Rarities Visit Local Beaches

Skimmer with Laughing Gull

As Piping Plover breeding season enters its home stretch every year in mid-July, we rejoice that the exciting shorebird migration is just kicking off.  At that point various species are making first appearances, including birds nesting within the state that are entering the post-breeding phase and have dispersed to various locations, and more rare “vagrants” that have nested away from our region but pass through on occasion. We had both varieties stop by at a couple of our sites this season.

At Barney’s Joy of Allen’s Pond on July 15, both a Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) and a Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) roosted side by side within a flock of Laughing Gulls (Larus atricilla). The gulls appear in large numbers in our region in July after nesting on Monomoy Island in the thousands, and are a common indicator that migration has started. The notably large tern that nests further south to Florida and beyond in contrast is a very rare sighting. Skimmers like the gull also nest in Massachusetts, primarily on Martha’s Vineyard, withvpair numbers increasing from 20 in 2025 to an estimated 45 this season.  Unlike the gulls, skimmer sightings are often limited to one-to-two birds in our region per season.

A few days later on July 19, again with a small flock of laughing gulls, what we think is the same skimmer, reappeared at the edge of Baker’s Beach on a crowded Westport beach day, perhaps relocating concurrent with a storm the night before. This time the skimmer spent the

Royal Tern

entire day surrounded by crowds making short flights only, even landing in front of the Baker’s Beach lifeguard stand surrounded by people. We spent the day educating about the bird and ensuring the public that the somewhat tired looking bird probably just needed a breather, and sure enough was gone the next day.

While the Royal Tern was the true rarity, the skimmer was significant for a few reasons. Firstly, it showed the importance of providing space on the beach for the shorebird migration, including fenced areas left up to provide refuge for the migrants. Secondly, this sighting shows that in some cases, birds and people can coexist side by side on beaches outside fencing, with a seemingly insignificant patch of sand having potential value as stopover habitat. Thirdly, such a striking bird is an eye opener for people that may never see the plovers that we spend a season protecting but blend in so well with their habitat.

This makes the location of Baker’s Beach all the more timely and rewarding. We’ve missed the parking lot plover pair the past couple of seasons, a project that is all but invisible to the general public, but takes considerable time to manage.  The skimmer sighting adds some habitat value to the beach itself where no nesting occurs in season, but clearly increases in importance as a migratory stopover spot.

We hope the skimmer returns to Baker’s during next year’s migration, along with other species that we may detect during our surveys when the nesting season ends.