Rare Hawk Sighted On Morris Island

CHATHAM – A rare hawk never before seen in Massachusetts was spotted on Morris Island last week, creating a buzz in the local birding community.

A ferruginous hawk, common in the Great Plains and western states, was identified Sunday, Dec. 29. Mark Faherty, science coordinator at Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, confirmed the sighting Jan. 3. Birders from throughout the region flocked to the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge property on Morris Island to try to catch a glimpse of the rare hawk.

“Any time there’s a first state record, especially in Massachusetts, with such a long ornithological record, that’s a big deal,” he said. This is only about the fifth time a ferruginous hawk has been seen on the east coast, and the second time in New England. One was seen in Maine in July, Faherty said.

But this isn’t the same bird. The ferruginous hawk seen in Maine had a light morph, which refers to the bird’s coloring. The one seen in Chatham has a dark morph, which Faherty said is even more rare.

“Everything about this is strange,” he said. “It’s the rarest form of an already rare hawk, in a place it has no business being.”

“Ferruginous” refers to the hawk’s rust color. It is sometimes mistaken for a red-tail hawk, although it is much larger, Faherty said. It is longer, with pointier wings and a larger head and wings. It has a wingspan of between four and five feet, and its legs are feathered all the way to the toes, which is a characteristic of eagles; red-tails and most hawks have bare legs.

“It is really a little more eagle-like,” he said. The ferruginous hawk is “bigger, lankier, apparently faster” than a red-tail. Its usual diet is squirrels and prairie dogs, and Faherty speculated that it could be feeding on rabbits that inhabit the dunes in the area. The hawk spotted on Morris Island appears to be a mature individual, he added.

There have been several western avian species spotted on the Cape in recent weeks, he said, and a flamingo was seen in Dennis last summer. How any of them came to be here is “a mystery,” he added.

“They made their way here for whatever reason. They flew the wrong way. Sometimes that just happens,” he said.

Even in its natural range, the hawk is not often seen, said Faherty, who observed the species 20 years ago in the Southwest. As with ospreys here, ranchers in the west are encouraged to put up nesting polls for the hawk as a way to control rodents. 

It’s impossible to say how long the hawk will remain in the area, Faherty noted. Given the habitat along Morris Island, the raptor could potentially be seen from the causeway west along the shore and marsh areas of the island, and possibly even near the high marsh and dunes on Harding’s Beach. 

Dennis birder Sean Feeney captured photos of the hawk on Jan. 1. In an email Monday he said that over the weekend there was a report of a snowy owl in the area, which could cause the ferruginous hawk to move on.