NEW ENGLAND 
Still an extreme rarity in the Northeast, this Great White 
Heron was found by the photographer at Fairhaven, Massa- 
chusetts 9 {here 30) July and lingered into August 2009. 
New England has just a single prior record of this sub- 
species of Great Blue Heron, from 1996. Photograph by 
Carolyn Longworth. 
firmed in Essex, Middlesex, and Hampshire — 
something that has not been documented for 
a number of years in a state where the species 
is endangered (B.O.). Four lingering Florned 
Grebes appeared at three Connecticut coastal 
locations in Jun (fide GH), and single Red- 
necked Grebes were noted at Flampton, Rock- 
ingham, NFI 5 Jun-9 Jul (SM); Chatham, 
Barnstable, MA 3-27 Jun (BN); and Winthrop, 
Suffolk, MA 3 Jul (MI). More unusual was the 
continued presence, since spring, of an Eared 
Grebe throughout the period at the S.S.D.F 
(fide DL, m.ob.). 
On the heels of a subad. Black-browed Al- 
batross sighted at Cashes Ledge in the s. Gulf 
of Maine in Mar, an albatross sighted between 
Seal I. and Vinalhaven I., Penobscot Bay, Knox 
15 Jul (ph. J. Drury, A. Hill, L. Budd) may 
have been the same individual and represent- 
ed the first-ever photographically document- 
ed report for New England waters. Along with 
a convincing 1978 Maine observation, there 
are five or six other previous reports from 
elsewhere in New England waters. For the 
2nd year in a row, Cory’s Shearwaters ap- 
peared earlier and in far greater numbers than 
usual in the cool boreal waters n. of Cape Cod 
and the Gulf of Maine. This species tends to 
prefer the warmer. Gulf Stream-influenced 
surface waters s. of New England. A count of 
250 off Tuckernuck I. 19 Jun (RV) could 
hardly prepare observers for the huge num- 
bers that were to remain off Cape Cod 
throughout the summer, topped by the stun- 
ning tally of 2700 off Race Pt. 7 Jul (RH) — 
possibly the highest single one-day total ever 
recorded over Cape Cod’s inshore waters. 
Maine observers described the appearance of 
these shearwaters as a “massive invasion,” 
with as many as 60 -h counted off Portland, 
Cumberland, and many others regularly seen 
on whale watching trips out of Boothbay Har- 
bor, Lincoln (fide LS). In addition to unprece- 
dented numbers of Cory’s Shearwaters, 
19,000 Greater and 3800 Sooty Shearwaters 
were logged on 7 Jul (RH), both totals ex- 
ceeding what most observers are ever likely to 
encounter in years of shore-based observa- 
tion. Somewhat less dramatic were 1500-1- 
Greater and 1500 Sooty Shearwaters moving 
northward past Tuckernuck I. 19 Jun (RV), 
and 3400 Greater Shearwaters at Race Pt. 21 
Jun (BN). Despite the fact that the much-an- 
ticipated breeding of Manx Shearwaters in 
Boston Harbor described in the spring report 
failed to materialize, following more than a 
decade of similar anticipation, and after 120 
days of careful surveillance this summer, a 
juv. Manx Shearwater was successfully raised 
at Matinicus Rock, 42 km off Rockland, Knox, 
ME (S. Hall, B, Benedict et al, fide RES.I.N.). 
