern fringe of Franklin County. Geographically, all these towns lie within the Connecticut River basin. But reporting species can fall to Bird Observer to the east. Bird News of Western Massachusetts to the west, and The Chickadee for Worcester County reports only.
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