Date: 11/14/24 7:10 am From: Josh <opihi...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] MARBA - continuing scissor-tail at IRWS
Hi MassBirders,
I learned through FaceBook (the MA RBA group) this morning that the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher is still appearing at Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary as recently as yesterday afternoon. I’ve seen no mention of this bird on MassBird since Robert Ross posted about it back on November 3, and the eBird species map shows no sightings since November 5, so I had assumed that it had been gone for a while until it was mentioned on FaceBook. There have been many eBird reports that seem to be still concealed from the map by the rarity filter, so are only visible if one has email alerts enabled, or else digs deeper into the website; eBird's data reviewer for Essex County must be on vacation or something… So I thought that perhaps some other folks were also unaware of the bird’s continuing presence.
An even bigger omission from MassBird: apparently nobody ever posted here about the Mountain Bluebird which Lily Morello found on November 4, IN THE SAME FIELD AS THE SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER! That bird was seen the following day, but I don’t see any reports more recent than the 5th. Amazing to have two state review-list species within sight of each other, however briefly. Classic example of the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect ;-)
