ML273346891

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

***Rare; first record for Cuttyhunk according to eBird. Initially seen less than a half hour after arriving at the island. We were standing directly across Bayview Drive from houses 123 and 124 (which are, funny enough, adjacent to the spot at which the Painted Redstart was seen in 2018) when this bird and a Mourning Dove were flushed from behind us and flew toward those houses. Despite the brief naked eye views these individuals provided, all three of us were able to note that this bird looked 'different' from the MODO following close behind it. In particular, we were pretty certain we saw large white patches on the wings, a shorter tail, and a more rounded and squat appearance to the body. We dashed towards the house and immediately saw it sitting atop the roof, at which point Matt was able to grab a few photos to document the record. The bird soon took off and vanished, but we had it fly by again while standing on Bayberry Hill Road (in the vicinity of Carolyn's Way) and soon after heard it give the short version of its classic "Who cooks for you" song (presumably upon landing). Our encounters with the dove would not end there, however, as we found it walking all by its lonesome on the grassy airfield to the west of the town less than a couple of hours later. That time the bird provided more prolonged views and opportunities for photos (around a couple minutes in total) before taking off and flying NE toward the town (and directly over where we were standing on West End Road), after which it was not seen again. This sighting represents the second record for Massachusetts in the last three years, following a bird seen earlier this summer on Tuckernuck Island.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF400mm f/5.6L USM

ISO

320

Focal length

400 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/1250 sec

Dimensions

2461 pixels x 1624 pixels

Original file size

2.25 MB