More details will follow in the fall report. A 
tally of 19 Audubon’s Shearwaters near At- 
lantis Canyon 18 Jul (RH, B.B.C.) was not un- 
expected; however, one at Nantucket I. 23 Jun 
(VL) was rare so close to shore. Fifteen 
Leach’s Storm-Petrels at Barnstable, Barnsta- 
ble, MA 22 Jun (PT) were storm-driven, but 
less expected was one photographed well in- 
land at Lakeville, Penobscot, ME 2 Jul (fide LS, 
P. Vickery). 
A Red-billed Tropicbird that first appeared 
at the Isles of Shoals 23 Jun (ph. D. Hayward, 
fide TV) was New Hampshire’s first and was 
likely the same individual seen irregularly be- 
tween Matinicus Rock and Seal Island 
N.W.R., ME during Jun-Jul for at least the 
past four years (fide RES.I.N.). Three nests of 
Double-crested Cormorants found at 
Muskeget I, 7 Jul (L. Manne, RV) represented 
a first-ever nesting at this historic colonial 
waterbird site. New England’s 2nd Great 
White Heron appeared at Eairhaven, Bristol, 
MA 9-31 Jul and later (ph. C. Longworth); 
the only previous occurrence of this sub- 
species was on Cape Cod in 1996. Massachu- 
setts wading bird nest counts at Kettle 1. pro- 
duced 129 Great Egrets, 207 Snowy Egrets, an 
estimated 20 pairs of Little Blue Herons, 44 
Black-crowned Night-Herons, and 117 Glossy 
Ibis; at nearby Eagle L, totals were 35 Great 
Egrets, 36 Snowy Egrets, 30 Black-crowned 
Night-Herons, and 7 Glossy Ibis (SP, JB). 
Sarah Island in Hingham, Plymouth, MA sup- ! 
ported 72 Great Egrets, 38 Snowy Egrets, and j 
243 Black-crowned Night-Herons (C. Trocki, | 
RS). In Rhode Island, a Narragansett Bay nest ' 
survey tallied 185 Great Egrets, 224 Snowy j 
Egrets, about three pairs of Little Blue Herons, 
224 Black-crowned Night-Herons, and 110 l 
Glossy Ibis, the ibis number figure reflecting a 
continuous drop from 270 pairs in 2007 (RE, 
CR). It appears that Cattle Egret has become i 
extirpated as a nester in the Region. White- 
faced Ibis, however, is practically annual in 
appearance, so singles at Biddeford, York, ME 
9 Jun (m.ob., fide LS) and Milford, New 
Haven, CT 30 Jul (FG, ph. MS) were not to- 
tally surprising. , j 
KITES THROUGH RAILS | 
Following last year’s first confirmed Nevv 
England nesting records of Mississippi Kite, 
the species rebounded this year at Newmar- 
ket, Rockingham, NH, where one young was | 
fledged from two nests (fide SM) and as many i 
as 5 ads. and one juv. were noted 20 Jul (SM). | 
At Simsbury, Hartford, CT, another returning j 
pair fledged one young Q- Weeks et al.). One 
has to wonder about the presence of 2 Missis- , 
Q A A Bermuda Petrel was well documented at 40° 56.1 2' N, 66° 1 4.32' W 28 Jun (ph. P. Duley) — 288 km se. of Cape 
3 /l Cod— during a marine mammal survey conducted by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, MA. The 
petrel was at the edge of the continental shelf, close to the marine boundary between the United States and Canada in wa- 
ters 2280 m deep and 23.8° C at the surface. 
Preliminary data from "Lotek"data-loggers placed on 12 Bermuda Petrels in 2008 indicated that petrels' foraging trips cov- 
ered up to 6400 km and that they ranged as far away from Bermuda as the Bay of Fundy, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the Grand 
Banks off Newfoundland — and even Ireland in the case of a failed breeder (/icfe Jeremy Madeiros). Full information from this 
study will be published elsewhere. It has been speculated that the New England seamounts might serve as an important for- 
aging area for"Cahows,"and it will be of great interest to learn the routes traveled by this enigmatic, endangered species. 
Another gadfly petrel very rarely reported from New England waters was a Black-capped Petrel off Race Pt. 23 Jun (RH) 
seen in association with huge numbers of shearwaters present in the waters following a storm. This sighting represents one 
of fewer than five documented inshore occurrences for Massachusetts — and one of perhaps two from-shore observations in 
North America not associated with a tropical cyclone. 
570 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 
