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So far Jennifer Thornton has created 15 blog entries.

Fri Oct 25 Fall meeting!

The Brookline Bird Club invites you to our Hybrid (Live+Zoom) Fall Meeting on Friday October 25, 2024 from 7pm-9pm, with a social hour beginning at 6:30pm. It will feature a presentation on the dazzling Resplendent Quetzal you won’t want to miss!

This hybrid meeting will be hosted at the Harvard University Geologic Hall (24 Oxford Street, Cambridge) as well as via Zoom for those unable to attend live. The event is open to BBC members and non-members.

For more information see the event page. We hope to see you there!

Fri Oct 25 Fall meeting!2024-10-24T22:13:43-04:00

Blue Book Survey

Are you a BBC Member? Do you have 5 minutes? Tell us what you think about the Blue Book!

We want to hear your input on our Brookline Bird Club Bulletins, mailed to members each season to share upcoming field trips and other information. Your feedback is invaluable to ensure the BBC continues to best serve our club members.

Take our Blue Book Survey here – it should take no more than 5 minutes to fill out. Thank you!

Blue Book Survey2024-10-24T21:43:42-04:00

BBC 7 Seas Whale Watch Trip Report

Brookline Bird Club’s 7 Seas Whale Watch Trip Report, 2024

Photo: Black Guillemot, Johnny Owens

On a beautiful Saturday morning July 27, 46 club members and friends boarded the 7 Seas sailing vessel Privateer IV out of Gloucester Harbor on a whale watching and sea birding adventure!  We traveled along the coastline up into Ipswich Bay to Halfway Hump.  To our delight there were great looks at many birds, including 4 species of Shearwaters, and even a few species of mammals.  Photos were shared to the Brookline Bird Club Facebook page.  Here is a listing of what we saw:

What we saw – birds, whales and more!:

  • American Black Duck – 32
  • Common Eider – 13
  • Black Scoter – 1
  • Black Guillemont – 1
  • Laughing Gull – 1
  • Herring Gull – 300 (underestimate)
  • Great Black Backed Gull – 42
  • Common Tern – 18
  • Wilson’s Storm Petral – 6
  • Cory’s Shearwater – 14
  • Great Shearwater – 26
  • Sooty Shearwater – 1
  • Manx Shearwater – 3
  • Northern Gannet – 1
  • DC Cormorant – 500 (underestimate)
  • Little Blue Heron – 1
  • Great Egret – 21
  • Tree Swallow – 3
  • Great Blue Heron – 1
  • Humpback Whales – 2
  • Minke Whale – 1
  • Harbor Seal – 1
  • Atlantic White Dolphin – 30 (estimate)
  • Mola Mola – 2 (awesome looks right next to boat)
  • Harbor Porpoises – several small pods
BBC 7 Seas Whale Watch Trip Report2024-07-29T17:38:49-04:00

BBC 2024 trips to Lake Umbagog, NH

Brookline Bird Club’s 2024 Trips to the Lake Umbagog, NH Region

In early June two groups of BBC members had the opportunity to explore the region near Lake Umbagog in northern New Hampshire.  We stayed at the Errol Motel in “downtown” Errol, NH.  All of our meals were kindly provided by the ladies of the nearby Errol Congregational Church, starting with a turkey dinner on our first evening.

On the first day started with a mid-day meet up in Gorham, NH then we birded our way up Rt. 16 through Berlin and Milan, paralleling the Androscoggin River.  This route presented the trip’s best opportunity to find water birds such as Wood Duck and Double Crested Cormorant.  A highlight was the colony of Cliff Swallows nesting under the Androscoggin River bridge in Milan.  The first group was also treated to a winnowing Snipe in a roadside marsh.  The day ended with a talk by Dana Duxbury-Fox about Lake Umbagog and its early ornithological explorer, Willliam Brewster.

On the morning of the second day the route took us west from Errol to the Dixville Notch Turbine Road, climbing up 2,000 feet to search for boreal species. Both groups experienced weather that felt like a cold, wet early spring day to us southern New Englanders – fog, showers and cool. Bicknell’s Thrush was heard by many but seen by few. Other specialties along the Turbine Road included Lincoln’s Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Boreal Chickadee, multiple Mourning Warblers, and a family of Canada Jays. Lunch at Dixville State Park, a visit to the geologically interesting Dixville Flume, and a drive through the notch and by the Balsams Resort followed.  The afternoon was given over to exploring the rich agricultural grasslands around Colebrook, NH.  This area is known for breeding Bobolinks, Kestrels, and Harrier.  The first group lucked upon an American Bittern in a roadside pond.

