The BBC is selling the Federal Migratory Bird Conservation and Hunting Stamp, also known as the Duck Stamp, through February 15. The current Stamp is good from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. We do this in support of the National Wildlife Refuge System and to support conservation of federal lands.

To purchase your Stamp through the Brookline Bird Club, send a $25 check made payable to: Brookline Bird Club. Include a stamped, self-addressed envelope and send to: Chris Hughes, 4 Pelham Road, Weston, MA 02493. Holders/keychains are $2 each. Please, NO self-addressed stamped envelope with any order containing a holder since they require additional packaging!

The 2025 Stamp is valid through June 30, 2025. Entrance to any of the 573 national wildlife refuge in the United States is FREE when you show your Stamp, including Parker River and Great Meadows, among others.

Ninety-eight cents of every Stamp dollar goes to land acquisition from willing sellers through purchase or easements. Since 1934, Stamp sales have generated more than $1.2 billion to protect over 6 million acres of wetlands habitat on national wildlife refuges around the nation. The newest, Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge, was established in December 2024. Of the 32 refuges in New England, 11 are in Massachusetts, including Parker River, Monomoy, Great Meadows, Oxbow, and Assabet River. With our large membership, purchasing a $25 Stamp can make a significant contribution to the continued protection of these important habitats.

For more information about the National Wildlife Refuge System, go to the US Fish & Wildlife Service. For more information on the Stamp, go to the FWS Duck Stamp page. Friends of the Stamp features Stamp news, links, a calendar of upcoming events, and more.

You can also continue to buy your stamp at refuge offices, admission booths, and post offices or online from either USPS or www.duckstamp.com.

Join us in supporting our national wildlife refuges and this important conservation program by buying a Stamp today!

The Brookline Bird Club would like to thank Vortex and Zeiss Optics for repairing or replacing donated binoculars in the club’s loaner box at no charge. Vortex offers an unusual unlimited warranty and promptly replaced a pair of damaged Raptor binoculars with a shiny new pair!

Our Zeiss loaner binoculars were a vintage pair marked “Made in West Germany”, and dating to the 70’s or 80’s.  The impressive quality of the optics had not diminished, but both eyepieces were damaged. We did not hold out much hope that they could be repaired. So it was a gift to receive the returned pair with new eyepieces!

Steve Grinley, from Bird Watcher’s Supply and Gift, assisted the club by evaluating these and other older binoculars. Earlier this year he helped the club with a discounted purchase of 10 new pairs of binoculars for our loaner box, and these two pairs bring our total to a dozen.

Each year, many participants enjoy birding with the BBC’s loaner binoculars, particularly at our urban walks. If you would like to borrow binoculars, look for the binocular icon in our field trip listings, indicating walks for which loaners are available. Contact the trip leader if you don’t see the icon.  If you have binoculars that you would like to donate to the BBC loaner box, please contact president@brooklinebirdclub.org. 

Mark your calendar for the BBC Members Showcase on February 8, 2025 at John Glenn Middle School at 99 McMahon Road in Bedford, MA. Several members will share their birding story with BBC members via video, sculpture and slide shows. The evening begins at 6:30 with a social hour, refreshments, and a used book sale table.

A social hour with refreshments will precede the meeting from 6:30 to 7:30. 

We will have a book sale table where you can sell your extra books about birds, birding, and other natural history topics. All proceeds will go to the BBC. Unsold books will be donated to More Than Words in Waltham.

If you would like to donate books please plan to arrive at 6:30 or before.

This event is free and open to all. There is plenty of free parking. Please note that this event will be in person only, with no Zoom link.

Please email Cliff Cook with any questions ccook@brooklinebirdclub.org.

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!

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!

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

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

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.