Trip to New Hampshire Lake Umbagog Region

During early June two groups of BBC birders traveled around the Errol, NH area in search of nesting neotropical migrants, boreal species and whatever else we could find in the way of bird, flora, mammals, reptiles. amphibians, insects, and scenery.

You can find our eBird trip reports from the first trip here and from the second trip here.

At the top of the turbine road at Dixville Notch highlights included boreal species such as nesting Blackpoll and Bay-Breasted Warblers, Boreal Chickadee, Canada Jay, and Bicknell Thrush. On our way down to the state highway both groups were treated to great views and song from several Mourning Warblers.

Another hotspot was the Rt. 16 bog north of Errol, NH. This road side attraction included Palm and Canada Warblers, Yellow Bellied Flycatcher, Olive Sided Flycatcher, and flyover Red Crossbill and Pine Siskin, among many others.

The second group was able to spend part of one afternoon cruising Lake Umbagog courtesy of the New Hampshire State Parks fleet. Sightings included a Common Loon on the nest, others in the water, nearby Bald Eagles, and a variety of waterbirds.

We hope to return next year. Stay tuned for details during spring 2027.

2026 Daytime Pelagic and Marsh Cruise Program

Join us on summer daytime pelagic trips and marsh cruises this summer. Note that these popular trips regularly sell out. Once sold out we will keep a waitlist in the event that anyone cancels.

8/5 Update

As of 8/5 seats are still available on the following trips:

• Parker River NWR Marsh Cruise
  • Monday, August 24
  • 8:00 AM – 10:30 AM
  • Meet by 7:30 AM for boarding
  • More Info about the Trip and Register Here

• Captain John’s Whale Watch Cruise, Plymouth
  • Thursday, August 27
  • Cosponsored with the South Shore Bird Club
  • 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
  • Meet at dock by 1:30 PM
  • Meeting Location: 10 Town Wharf, Plymouth
  • Group ticket: $57
  • More Info about the Trip and Register Here

Daytime Pelagic Trips

The BBC has reserved a limited block of discounted group tickets on these public tours. These trips are open to all.

• 7 Seas Whale Watch Cruise, Gloucester – Friday, July 17
  • 8:30 AM – 12:30 PM
  • Meet at dock by 7:45 AM
  • Meeting Location: 63 Rodgers Street, Gloucester
  • Group ticket: $45
  • More Info about the Trip and Register Here

• Captain John’s Whale Watch Cruise, Plymouth – Thursday, August 27
  • Cosponsored with the South Shore Bird Club
  • 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
  • Meet at dock by 1:30 PM
  • Meeting Location: 10 Town Wharf, Plymouth
  • Group ticket: $57
  • More Info about the Trip and Register Here

Please watch for a repeat of our popular late fall trips from Gloucester and Hyannis in our newsletter announcements.

Marsh Cruises

Based on the immense popularity of these trips last summer, we are planning 3 trips through the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and one NEW trip through the Essex River Marsh! All of these popular trips sell out quickly, and we keep waitlists in the event of cancellations.

Parker River Marsh Cruises

Explore Parker River National Wildlife Refuge from a new perspective on a cruise through the Parker River marshes! Join us on the Yankee Clipper docked in Newburyport Harbor for a leisurely cruise through the Refuge. Enjoy close views of shorebirds, gulls, terns, and Saltmarsh Sparrows on this tour. Group discount tickets are available by registering on the BBC website no later than July 15; seating is limited. Confirmation and additional information will be provided to registrants.

Meeting location for all trips: Yankee Clipper, Waterfront Promenade Park, Merrimac Street, Newburyport.

• Saturday, August 8
  • 7:15 AM – 9:45 AM
  • Meet by 6:45 AM for boarding
  • More Info about the Trip and Register Here
• Wednesday, August 19
  • 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM
  • Meet by 4:30 PM for boarding
  • More Info about the Trip and Register Here
• Monday, August 24
  • 8:00 AM – 10:30 AM
  • Meet by 7:30 AM for boarding
  • More Info about the Trip and Register Here

Essex River Marsh Cruise

This narrated cruise is scenic, relaxing, and educational. Join us for a cruise along the Essex River as we glide past islands, historic mansions, wildlife, and stunning scenery. The marsh itself is part of the Essex River estuary, which serves as the feeding ground for many species of beautiful birds and abundant wildlife. Group discount tickets are available by registering on the BBC website no later than July 15; seating is limited. Confirmation and additional information will be provided to registrants.

• Tuesday, August 11
  • 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
  • Meet by 4:30 PM for boarding
  • Meeting Location: Essex River Cruises, 35 Dodge St, Essex, MA
  • Group Ticket: $38
  • Free parking available onsite.
  • More Info about the Trip and Register Here

Overnight Pelagic Trips from Hyannis

Our overnight pelagic trips from Hyannis, MA to Hydrographer Canyon on August 22 – 23 and August 24 – 25 are still accepting names for the waitlist. Learn more here.