The third day included a visit to Mollidgewock Road off Rt. 26 southeast of Errol.  Bogs along this dirt and gravel road yielded multiple Yellow-bellied Flycatchers and Palm Warblers. The next stop was a visit the Lake Umbagog dam up Rt. 16 east of Errol where we found Blackburnian Warblers singing in the parking lot.  The itinerary then continued to a roadside bog with Palm Warblers and Olive-sided Flycatcher further up Rt. 16. Our final location was the Dartmouth Second College Grant property where we found Eastern Bluebirds in a roadside field.

A total of 99 species were seen by the two groups combined, including 19 species of warbler. Dragonflies and butterflies were scarce due to the weather, but geology and plants were fully explored!

Ebird trip report for the first group: https://ebird.org/tripreport/250621

BBC 2024 trips to Lake Umbagog, NH2024-07-08T13:38:54-04:00

Celebrating Black Birders Week!

Celebrate Black Birders Week 

Sunday May 26 – Saturday June 1, 2024

Black Birders Week is a week-long series of virtual and in-person events to promote equitable access to nature, to highlight Black nature enthusiasts, and to increase the visibility of Black birders, who face unique challenges and dangers when they are engaged in outdoor activities. Full information is available on their website.

The Brookline Bird Club is co-sponsoring three programs in celebration of Black Birders Week 2024! 

  • Sunday May 26, Franklin Park – Scarborough Pond, 8:00-10:00 AM
  • Saturday June 1, Magazine Beach Park, Cambridge, 8:00-10:00 AM
  • Saturday June 1, Neponset Greenway, Mattapan to Milton, 8:30-11:00 AM

All are FREE programs, no Registration required!

Please visit out BBC Field Trips page for more detailed information on each.

Celebrating Black Birders Week!2024-05-26T11:16:34-04:00

2024 BBC scholarship winners

Congratulations to our 2024 BBC Scholarship winners, Evelyn and John!

The Brookline Bird Club Conservation and Education Committee is pleased to announce our two annual Bill Drummond Young Birder Scholarship recipients, Evelyn Jones of Lunenburg and John Wysocki of Hamilton. These scholarships cover the full cost ($1690) of the Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens program at National Audubon’s Hog Island camp on June 16-21, 2024. This year’s field of applicants was the strongest ever, and we thank all applicants for their interest. Evelyn, who started birding through a “penguin obsession,” has been involved for years with the Mass Audubon camp at Wachusett Meadows, where she is now a Counselor in Training. She aspires to go into the field of bird conservation and ecology, and she hopes to learn things at Hog Island that will help her teach a new generation about the “magical world” of birds. John, an active BBC member on field trips, has volunteered for the Lexington Conservation Commission by tracking, monitoring, and using his photos and recordings to document wildlife. He looks forward to learning from knowledgeable teachers and sharing his passion for birding with other teen birders at Hog Island. Congratulations, Evelyn and John!

The BBC continues to carry out the mission of our founders, who believed they had a “sacred obligation” to cultivate young birders and established a BBC Junior Department that offered bike-birding trips, lessons in drawing birds and conducting censuses, and visits to the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology. Maurice Broun, Chandler Robbins, Richard Veit, Peter Alden, and Chris Leahy, among others, were all once young BBC members, “full of wonderment” as one BBC president described them, who went on to become leaders of American ornithology and conservation. We are encouraged by the passion for birding and commitment to conservation we see in our scholarship recipients and other young birders we continue to welcome into the BBC.

Scholarships are supported through the generous donations of club members. To donate, you can designate an amount on the “BBC Young Birder Scholarship” line on the back page of the club bulletin when you renew membership, or donate online by clicking the Donate link on the BBC home page and entering an amount in the box for “Young Birder Scholarship.” 

2024 BBC scholarship winners2024-04-28T13:26:09-04:00

Shorebirds and Horseshoe Crabs need your help!

