Yesterday as I walked the alder/birch scrub patches by the Turner's Falls power canal I couldn't help but think about lingering rarities. Considering the time of year, it was a remarkably balmy afternoon fueling random thoughts of finding a MacGillivray's Warbler or something similar from the west. Naturally, such fantasies only rarely become real but I was more than happy to find a late Common Yellowthroat, a record that compared favorably with a steady series of Common Yellowthroat reports from Northfield Meadows in Dec/Jan 2018/19. Moreover, this yellowthroat was a sharp male and watching it was a staunch reminder that fall migration '2020' wasn't quite over.
Late on Sunday evening, a good birding friend sent me a couple of really nice images of an obvious Sage Thrasher, a species I know well from many trips to the Western US but I nearly fell off my chair when I read and processed the content of her message. The thrasher had been photographed by her friend that afternoon (Dec 13th) no more than 30 minutes down the road in Hampshire County! Not only an exceptionally rare bird in Massachusetts, but also the first ever to be found deep in the interior - all four other records had been coastal.
Though narrowly outside Franklin County, the site was still well within my 'self-imposed' drive time limit and I made a plan to arrive at the site just after first light. The morning was not the best. It was dull and gloomy with periodic bouts of heavy snow. The half-a-dozen or so birders present had to work very, very hard to eek out just a few glimpses but after three hours of effort I left the site feeling satisfied with the views that I'd had. On the other hand, I couldn't help feeling a few twinges of angst since I felt sure that simple birder presence was enough to interfere with the bird's ability to feed undisturbed. Apparently I wasn't alone in these thoughts and I believe, at least for the time being, a decision has been made not to release the exact location in the best interests of the bird.
In recent years late autumn/early winter has proven to be an exceptionally productive time for Western vagrants in the Connecticut River Valley . The Sage Thrasher falls neatly within a pattern that has so far produced Mountain Bluebird in Turner's Falls, MacGillivray's Warbler and Pacific-slope Flycatcher in Hadley, Say's Phoebe in Westminster, VT, and Varied Thrush in Westport Village, NH to mention just a few, and all of them since fall 2016.
As always, the final word and gracious thanks go to the finders and friends who passed on the information, and to the birders at the scene who worked together to relocate the bird on the morning that I visited - thank you all!
NB. As if that wasn't enough for one day, the Barnacle Goose and the Cackling Goose once again graced the Turner's Falls power canal in the evening!
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