Seabird Webinar

On August 6 join us for a seabird webinar A Forgotten Kinship presented by Dr. Sea McKeon, Marine Program Director at the American Bird Conservancy. Registration details will be added here when available.

Follow Up Field Trip

On Tuesday, August 11 at 9AM Soheil will lead a field trip focused on shorebird ID to Winthrop Beach. Learn more.

Webinar: Introduction to the New England Shorebird Guide

For over 50 years, Soheil Zendeh has been monitoring shorebirds populations in Massachusetts and elsewhere. Over the past 35 years there have been drastic drops in most shorebird populations, particularly long distance migratory birds from the Arctic. He is the author of New England Shorebird Guide, a web-based field guide for New England shorebirders focused on helping introductory to medium level observers. His field guide is hosted on the Bird Observer website.

This webinar will discuss data from past years compared to current numbers, and talk about the difficulties of monitoring these birds considering their far-flung trajectories – nesting in the arctic, migrating through coastal and inland wetlands, wintering in Central and South America. It will also discuss the difficulties of keeping up with shorebird plumage changes through the seasons. The goal of this webinar is to help build a constituency for these birds in order to enhance conservation measures for the ones that need help.

About the Presenter

Soheil Zendeh was born in Tehran, Iran, and grew up in Tangier, Morocco, before relocating to eastern Massachusetts, where he has been a resident since 1961. Along with his friend Craig Jackson, Soheil founded Friends of Belle Isle Marsh, a grassroots advocacy group for one of the important wetlands in Greater Boston; and Take A Second Look (TASL), a program for monitoring Boston Harbor winter waterbirds from 1980 to 2015. Soheil began creating the online New England Shorebird Guide in 2024 and completed 37 species accounts by early spring of 2026.

New England Shorebird Guide, a photographic guide freely available on the Bird Observer site, now covers 37 species of shorebirds that occur in New England, northeastern United States and eastern Canada. The guide is designed primarily as a visual aid on your smart phone that can be used in the field; it can also be installed on your tablet or computer. 

View the Recording

This webinar occurred on July 30. You can view a recording from the Speakers & Webinars webpage

For More Information

For more information contact info@brooklinebirdclub.org.

How do you protect the invisible? Conservation challenges and opportunities for Marine Birds

For most people, seabirds are out of sight and out of mind, while seabird populations have dropped a staggering 70 percent globally over the past 60 years due to factors such as invasive species, unsustainable fisheries, and marine trash  This talk will reintroduce seabirds, their conservation challenges, and the ways in which they are critical to ecosystems from coral reefs to mountain tops.

About the Presenter

Seabird M^cKeon PhD is a biodiversity scientist and natural historian focused on the conservation of marine ecosystems.  An avid and enthusiastic conservationist and science communicator, he has participated in expeditions to remote reaches of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian ocean basins investigating the response of global diversity to environmental challenges.

When

The webinar will take place over Zoom on August 13 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM.

To Register

This webinar is open to all. Please use this link to register for this event on Zoom.

Hydrographer Canyon Overnight Pelagic Registration

The Brookline Bird Club’s 2026 overnight pelagic trips to the edge of the continental shelf at Hydrographer Canyon are now open for registration!

About the Trip

Join the BBC on the Helen H out of Hyannis, MA to search for pelagic birds on an overnight trip to the Hydrographer Canyon area.

This August, the Brookline Bird Club will run two back-to-back trips on Saturday-Sunday August 22-23 and Monday-Tuesday August 24-25.

We expect to reach warm Gulf Stream influenced waters far offshore to see shearwaters, storm-petrels, jaegers and more!  Possible targets include White-faced Storm-petrel, Band-rump Storm-petrel, and Sargasso Shearwater. This is a fabulous chance to spend time at sea looking for seabirds. 

• Timing: Depart at 6:00 AM Day 1, return 5:00 PM Day 2.
• Cost: BBC Members: $350.00. Non-members: $400.00.
• Capacity: 50 participants each trip. We maintain a waitlist if interest exceeds capacity.

The Details

There are two important changes for 2026:

Given current high fuel prices, and uncertainty about future prices, please expect a fuel surcharge ($20-$60).

There is a $30 cancellation fee for ALL participants regardless of when they cancel. Starting 30 days prior to the trip, refund of the fee remaining after the cancellation charge will only be honored if we are able to fill your spot from the waitlist. Since all cancellations still incur credit card transaction fees, we collect a cancellation fee of $30 to cover the expense.

If you have the flexibility to sign up for the weekday August 24-25 trip, please do. The second of the back-to-back trips will have the advantage of advance scouting from the first trip.

