Happy New Year MassBirders!
Mark Burns and I led our 28th Annual New Year’s Day Birding Trip for the Brookline Bird Club (BBC)! At 9:00AM, 18BBCers met at Cashman Park in Newburyport where we toasted in the New Year with sparkling apple cider, introduced ourselves, and reported on where we traveled from and what our first bird of the New Year was. We had rain and drizzle for most of the day, temps that hovered around 44df, and little to no wind. We birded the Merrimack River, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, and Salisbury Beach State Reservation and called it a day at 4:15PM. We tallied 64 species for the Club list. Following is a complete list of the birds we saw:
Red-throated Loon – 3
Common Loon – 1
Horned Grebe – 7
Red-necked Grebe – 1
Great Cormorant – 1
Great Blue Heron – 1
Canada Goose – 64
Mute Swan – 5
Gadwall – 9
American Black Duck – 125
Mallard – 89
Northern Pintail – 40
Green-winged Teal – 2
Ring-necked Duck – 10
Greater Scaup – 2
Lesser Scaup – 2
Northern Gannet – 4
Common Eider – 313
Surf Scoter – 252
White-winged Scoter – 313
Black Scoter – 401
Long-tailed Duck – 13
Bufflehead – 5
Common Goldeneye – 87
Hooded Merganser – 11
Common Merganser – 15
Red-breasted Merganser – 82
Northern Harrier – 7
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Merlin – 2
Killdeer – 1
Sanderling – 2
Purple Sandpiper – 3
Dunlin – 25
Herring Gull – 108
Ring-billed Gull – 86
Great Black-backed Gull – 5
Black-legged Kittiwake – 1
Rock Pigeon – 3
Mourning Dove – 3
Barred Owl – 1
Short-eared Owl – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Blue Jay – 2
American Crow – 8
Comon Raven – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 4
Tufted Titmouse – 1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Horned Lark – 12
Carolina Wren – 2
American Robin – 3
Northern Mockingbird – 2
Hermit Thrush – 1
European Starling – 3
American Tree Sparrow – 2
Song Sparrow – 4
White-throated Sparrow – 2
Dark-eyed Junco – 5
Northern Cardinal – 2
House Finch – 2
American Goldfinch – 3
House Sparrow – 20
Wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy, and Birdy 2025!
Laura H. de la Flor
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Upcoming Field Trips
Members Only Webinar: The Art and Craft of Shorebird Identification
Shorebirds are among the most fascinating and diverse groups of birds, but identifying them can sometimes feel overwhelming. This session will provide practical tips and techniques to sharpen your shorebirding skills. We will also be scheduling a limited participation field trip focused on Shorebirds where you will practice the skills you learned during the webinar. [...]
Forest Beach Conservation Area
Co-sponored with Cape Cod Bird Club. We’ll walk the marsh trail to where it meets Mill Creek and return via the beach, less than a mile round trip. We’ll then head towards the overlook where we’ll likely view herons, egrets, shorebirds, passerines, gulls, osprey and Northern Harrier. This is another area with mixed habitat, a [...]
Whale and Seabird watching trip out of Plymouth
The BBC is partnering with the Captain John's Whale Watching Tour Company to travel to Stellwagen Bank - primary feeding grounds for the Humpback Whale, the endangered Right Whale, and other marine wildlife, including seabirds. With the help of onboard naturalists, we will search for seabirds - storm petrals, shearwaters, gulls and terns, gannets, and [...]
An Oasis for Birds at Belle Isle Marsh
Join DCR park staff for a relaxed, one-mile bird walk through flat, easy terrain at this Massachusetts State Reservation and birding hot spot. At Belle Isle and at additional nearby locations— We’ll search for large groups of herons and egrets, and shorebird rarities. Participants are responsible for their own transportation between locations (by car or [...]
Squantum – Quincy
We'll check the marshes and the mudflats in Squantum for shorebirds, starting at Moswetuset Hummock and visiting other spots nearby. At high tide (~6:15 am), we'll try checking the high tide roosts for shorebirds as well. Be prepared for the possibility of biting insects. Cosponsored with South Shore Bird Club.