THE 1989 STATISTICAL REPORT

by Robert H. Stymeist, Statistician

In 1989, the Brookline Bird Club listed 284 species, two ad­ditional races, and a Black Swan on 163 recorded field trips. A total of 188 trips were scheduled: 76 all-day, 88 morning, 19 afternoon or evening, and 5 weekend trips. There was also one unscheduled trip to Deerfield in early January that successful­ly tallied Harris’ and Clay-colored sparrows. Nine trips were cancelled due to bad weather, and 16 trips went unreported.

The following write-ins to the Massachusetts Audubon So­ciety (MAS) checklist were reported by the Club in 1989:

Sprague’s Pipit                        Provincetown              January 1

Harris’ Sparrow                       Deerfield                     January 8

Clay-colored Sparrow              Hadley                         January 8

Golden Eagle                           Quabbin                      January 15

Le Conte’s Sparrow                 Newbury                     February 5

White Ibis                                Middleboro                 March 25

Cerulean Warbler                    Mt Auburn                   May 7

Little Egret                               Plum Island                  August 12

Sandhill Crane                         Ipswich                        October 1

Curlew Sandpiper                    Plum Island                  October 7

The Little Egret found in the salt pannes of Plum Island on August 12 was the first United States record for this spe­cies and a new species for the Club’s overall list.

On a weekend trip to Island Pond in Vermont in early May, five additional species were recorded: Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, and White-winged Crossbill. Unfortunately, no report was received from the Maine weekend in July.

Missing from the Club checklist during 1989 were Cory’s Shearwater, both storm-petrels, Least Bittern, Eurasian Wigeon, King Eider, Clapper and King rails, Marbled Godwit, Baird’s Sandpiper, Red-necked and Red phalaropes, Lit­tle Gull, Royal Tern, Dovekie, Thick-billed Murre, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Short-eared Owl, Common Nighthawk, Chuck-will’s­ widow, Red-headed Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Boreal Chickadee, Sedge Wren, Loggerhead Shrike, Connec­ticut Warbler, Lark and Fox sparrows, White-winged Crossbill, and Common Redpoll.

Essex County field trips comprised 38 percent of all trips. Seventy-one visits to the area included 49 trips to Plum Is­land and Newburyport, 10 trips to Cape Ann, with addition­al trips to Ipswich, West Newbury, Topsfield, Manchester, and a leader’s choice trip to Marblehead Neck.

Mount Auburn, Fresh Pond, Belmont Hill, and the near­by Mystic Lakes were visited 51 times by the Club, with Mount Auburn being listed 38 times in April and May alone.

Tied for third place were Great Meadows National Wild­life Refuge in Concord, the Quabbin area, and Monomoy Is­land, each with seven trips scheduled. The archipelago of Monomoy was extremely difficult to get to this past summer; of the seven trips scheduled, only one trip was able to land on the island. Rounding out the areas that BBC members visited were Brookline, Plymouth, Bridgewater, Falmouth, the Blue Hills, Newton, Lincoln, Sudbury, Weston, Mt. Tom, Wachusett Mountain, Mt. Greylock, Westport, Bolton Flats, and two pelagic trips.

Sixty-nine leaders guided our members around the state, and eight leaders did it six or more times. Jim Barton was listed eleven times. Bob Stymeist led ten trips, and Mark Lynch, Bill Drummond, and John Nove each led eight trips for the Club.

The May 20 trip to Newburyport led by Bill Drummond recorded the high of 122 species, followed by the 109 species recorded by Kent Griffis in the Newburyport area on May 14.