Purple sandpipers. Photo by Marton Berntsen / Wikimedia.

Massachusetts Bird Watching

Birding Massachusetts

One of the original thirteen colonies and home to the city of Boston, Massachusetts is a state with a rich history. Cape Cod, a popular spot for birds and bird-watching, juts into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of the state. Because it is along the Atlantic Flyway, the state checklist boasts 498 species of birds. An estimated 46 percent of the state is forested. Three ecoregions occupy Massachusetts: the Atlantic coastal pine barrens include Cape Cod and nearby islands, where coniferous forests grow in sandy soil; Northeastern coastal forests cover most of the state, encompassing the rolling hills of central Massachusetts and the eastern lowlands; and in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, more boreal New England-Acadian forests prevail, and the terrain is rocky.