Andover Flocked Full of Bird Sightings

It might fly over some Andover residents’ heads, but there are a lot of different species of birds that have been spotted in Andover throughout the summer.

North Andover resident and longtime math teacher Bill Drummond is an avid birdwatcher and he has several different go-to spots when he likes to go birdwatching.

“Wood Hill, Harold Parker State Forest, and are the four best places to spot birds in Andover,” said Drummond.

Birds that are most common in Andover are generally nesting birds including yellow throats and red starts. Yellowthroats are small migratory birds with a yellow breast with males having a black and white face mask. Yellowthroats do not associate themselves with other species.

Red starts are named as such because of the bright red tails that the males have. The male birds are black with patches of orange, white and yellow. Female red starts different in the tails as well as having gray heads as opposed to the males having black heads.

One of the rarer birds that Drummond has seen is the chimney swift.

“It’s a small black bird, which flies around very fast and high up; they nest above St. Augustine’s parish.”

The red-bellied woodpecker is another bird that has been spotted flying around Andover. The red-bellied woodpecker is known to hang around specific birdfeeders and has a prominent red head as well as a red breast.

The rose-breasted grosbeak has also been spotted frequenting birdfeeders and backyards in Andover. The grosbeak can be distinguished by its long beak, which looks as if it’s the tip of a pencil. The male grosbeak has the bright red patch on the upper portion of its breast, which is where the name derives from.

In large bodies of water found at either Harold Parker State Forest and Haggetts Pond, there have been spottings of the great blue heron. The bird can be found in all parts of North America during the summer months.

Robins are another one of the most common birds in Andover, but they have been spotted during the entire year.

“There are a lot more robins in winter here now,” said Drummond. “That is mostly a concern of global warming. There have been a lot more robins that have been spotted here in the winter than there were four years ago.”

Let us know what types of interesting birds you’ve seen in Andover, by posting in our comments section.