Massachusetts Avian Records Committee

Est. 1989

On November 15th Tim Spahr found the first Worcester Co. record of Hammond’s Flycatcher. Tim’s field notes: Small kinglet-like empidonax with a peaked crown and long primary projection. The general gray-headed and greenish appearance lands me on empids from the west. The small bill and primary projection rule out anything but Hammond’s. The bird also […]
Heermann's Gull
For its 25th report, the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee (MARC) evaluated 140 records involving 62 species. The committee accepted 127 of those records. State list Additions: European Golden-Plover, Heermann’s Gull, Roseate Spoonbill, and Great-tailed Grackle. Rereview of a 2009 Common Shelduck and the recent split of Short-billed Gull (Larus brachyrhynchus) from Common Gull (Larus canus) […]
Gray Heron
photo by Skyler Kardell || The Massachusetts Avian Records committee met on 26 September 2020 at Westborough Wildlife Management Area. This year we evaluated 234 records involving 91 species, breaking our previous high by 80 records. The previous high was 154 records in the 22nd annual report (2018), which itself was record breaking by about […]
Black-whiskered Vireo
Photo by Ken Magnuson || The Massachusetts Avian Records Committee (MARC) met on 22 September at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. Since our previous report, we voted on 113 records, 97 of which were accepted. One species was added to the state list, which now stands at 504 species. The searchable database has […]
Hammond's Flycatcher
Photo by Nick Dorian || The committee met in September 2018 and published its decisions in Bird Observer in the December 2018 issue. We voted on 154 records in the past year. The full report can be read here. Major results from the meeting are highlighted below: State list additions: Trumpeter Swan, Western Meadowlark. The […]
Black-backed Oriole
Photo by Margaret Bowden || On 7-8 May 2017, a Black-backed Oriole visited the feeders at a private residence in Sutton, Massachusetts. The homeowner noticed that the bird was different from the other orioles and secured photographs. The homeowner circulated the photos to local birders a week after the bird had departed, at which point […]
Boreal Chickadee
Photograph by Rene Wendell || State list additions: Common Greenshank. State list removals: Thayer’s Gull, Monk Parakeet. The state list stands at 501. Review list additions: Tundra Swan, Ruff. Outgoing members of 2017: Mark Faherty, Scott Surner. Incoming members of 2017: David Sibley, Larry Therrien.
Common Greenshank
On December 8, 2014, Stan Deutsch photographed an odd shorebird in Gloucester and uploaded the photo to his Flickr site. The photograph remained unidentified for 2.5 years until Tim Spahr and Brian Harris discovered the image, which most certainly showed Common Greenshank! Stan Deutsch confirms that he indeed took the photograph in Gloucester in December […]