NEW ENGLAND 
At least one of these two pairs of Mississippi Kites that 
nested in Newmarket, New Hampshire in 2008 returned in 
May 2009 (here 13 May). Photograph by Steve Mirick. 
check of suitable habitat at various points on 
both sides of the Connecticut R. between 
Charlestown and Hindsdale, NH 28 May pro- 
duced counts of 7 Black-bellied Plovers, 100 
Semipalmated Sandpipers, 20 Dunlins, and 
250 Short-billed Dovidtchers (EM). 
A Mew Gull of the nominate subspecies 
More often recorded in summer than in spring in New 
England, this Curlew Sandpiper made a one-day showing 
in Duxbury, Massachusetts 24 May 2009. Photograph by 
Rkk Bowes. 
was in West Haven, CT 20 May (ph. NB et 
ah). Single first-cycle Thayers Gulls in Mas- 
sachusetts were in Gloucester 8 Mar (ph. JT), 
at Plum I. 14-19 Mar (ph. JT), and in 
Provincetown 12 Apr (MI). Among the mass- 
es of wintering gulls at Low Beach, Nantuck- 
et, numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls 
have continued to increase to the point 
where they now occasionally eclipse the 
numbers of Iceland Gulls that also occur 
there. A count there 10 Mar yielded 115 Less- 
er Black-backed and 80 Iceland Gulls (VL). 
Gounts of 50-t- Iceland Gulls and 20+ Lesser 
Black-backed Gulls in Provincetown, MA 3 
May (BN) represented high totals for that lo- 
cality and date, and 3 Lesser Black-backed 
Gulls in Caribou, Aroostook, ME 10 Apr (BS) 
were a surprise in in- 
terior n. Maine. The 
usual smattering of 
migrant Caspian 
Terns included an 
early bird in Strat- 
ford, CT 10 Apr (NB), 
and the highest 
counts, both from L. 
Champlain, included 
8 at Delta Park 22 Apr 
(B. Macpherson) and 
8 in Charlotte 21 May 
(TM). Caspians have 
nested on islands on 
the New York side of 
L. Champlain and 
have been suspected 
of doing so on the 
Vermont side. Mi- 
grant Caspians are 
rarely seen in spring 
away from L. Cham- 
plain or the coast, so 
one in Turners Falls, 
MA on the Connecti- 
cut R. 21 Apr (M. 
Fairbrother) was 
noteworthy. Also rare 
inland was an Arctic 
Tern in Hinsdale, NH 
29 May (EM). A 
Rare in the Northeast in spring, this Long-billed Dowitcher 
visited Newburyport, Massachusetts 3 May 2009. Photo- 
graph by Jeremiah Trimble. 
Sandwich Tern in Provincetown, MA 12 May 
was notably early (BN). Offshore boating op- 
portunities in winter/early spring are rare, so 
any trip is noteworthy. The avian “bycatch” 
on a cod-fishing cruise out of Galilee, R1 28 
Mar included 12 Dovekies, 11 Common 
Murres, 15 Thick-billed Murres, and an At- 
lantic Puffin QS). The latter was seen rough- 
ly 10 km se. of Block Island. 
Another chapter was added to the ongoing 
Boston Manx Shearwater story. To recap, a single 
bird was noted at Revere Beach in early Apr 2006; 2 were 
seen there in 2007; and the 2008 numbers peaked at 8. 
Numerous 2008 observations of multiple birds included 
some flying over the beach (often vocalizing) and 2 copu- 
lating in the water. It was at this point that birders began 
seriously entertaining the notion that the birds might be 
breeding locally. This year, the first birds returned some- 
time around 10 Apr, and numbers peaked at 30 by the 
end of May (J. Baur). Eight were also seen off Carson 
Beach in South Boston 24 May (R. Donovan). At the out- 
set of a nighttime boat excursion 13 May, as part of an ef- 
fort to locate a breeding site, 1 3 birds were seen at dusk in 
the waters off Revere and Winthrop (SP, RHS, JT et al.). 
However, despite the use of audio playback and night-vi- 
sion optic, this effort revealed no birds after dark and no 
further breeding evidence. Various references describe 
the process whereby Manx Shearwaters establish new 
colonies as highly protracted and incremental, with many 
false starts over several years. Perhaps the Boston birds 
are still just "going through the motions," so to speak. As- 
suming they do select, or have selected, a more or less 
typical site (island with turf and no/few mammalian 
predators), their options are rather limited, at least with- 
in Boston Harbor. 
DOVES THROUGH WAXWINGS 
The total of 3 White-winged Doves may have 
represented a new seasonal maximum for the 
Region. Birds in Portland, ME (through 8 
May) and Branford, GT (through 14 Mar) 
Table 1. Neotropical migrants observed in New England 1-10 April 2009 in association with 
the weather system depicted in Figure 3. 
Species 
Date(s) 
Location 
Observer or Source 
Whip-poor-will 
10 Apr 
Lyme, CT 
D. Provencher 
Eastern Kingbird 
8 Apr 
Tuckernuck 1., Nantucket, MA 
RRV 
Yellow-throated Vireo 
5 Apr 
Block l.,RI 
DF 
Yellow-throated Warbler 
4 Apr 
Nantucket, MA 
E. Ray 
Yellow-throated Warbler 
6 Apr 
Little Cranberry L, Hancock, ME 
fide W. Townsend 
Prothonotary Warbler 
4 Apr 
Winter Harbor, ME 
ph.N. Childs 
Prothonotary Warbler 
10 Apr 
Harpswell, ME 
ph.J. Howland 
Hooded Warbler 
9 Apr 
Tuckernuck 1., Nantucket, MA 
RRV 
Summer Tanager 
1-3 Apr 
Swan l.,ME 
K. Dutille 
Summer Tanager 
7-10 Apr 
Northeast Harbor, ME 
fideWT 
Summer Tanager 
8-9 Apr 
Trescott, ME 
ph. K. McCrimmon 
Summer Tanager 
4-8 Apr 
Eastham, MA 
J. Hequembourg 
Summer Tanager 
9 Apr 
Bar Harbor, ME 
fideWT 
Scarlet Tanager 
8 Apr 
Rochester, MA 
ph. P. Thompson 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 
5 Apr 
Bremen, ME 
fideWT 
Blue Grosbeak 
5 Apr 
Southwest Harbor, ME 
fide R. Grierson 
Blue Grosbeak 
8 Apr 
Nantucket, MA 
N. Slavitz 
Indigo Bunting 
5 Apr 
Hulls Cove, ME 
L. Hatch 
Indigo Bunting 
6 Apr 
Deer Isle, ME 
fideWT 
Indigo Bunting 
7 Apr 
Presque Isle, ME 
BS 
Indigo Bunting 
7 Apr 
Plymouth, MA 
K. Morehouse 
Indigo Bunting 
10 Apr 
Little Compton, Rl 
GD 
VOLUME 63 (2009) • NUMBER 3 
395 
