ML46982191

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Found by Wayne Cunningham while dog-walking along the shore shore of Farrar Pond, Lincoln, and reported through MAS Drumlin Farm. Wayne reported that the bird was active and preening. Dovekie is a very rare vagrant in Middlesex County after strong nor-easters during late Fall and Winter. Here are the historical records, with thanks to Wayne Petersen for extracting these excerpts: Griscom, Birds of Concord (1949): “Casual after severe northeast gales; one shot at Wayland after the great storm of November 10-11, 1860 by one Bradshaw (Thoreau); flocks in the river November 15-19, 1871 (Brewster); one in a field on the Cutting Farm, November 15, and another in the river on November 16, 1932 (Maynard).” Walton, Birds of the Sudbury River Valley (1984): “Status: A vagrant during late fall and winter storms. Records: 11/3/62 (Gifford) 1 in Concord; 12/7/62 (Finley, Richardson) 1 in Wayland, 1 in Concord. Remarks: Inland records are associated with severe coastal storms that occur during the period of Dovekie migration and may result in great numbers of this species being ‘blown’ inland. Because the Dovekie cannot take off from land, grounded individuals will perish if not assisted to water.” There are no known records of Dovekie in the Concord area after the 1962 records, although there are 1962 and 1977 (Walton) records of Thick-Billed Murre in Wayland and Concord, respectively. A Nov. 1970 record of 2 Dovekie at Fresh Pond (C. Parker, R. Stymeist) is the most recent Middlesex Cty. record: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S5167156. Extensive search by MassAudubon staff did not relocate the bird on Jan. 25. Searches of local ponds throughout the week by various observers have not turned up the bird.

Technical information

Model

iPhone 5s

Lens

iPhone 5s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2

ISO

32

Focal length

4.2 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/2.2

Shutter speed

1/60 sec

Dimensions

3264 pixels x 2448 pixels

Original file size

546.96 KB