How to Register

To register for a pelagic trip, please follow the links below:

Aug. 22-23 trip registration:

https://www.brooklinebirdclub.org/civicrm/event/register/?reset=1&id=324

Aug. 24-25 trip registration:

https://www.brooklinebirdclub.org/civicrm/event/register/?reset=1&id=323

We look forward to seeing you in August!

BBC Pelagic Committee
Brookline Bird Club
bbcpelagics@gmail.com

If you missed any of our recent webinars or the annual meeting but would still like to view any of these talks you can do so through the BBC website.

Both the Rescue Raptors from Rodenticides and Bobolinks on the Brink talks are available through the Speakers and Webinars page. Just scroll down and click on the image to start the video.

On the Members Resources page you can find other recent webinars including Wood-Warblers of New England the The Evening Grosbeak Road to Recovery/Stokes Guide to Finches. To go to the Members Resources page you must first login to your member account.

Not a member? Please join us!

2026 BBC Teen Birder Scholarship Awards

The Conservation and Education Committee is pleased to announce our two annual Bill Drummond Young Birder Scholarship recipients, Lily Rogers of Brimfield and Gwyn Robertson-DuBois of Northfield. These scholarships cover the full cost ($1725) of the Coastal Maine Bird Studies for Teens program at National Audubon’s Hog Island camp on June 21-26, 2026. We thank all the applicants for their interest.

Lily is passionate about bird conservation and hopes to become a field ornithologist. She is an avid hiker, photographer and painter of birds, who has worked as a summer camp counselor and volunteers for her town’s recreation center. Gwyn shares her dedication to bird conservation and interest in field ornithology. She enjoys conducting research on birds and is fascinated by coastal ecology. Congratulations, Lily and Gwyn!

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.”

Win a Free Pair of Binoculars – Migration Madness Membership Drive

To celebrate the excitement of spring migration, the Brookline Bird Club once again has a special offer for any new member joining the club from April 15 through May 31, 2026! 

This special program recognizes the high number of trips the BBC offers during spring peak migration and the large number of participants, both members and non-members, who enjoy the joy of spring birding.

All new members who join during this period will have their name entered in a special drawing to win a pair of Nikon binoculars or one of three BBC baseball hats.  The drawing will take place by June 7, and the winner will be announced on the BBC website. 

Hint – a BBC membership makes a great gift!

Join Now!

Contest Rules:

• Eligible new members must join during the period April 15, 2026 through May 31, 2026
• For the purpose of the contest, an eligible new member is someone who was neither a member during 2025 nor joined or rejoined during 2026 prior to April 15, 2026.
• Any category of membership is eligible.
• Eligible contestants must submit payment for the membership during the contest period. Credit card payments and checks must clear by June 7.
• Only one entry permitted per person.
• We will select the winner randomly after May 31 and no later than June 7.
• The winner will be announced on the Brookline Bird Club website – www.brooklinebirdclub.org
• The winner receives a pair of Nikon Prostaff P3 binoculars. Runner up prizes are three BBC baseball hats

Spring 2026 Conservation Alerts

Important conservation issues directly affecting birds and birders are pending in front of the Massachusetts legislature. Please demonstrate your commitment to Massachusetts bird life by taking action now.

Mass Ready Act – Rodenticide Ban

The Mass Ready Act offers an opportunity to ban the use of anticoagulant rodenticides statewide.

Heather Packard from Mass Audubon is asking that supporters call their state representative by May 19. Please ask your rep to request that Chair Aaron Michlewitz and the House Ways & Means Committee  strengthen Sections 74 and 75 of the Mass Ready Act by including the language from H5217, which would phase out the use of anticoagulant rodenticides. Mass Audubon hopes to have every state representative receive at least 10 constituent calls on this topic.

This Google Sheet lists includes every state representative, their phone number, and a brief script for the call. Be sure to add an “X” next to you rep’s name after you make the call.

An Act to End the Use of Horseshoe Crabs for Bait

Now is also the time to show our support for Massachusetts House Bill H5266, An Act to End the Use of Horseshoe Crabs for Bait. The original bill has been strengthened and referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means for further consideration. 

We received a detailed request from the Horseshoe Crab Advocates at the Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance. They ask that we contact the leadership of the MA House Ways and Means Committee. If your rep is a committee member please reach out to them as well. Rather than try to repeat all the information we received please review this PDF. You will find background on the topic, contact info for state reps, important talking points, and a template for a letter.

The Brookline Bird Club has sent a letter supporting H5266 to the House Ways and Means Committee leadership.

Learn more from the Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance.

Sunday Hunting Proposal

We are happy to report that budget amendments repealing the state’s Sunday hunting ban have been tabled for now. If there is a change in status we will let you know.