Interested in taking action to protect horseshoe crabs in Massachusetts? Migrating shorebirds depend on their eggs for critical migration fuel and there are multiple ways you can get involved as a concerned citizen:

Take action today!
Share comments on a current proposal to list the Horseshoe Crab as a Species of Special Concern
Comments are due by April 23rd at 5pm and may be sent via email to susan.sacco@mass.gov to the attention of the Fisheries and Wildlife Board
Participate in the proposal to close Plymouth, Kingston, and Duxbury Bays to the Horseshoe Crab Take
Contact the Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance (contact: Sharl Heller)

Ways to get involved:

Massachusetts Horseshoe Crab Collaborative
Visit their website to learn more and join over 2,000 Massachusetts residents who have gone on record as wanting an end to taking horseshoe crabs for bait, even as they come ashore to spawn. Also visit their facebook page or contact Sharl Heller at the Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance.
Manomet
See their website and examples of their critical work with horseshoe crabs. Volunteer, make a donation, and more.
Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition
Visit their website to learn more and take action.

Resources to learn more: (curated by the MA Horseshoe Crab Collaborative)
When the Horseshoe Crabs are Gone, We’ll Be in Trouble. Deborah Cramer, The New York Times.
Horseshoe crabs have roamed the planet for 450 million years, but they could be running out of time, Renée Loth, Boston Globe.​
The Horseshoe Crab Saved Us. Can We Save the Horseshoe Crab? I am BIO Podcast.
– Connecticut’s 2023 elimination of horseshoe crab commercial harvests and Governor Lamont’s call for neighboring states “to join this growing coalition and enact similar laws to protect the population in their waters.”
– Fishermen capturing spawning horseshoe crabs—Horseshoe Crab Capture: Video by Raymond MacDonald.​

Shorebirds and Horseshoe Crabs need your help!2024-04-21T11:16:25-04:00

Nuttall Club special event with Peter Kaestner

Peter Kaestner in his Search for 10,000 Species of Birds in the World – A Special Event Sponsored by the Nuttall Ornithological Club

Peter Kaestner after seeing his 10,000th world bird species in the Philippines.

The Nuttall Ornithological Club, the oldest ornithological club in America, founded in 1873 by Willliam Brewster in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is delighted to invite BBC members to a special meeting, “Peter Kaestner and his Search for 10,000 Species of Birds in the World.” The event will take place May 14 at 7 p.m. in the Talanian Hall of the Holy Trinity Armenian Church of Greater Boston located at 145 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA. The event is free, but registration is requested.

Peter grew up with a strong interest in birds, attended Cornell University, spent two years in Zaire with the Peace Corps, and then became a career diplomat, being assigned to 20 different countries where he got to see a great many birds. He will share with us his adventures, special birds, and his unique perspective on conserving birds around the world.

Registration URL: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/rmqftmg

Parking is very limited. Attendees should plan to carpool. Otherwise, if you can walk, take the T to Harvard Square and walk along Brattle Street. There is a small parking lot at the Church, and limited parking will be allowed (by special permit) on the streets surrounding the Church’s property (Sparkes, Brattle, Riedesal, and Brewster Avenue). Hope to see you there!

Orange-tufted Spiderhunter – the 10,000th bird!
Nuttall Club special event with Peter Kaestner2024-04-16T22:02:48-04:00

Camp Edwards Grassland Bird Tours

The Massachusetts Army National Guard’s Natural Resource Program is hosting grassland bird tours in May on Camp Edwards. This is an unusual opportunity for avid birders, naturalists and photographers to walk through the Camp Edwards grasslands on a guide-led tour.

There are several hundred acres of grassland managed on Camp Edwards at Joint Base Cape Cod. This thriving habitat, a rarity in the rest of Massachusetts, is home to a variety of grassland bird species including four state-listed species: Upland Sandpiper, Northern Harrier, Grasshopper Sparrow and the Eastern Meadowlark.

Tours will be held on May 18, May 19, May 25, and May 26 from 6-8am. Each is limited to 20 participants and filled on a first come, first served basis. To register for a tour, please email emily.d.kelly2.nfg@army.mil with your name, phone number, and desired tour date. See below flyer for more details.

Camp Edwards Grassland Bird Tours2024-04-16T11:49:15-04:00
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