NEW ENGLAND 
Table 2. Records of migrants found on early dates and/or large numbers for the date in fev# England In the last week of April 
2009, in association with strong southerly and southwesterly airflow as depicted in Figure 4. 
Species 
No, 
LocatisH 
ObsereerorSwrce 
Datefs) 
Least Bittern 
1 
Plum 1. 
RH 
28 Apr 
Least Bittern 
1 
Buxton, ME 
J. Stevens 
30 Apr 
Spotted Sandpiper 
1 
Fort Fairfield, Aroostook, ME 
BS 
26 Apr 
Acadian Flycatcher 
1 
Little Compton, RI 
GD 
30 Apr 
Red-eyed Vireo 
5 
singles in 5 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
23-30 Apr 
Red-eyed Vireo 
1 
Carmel, ME 
M. Lucey 
26 Apr 
Red-eyed Vireo 
1 
CT 
/?*GH 
27 Apr 
House Wren 
20 
3 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
26, 28 Apr 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 
17 
Plymouth, MA 
i. Davies 
26 Apr 
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 
16 
Pluml. 
RH 
28 Apr 
Blue-winged Warbler 
5 
Cambridge, MA 
Bird Observer 
29 Apr 
Blue-winged Warbler 
5 
Pluml. 
RH 
28 Apr 
Orange-crowned Warbler 
1 
Medford, MA 
MR 
27 Apr 
Nashville Warbler 
9 
Medford, MA 
MR 
30 Apr 
Northern Parula 
20 
Pluml. 
RH 
28 Apr 
Northern Parula 
25 
Medford, MA 
MR 
29 Apr 
Yellow Warbler 
22 
2 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
28 Apr 
Chestnut-sided Warbler 
26 
Quabbin Res. 
LTherrien 
30 Apr 
Magnolia Warbler 
1 
Augusta, ME 
N. Famous 
22 Apr 
Magnolia Warbler 
8 
6 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
27-29 Apr 
Black-throated Blue Warbler 
15 
5 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
28-30 Apr 
Yellow-rumped Warbler 
270 
Medford, MA 
m 
25 Apr 
Yellow-rumped Warbler 
285 
Plum i. 
RH 
28 Apr 
Biack-throated Green Warbler 
30 
7 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
25-30 Apr 
Yellow-throated Warbler 
3 
singles in 3 MA localities 
Bird Observer 
26-30 Apr 
Biackpoil Warbler 
1 
Concord, MA 
SP 
29 Apr 
Blackpoll Warbler 
1 
CT 
fideGH 
29 Apr 
Cerulean Warbler 
1-|- 
CT 
fidem 
25 
Cerulean Warbler 
1 
Cambridge, MA 
JT 
27 Apr 
Black-and-white Warbler 
22 
Plum 1. 
RH 
28 Apr 
Black-and-white Warbler 
21 
2 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
29 Apr 
American redstart 
1 
Augusta, ME 
N. famous 
22 Apr 
Hooded Warbler 
4 
3 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
26-29 Apr 
Hooded Warbler 
1 
Exeter, NH 
P. Chamberlain 
29 Apr 
Yellow-breasted Chat 
1 
CT 
Mem 
25 Apr 
Yellow-breasted Chat 
1 
Hampton, NH 
S&JM 
28 Apr 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 
18 
8 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
21-30 Apr 
Blue Grosbeak 
2 
2 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
26-29 
Indigo Bunting 
11 
7 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
21-30 Apr 
Painted Bunting 
1 
Whatley, MA 
B. Benner 
30 Apr-3 May 
Orchard Oriole 
14 
7 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
25-30 Apr 
Baltimore Oriole 
22 
6 MA locations 
Bird Observer 
25-28 Apr 
usual (B.O.). A rare dark-morph Broad- 
winged Hawk was photographed in Durham, 
NH 31 May (ph. E. Markey), providing one of 
few firm records in the East. A carefully stud- 
ied light-morph Swainson’s Hawk passed the 
Bradbury Mt. hawkwatch 3 May (DA), and a 
Golden Eagle made a highlight there 25 Mar 
(DA). A late Rough-legged Hawk visited an 
airfield in Bedford, MA 20-24 May (ph. JT et 
ah). Pairs of Merlins on territory in Sandwich 
and Concord contributed to the ongoing con- 
solidation of the species’ breeding status in s. 
New Hampshire. 
CRAf^ES THROUGH ALCIDS 
The task of tiying to enumerate the many 
sightings of Sandhill Cranes accurately has 
become an exercise in futility. Suffice to say 
that, each spring, migrants are now spotted 
across most of the Region. At this point in 
their colonization of New England, their 
breeding distribution will probably provide 
the best measure of their local status. The oc- 
currence of 5 American Golden-Plovers in 
the Region was unusual for a species that, in 
some years, goes entirely unreported in 
spring. These were in Middletown, R1 4-7 
Apr (ph. R. Larson), Middleboro, MA 6 Apr 
(ph. H. Levesque), Chatham, MA 26 Apr (B. 
Harris), Duxbury, MA 5-9 May (ph. R. 
Bowes), and Phippsburg, ME 14 May (ph. M. 
Fahay). Two Black-necked Stilts made a one- 
day visit to Wellfleet, MA 25 Apr (D. 
Reynolds), 5 stilts made an equally short stop 
in Harwich 5 May (D. Hall), and an American 
Avocet was another one-day wonder in Row- 
ley, MA 20 May (S. Simpson et al). Arriving 
roughly two weeks early in n. Maine, a Spot- 
ted Sandpiper in Fort Fairfield 26 Apr (BS) 
was probably delivered by the strong souther- 
ly winds during that period. The rarest shore- 
bird species in the Region this spring was a 
Hudsonian Godwit that appeared in Lam- 
oine, ME 30 May (ph. J. Smith). Massachu- 
setts, for example, has hosted fewer than 10 
spring Hudsonians ever! Four Marbled God- 
wits in the Region represented a high spring 
total, with singles in Stratford, CT 25 Apr 
(fide GH), Yarmouth, ME 2 May (ph. DL et 
al), Seabrook, NH 11 May (G. Tillman), and 
Charlestown, RI 16 May (P. LEtoile). The 
only report of Western Sandpiper came from 
Nantucket 30 May (ER). A Curlew Sandpiper 
in Duxbury, MA 24 May (ph. RB) was an es- 
pecially unusual spring find. The only Ruff of 
the season was a female in Stonington, CT 20 
Apr (D. Wadlow). A hendersoni Short-billed 
Dowitcher was well photographed in Scar- 
borough, ME 17 May (ph. L. Alexander), and 
another was carefully studied in Seabrook, 
NH 17-18 May (S&JM, B. Griffith). This sub- 
species is uncommon in the Region in “fall” 
migration Oul-Aug); there is just one prior 
spring report in the Region, at Newburyport, 
MA 24 May 1998 (RH). Of less-than-annual 
Regional occurrence in spring, a Long-billed 
Dowitcher dropped into Newburyport Har- 
bor, MA 3 May (ph. RH et al). A Red-necked 
Phalarope found inland at Concord, NH 28 
May (R. Quinn) was part of a more wide- 
spread fallout of shorebirds. For example, a 
394 NORTHAMERICANBIRDS 
