Sooty Tern - Rainbow Cove, Wachusett Reservoir, Worcester Co., MA. August 8th, 2020.
Although Tropical Storm Isaias failed to deliver any detectable storm-driven birds to northern Franklin County, Worcester County fared much better with 4 Sooty Terns discovered by Sean Williams at Wachusett Reservoir on the afternoon of August 4th. As much as I expected those birds to be gone in a heart beat, I was genuinely surprised to learn that two of them lingered well into the next day with one remaining all the way through to the 8th! With positive reports still coming through all day on the 8th, Susannah, Matan and I decided to make a dash for Wachusett Reservoir late in the afternoon, hot on the heels of Josh Layfield's success earlier in the day.
Sooty Tern - Rainbow Cove, Wachusett Reservoir, Worcester Co., MA. August 8th, 2020.
On arrival the scale of the Rainbow Cove was something to behold, and that was only a small portion of the reservoir! Twenty anxious minutes passed with no sightings of the tern but we were very kindly and reliably informed by a couple on site that the bird was still foraging in the distance......seconds later there it was - a beautiful crisply plumaged adult Sooty Tern! We watched for a while as it made many passes up and down on the far side of the cove, gaining height at times and soaring/towering on down-curved wings reminding me a lot of a shearwater or petrel. At times it even soared above the tree line only to glide back down again on bowed wings. The bird looked healthy and strong with no obvious signs of weakening and the often sad end that befalls many stranded pelagic birds.
Almost all my experience of Sooty Tern comes from Florida where I've seen thousands over the years at the Dry Tortugas but getting to see one just an hour from home and only 35 minutes east of the Pioneer Valley was an unexpected bonus and I'm very glad we made the trek to see it. Gracious thanks to Sean Williams the finder and all the birders who posted timely ebird reports as well as Josh Layfield who gave us up the minute information on logistics and the bird itself!
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