20 Apr 2021 Cherry Hill Reservoir. Photo by Ted Bradford.
1 records
| MARC number | Decision | Species | # | Location | County | Arrival | Departure | Observers | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-008 | A | Cave Swallow (Caribbean) | 1 | Cherry Hill Reservoir, West Newbury | Essex | 4/18/2021 | 5/1/2021 | Andy Sanford* (ph), Ellen Keane*, Marshall Iliff (ph), Stephen Mirick (ph) | 25 |
Massachusetts has many Cave Swallow records from fall—primarily November—and a couple from May, but all of these have proven to be the subspecies P. f. pallida from northern Mexico, Texas, and New Mexico. This individual was not only the first for April, but showed a cinnamon-colored rump, dark buff cinnamon on the sides coalescing to streaks, and a cinnamon wash on the rear portion of the nape, which led the committee to accept it explicitly as one of the Caribbean forms. Cape May, New Jersey, conclusively documented its first Caribbean Cave Swallow April 4–5, 2021. Other records are mostly from Atlantic Canada, e.g., Sable Island, Nova Scotia, 5/20/1968; Seal Island, Nova Scotia, 5/15/1971; and St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, 5/29/2016.