Top 10 birds at Manomet’s headquarters

Manomet’s Top 10 Birds of The Year

Click or tap the link below each bird to view its record on eBird.

10. Common Merganser

Third record on November 12, 2021 

Common Mergansers are large freshwater ducks that spend winters on many of the freshwater ponds in southeastern Massachusetts. Being very loyal to that habitat, they are rarely seen over the ocean. Therefore, it was quite noteworthy when Megan Gray, one of Manomet’s lead bird banders, spotted two Commons traveling with Red-breasted Mergansers during a weekly Manomet seawatch. The Common Merganser was previously seen at Manomet on May 7, 2013, and November 8, 1953. 

9. Pileated Woodpecker

Second record on October 20, 2021

The Pileated Woodpecker is another bird that is rarely seen away from its preferred habitat, which in this case is extensive, mature woods. Our second property record for the Pileated was quite the surprise on October 20, and even more so when it was heard calling again on November 5. It is hard not to wonder what this species was up to, visiting us twice over the last two years (first recorded on May 8, 2019) after never having been here before, but perhaps it is a testament to Manomet’s reforestation over the last century that convinced it to stick around. The closest breeding populations of the Pileated Woodpecker are located in the area of Wompatuck State Park in Hingham, Massachusetts, and isolated areas of big woods in the interior of Plymouth, County.

8. Dovekie

Second record on November 12, 2021 

Rarely seen from land except during storms that push them towards shore, the diminutive Dovekie or “tiny Auk” had only been recorded once before at Manomet’s campus. Then, during the same seawatch that Megan Gray spotted two Common Mergansers, she also spotted three Dovekies flying.

7. Pomarine Jaeger

First record on October 27, 2021

As a vicious Nor’easter slammed into coastal Massachusetts, it brought with it wind gusts of up to 90 mph. Storm damage on the property was extensive, due in part to the already-saturated soils and leafed-out trees. I braved the elements for a few moments at the peak of the storm on Manomet’s bluff, and was rewarded by the sight of multiple Pomarine Jaegers flying by, fighting the north wind as they headed towards Manomet Point. Combined with a Long-tailed Jaeger sighting (third property record) on August 22, 2021, during Hurricane Henri, and multiple Parasitic Jaeger sightings, it was quite the jaeger-y year! This same Nor’easter produced sightings of a Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Red Phalaropes, and a Northern Fulmar, as well as an epic morning of sea-birding at First Encounter Beach on Cape Cod, where birders saw over 300 Pomarine Jaegers, Great Skuas, and a Brown Booby, just to mention a few).

6. Sora 

Second record on September 27, 2021

Members of Manomet’s staff were thrilled to have a Sora set up shop in one of the bogs on campus for nearly a month this fall–the Sora was first recorded on September 27, when Lisa Schibley, Manomet’s North American coordinator for the International Shorebird Survey, heard it calling. The bird was heard and entered in eBird 16 more times between then and October 24. We can now add the Sora to the growing list of marsh-dwelling species that have been attracted to our managed wetlands. The only other Sora record we have on file is when one was detected by a remote recording device as it migrated over the property on April 24, 2019. Soras spend the winter a bit farther south than Massachusetts, therefore we were not surprised when the bird’s calls vanished by October’s end.

5. Piping Plover

Second record on May 11, 2021

Although a regular breeder in Eastern Massachusetts, Piping Plovers are a very rare visitor to Manomet’s beach. In mid-May, Megan Gray spotted two Piping Plovers just as the mudflats became exposed at low tide. She was able to get some photos through her binoculars to document these special guests (check them out in eBird)! Our only other record on file is from Roger and Ruth Ernst–the former property owners–on July 28, 1940, a day when they also saw Semipalmated Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, and Red Knots!

4. Cerulean Warbler

Sixth record on October 2, 2021

Banders at the Manomet Observatory captured, banded, and released a hatch-year male Cerulean Warbler in early fall. This species has declined dramatically in the last 50 years and is now a rare sight in Massachusetts away from their small breeding population at Skinner State Park in the Connecticut River Valley. This is the first Cerulean Warbler banded during Manomet’s fall banding season since 1980. Overall, it’s the sixth Cerulean banded at Manomet, with the others caught on: September 29,  1969; September 7, 1971; September 2, 1973; August 17, 1980; and May 5, 2015.

3. Sabine’s Gull

First record on October 9, 2021

For Manomet’s Bird-a-thon fundraiser, Manomet staff carried out a Big Sit on the bluff. The team counted birds for nearly nine hours and ended up with 55 species of 2,788 individuals. The highlight? I spotted a Sabine’s Gull, a pelagic, Arctic-breeding species never before seen at our headquarters. In my field notes, I described the moment: “I observed this bird through the scope at a moderate distance in mid-afternoon with the sun at my back (colors popping, great lighting) flying south-southeast. It was a medium-small gull with a dusky head, white tail, and a clearly marked, white wedge on the trailing edge of both wings.”

2. White-faced Ibis

First record on April 23, 2021 

As he tells it, Evan Dalton, director of the Manomet Observatory, says he initially spotted a single, large, dark bird in flight headed northeast over Manomet’s lower parking lot. After realizing the long bill and drooped wings indicated an ibis, he quickly snapped a few shots with his phone before getting his binoculars on it. Upon closer inspection through binoculars, the bird was not a Glossy Ibis as he initially suspected, but instead a White-faced in its breeding plumage. The bird had a complete, bold, gleaming-white border to the facial skin, which was bright pinkish-red. The bird had an overall bright-red, rusty tinge to its plumage and the legs appeared reddish. He viewed the bird for a little under a minute from about 150 feet below. After it disappeared from view, he was unable to relocate the bird in Manomet’s wetlands. An exciting encounter amidst days of extreme winds.

1. Western Tanager

First record on November 13, 2021

Megan Gray initially spotted this vagrant flying east at 8:30am near the beehives behind the Holmes Farm barn. As she recalls, the bird was preening itself and facing her, and she did not get a good look at the wings but thought she saw wing bars. After disappearing for a few minutes, the bird reappeared with a group of House Finches feeding on juniper berries. The full banding team was able to keep track of the bird for about 30 minutes before it disappeared towards Manomet Point. This first-ever record of a Western Tanager at Manomet’s campus ended up being a harbinger of more sightings to come in southern New England, as many other records popped up in eBird over the next month.