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
News Categories
Upcoming Field Trips
Field Trips / Events
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Cold Spring Park, Newton
Newton - Cold Spring Park 1200 Beacon St, Newton, MA, United StatesThis large multi-use city park offers an easy 1.4-mile loop through mixed forest, open green areas, and red maple swamplands, attracting a surprising array of resident and migratory birds. Porta Potties available.
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Birding Sketch Crawl – Fall Series
Leader's ChoiceCome and bird/sketch favorite patches around Essex and Middlesex Counties.
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Plum Island
Parker River NWR - Lot #1 Refuge Rd., Newbury, MA, MA, United StatesWe will be walking the North Pool dike as well as visiting other spots. Note that an entrance fee or pass is required. Restrooms available.
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Barretts Mill Farmland
Concord - Barretts Mill Farmland Barrett's Mill Road, Concord, MA, United StatesThis is often a great place for fall sparrows including Savannah, Field, and White-crowned, as well as Pipit and occasional Dickcissel. Loaner binoculars available; please email trip leader to reserve a pair! If the weather doens't look good, contact the leader to check status.
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Hellcat at Parker River NWR
Parker River NWR - Lot #4 Newbury, MA, United StatesDuring the past few years the refuge has opened the dike to hiking during National Wildlife Refuge Week. We will plan to do that hike if the dike is again open this year. Otherwise we hike the boardwalk and normal dike area.