Brookline Bird Club

2025 Statistical and Year-End Report

By David Scott, Club Statistician

The Brookline Bird Club (BBC) recorded 284 species for 2025, with 275 species in Massachusetts (one more than last year) and nine additional species reported from New Hampshire and Maine. These totals were based upon 304 trips for which checklists were submitted, a new record for the club, as well as the out-of-state overnight trips. This represents a significant increase upon last year’s total of 262 trips, itself a club record, and the 200 trips reported in 2023.  

The overnight pelagic trips scheduled for August were cancelled due to Hurricane Erin, but the club rescheduled for September 29-30. Pelagic birds included Barolo Shearwater, Sargasso Shearwater, Long-tailed and Pomarine Jaegers and over 400 Red-necked Phalaropes. Marine wildlife included Sperm, Humpback and Fin Whales, Common, Bottlenose and Risso’s Dolphins, a Leatherback Sea Turtle and several Mola Mola. Perhaps most remarkable of all, however, was the nocturnal spectacle of passerines and other species on their Fall migration, some of which took the opportunity to rest on the boat. After analyzing photos and sound recordings, the club compiled 17 species of warbler including Prothonotary, Connecticut and Hooded, as well as Cliff Swallow, Bobolink, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting, and an American Bittern which circled the boat a few times. The club has now seen a Prothonotary Warbler at sea in three of the last four years, an achievement that may be unmatched in the history of North American birding.

A December 6 pelagic was also a great success, departing from Hyannis to venture out east of Nantucket and Chatham. We came across a dead Minke Whale, where we had brief looks at a Great Skua, and throughout the trip there were good numbers of Dovekie, Atlantic Puffin, Razorbill, Black-legged Kittiwakes and Northern Fulmars. The trip returned home past Monomoy where we witnessed the great assembly of sea ducks, including an estimated 20,000 Common Eiders, thousands of scoters and hundreds of Northern Gannets. 

There were many other highlights in Massachusetts: Glaucous Gull and Pacific Loon (Race Point, January 1, with another Glaucous Gull at Castle Island on January 12), Short-eared Owl (Newburyport trip, January 1), Western Tanager (Provincetown, January 1), King Eider (Halibut Pt, January 25), Thick-billed Murre (Eastern Point, February 5), Swainson’s Hawk (Good Harbor Beach, February 5), Long-eared Owl (Salisbury, February 22 and March 22), Red-headed Woodpecker (Franklin Park, April 27), Sandhill Crane (Burrage Pond, April 27 and Cumberland Farms, October 26), Hooded Warbler (Mt Auburn, May 13), Seaside Sparrow and Golden-winged Warbler (Allens Pond, June 1), Black-necked Stilt (Plum Island, June 10), Blue Grosbeak (Southwick WMA, July 13), Tricolored Heron (Plum Island, August 20 and September 14), Trumpeter Swan (Delaney WMA, August 24 and September 21), Caspian Tern (Winthrop Beach, September 28), Summer Tanager (Mt Auburn, November 1)

Rarities seen by many birders last year which would have been new for the club included the Monomoy Ferruginous Hawk, the Marshfield Roseate Spoonbill, the Scituate Limpkin, and the Fitchburg Chestnut-collared Longspur.

More common species we missed in Massachusetts included Blue-winged Teal, Black-billed Cuckoo, Redpoll, Black Vulture, Snow Goose, Parasitic Jaeger, Little Blue Heron, Redhead, Vesper Sparrow, Worm-eating Warbler, continuing club nemesis Canvasback (last recorded by us in 2014), Northern Shrike, Philadelphia Vireo and Yellow-breasted Chat.

Outside of Massachusetts, we added Black-backed Woodpecker, Bicknell’s Thrush, Canada Jay, and Boreal Chickadee on the Lake Umbagog trip in New Hampshire. In Maine, we recorded Vesper Sparrow and Black-billed Cuckoo on the way up to Rangeley Lakes and Nelson’s Sparrow, Common Nighthawk and Arctic Tern on the Downeast/Machias trip. 

There were 381 species reported in eBird in 2025 for Massachusetts, of which the club’s total of 275 represented 72 percent. The club reported the most species in Essex County (213), followed by Suffolk (182), Middlesex (170), Plymouth (146), Worcester (142), Norfolk (136), Barnstable (134) and Bristol (102). The total for Suffolk is notable, by far the highest the club has achieved, reflecting the increased number of trips in the Boston area. The previous highest for Suffolk County was 157, in 2001. Our total of 213 in Essex County is about average for the club over the last 10 years, but in the 1980s and 1990s we routinely recorded over 250 species there, with a high of 277 in 1980. Trips to Mt. Auburn Cemetery recorded 113 species this year, including 23 species of warblers. 

The following table shows the trips reporting the most species by month:  

Date                Location                                              Species            Leader 

1/1                   Newburyport & vicinity                    64                    Laura de la Flor / Mark Burns 

2/2                   Scituate to Sandwich                         56                    Glenn d’Entremont / SSBC

3/22                 Newburyport & vicinity                     64                    Laura de la Flor

4/27                 Burrage Pond                                      51                    Ray Bedard

5/3                   South Shore                                        110                  Glenn d’Entremont

6/15                 Housatonic River, October Mtn         71                    Glenn d’Entremont / SSBC

7/12                 Winchenden/Royalston                      63                    Glenn d’Entremont

8/31                 Plum Island                                         54                    Nick Paulson

9/21                 Delaney WMA                                   52                    Cliff Cook

10/4                 Outer Cape Cod                                  80                    Glenn d’Entremont / SSBC

11/2                 NH Seacoast                                       66                    Steve Mirick

12/6                 Nantucket Shoals Pelagic                   39                    Peter Flood, Liam Waters  

The club initiated two Big Days in 2025, aligned with the global efforts of the Cornell Lab. The objective was to find as many species as possible throughout Massachusetts, and to encourage club members to get out birding and share the activity with friends. On May 10, despite some terrible weather, club members recorded 186 species across the state. On October 11 we found 146. We hope to improve on this in 2026!

Thanks to all our trip leaders, especially those who led 10 or more trips in 2025: Cliff Cook, Kathy Dia, Glenn d’Entremont, Linda Ferraresso, Leslie Kramer, Michealle Larkins, Thomas Michel, Nick Paulson, David Scott, and Dave Williams. 

Thanks also to the organizations with whom the club co-sponsors trips. These include Menotomy Bird Club, South Shore Bird Club, Cape Cod Bird Club, the Charles River Esplanade Association, Boston Nature Center, Athol Bird and Nature Club, Boston Birding Festival, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Brookline GreenSpace Alliance, Mass Audubon, Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust, Boxborough Birders, Dracut Open Space Committee, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Franklin Park Coalition, Friends of Belle Isle Marsh, Nasketucket Bird Club, and Paskamansett Bird Club.

Excluding the multi-checklist pelagic trips, there were 454 eBird checklists associated with 301 trips in Massachusetts. American Robin remained the most frequently reported species, appearing on 280 checklists, but was only narrowly ahead of Song Sparrow (278), with Blue Jay (272) in third. Northern Cardinal (246) moved up one place to fourth, with Mallard (243) moving up four places to fifth. Black-capped Chickadee (240) and American Goldfinch (236) remained in sixth and seventh. Mourning Dove (232) dropped four places to eighth. Canada Goose (230) was ninth and Herring Gull (226) was tenth. The next five were Downy Woodpecker (216), Red-winged Blackbird (212), Common Grackle (209), American Crow (188) and Red-bellied Woodpecker (186).