Happy New Year!

Yesterday, Mark Burns and I led our 26th Annual New Year’s Day Birding Trip
for the Brookline Bird Club (BBC)! At 9:00AM, 24 BBCers met at Cashman Park
in Newburyport where we toasted in the New Year with sparkling apple cider,
introduced ourselves, and reported on where we traveled from and what our
first bird of the New Year was. We had splendid weather with clear sky,
sunshine, light breezes, and warm temps (hi of 55df). We birded Salisbury
Beach State Reservation, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Ipswich, and
called it a day at 4:30PM at Jodrey Fish Pier in Gloucester. We tallied 58
species.

Red-throated Loon – 3

Common Loon – 14

Horned Grebe – 9

Red-necked Grebe – 4

Great Cormorant – 2

Canada Goose – 44

Mute Swan – 2

Gadwall – 6

American Black Duck – 87

Mallard – 111

Northern Pintail – 20

Common Eider – 163

Surf Scoter – 10

White-winged Scoter – 62

Black Scoter – 13

Long-tailed Duck – 14

Bufflehead – 8

Common Goldeneye – 3

Hooded Merganser – 7

Common Merganser – 4

Red-breasted Merganser – 12

Bald Eagle – 2

Northern Harrier – 4

Copper’s Hawk – 11

Red-tailed Hawk – 5

Merlin – 1

Peregrin Falcon – 1

Wild Turkey – 6

Sanderling – 14

Purple Sandpiper – 37

Herring Gull – 120

Ring-billed Gull – 30

Great Black-backed Gull – 16

Black-legged Kittiwake – 3

Razorbill – 23

Dovekie – 7

Rock Pigeon – 32

Mourning Dove – 5

Snowy Owl – 1

Red-headed Woodpecker – 1 (seen by a splinter group in Appleton Farm)

Red-bellied Woodpecker – 4

Downy Woodpecker – 5

Hairy Woodpecker – 2

Pileated Woodpecker – 1

American Crow – 9

Black-capped Chickadee – 21

Tufted Titmouse – 5

Red-breasted Nuthatch – 3

White-breasted Nuthatch – 4

Eastern Bluebird – 8

American Robin – 2

Northern Mockingbird – 3

American Tree Sparrow – 4

Snow Bunting – 40

Northern Cardinal – 2

Red-winged Blackbird – 14

American Goldfinch – 10

NORTHERN LAPWING – 1 (seen by the group at Maplecroft Farm)!

Wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy, and Birdy 2023!

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Upcoming Field Trips

  • Midweek Hunt for Alcids and Seabirds

    Rockport - Halibut Point State Park Halibut Point State Park, Rockport, MA, United States

    Join us for a mid-week hunt for alcids and other wintering seabirds. Be prepared for cold and windy weather. If bad weather is predicted, contact the leader by 6:00 pm the previous evening.

  • Millennium Park

    Boston - Millennium Park Canoe Launch 300 Gardner Street, Boston, MA, United States

    Join us to look for birds in a unique urban habitat that often draws numerous uncommon and rare birds. Birders of all levels will enjoy this trip. The trails are flat and easy to walk. We may offer optional 30-60 minute trip extensions to adjacent locations such as West Roxbury High School Marsh and/or Brook [...]

  • Sconticut Neck and West Island, Fairhaven

    Fairhaven - Sconticut Neck and West Island 209 Huttleston Ave,, Fairhaven, MA, United States

    We will make several stops on the neck and then onto West Island to search for winter ducks, loons, grebes and shorebirds.

  • Belle Isle Marsh and Vicinity

    East Boston - Belle Isle Parking Lot 1399 Bennington Street, Boston, MA, United States

    Led by DCR staff. We will search on foot up to one mile, on flat, easy terrain for snowy owls and other raptors, native sparrows, finches, waterfowl, and other birds. This is a traveling program by car or bike. Prepare for ticks. Ages: Adults and kids 8 years+ with adult chaperone. Binoculars recommended. ADA/Reasonable Accommodations [...]

  • Race Point Beach

    Provincetown - Race Point Beach

    Let’s start the year with some awesome birds! We will bird from the beach close to the parking lot. We may walk the beach depending on participants interest. Several species of alcids are possible as well as gannets, Iceland and Glaucous Gulls and three loon species. Dress for cold windy weather. We may try other [...]

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