Excerpt from A History of the Game Birds, Wild-fowl and Shore Birds of Massachusetts and Adjacent States by Edward Howe Forbush
1 records
| MARC number | Decision | Species | # | Location | County | Arrival | Departure | Observers | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1602-001 | A | Great Auk | Multipl | Chappaquiddick | Dukes | 5/20/1602 | 5/20/1602 | Samuel Purchas*, Bartholomew Gosnold* | 25 |
Historical accounts of “Pengwins” from the Martha’s Vineyard area helped the committee add a record from at least one specific date. The species is also known from middens in New England, so historically it surely occurred with some regularity. Alas, we may never know just how regular it once was.
Read more about the Great Auk in A History of the Game Birds, Wild-fowl and Shore Birds of Massachusetts and Adjacent States by Edward Howe Forbush, the state ornithologist from 1908 to 1929.
For an account of the Great Auk being found in Native American middens, see The American Naturalist vol. 3.