Mark Burns and Laura de la Flor led the 22nd Annual New Year’s Day Birding Trip for the Brookline Bird Club (BBC) today! At 9:00AM, 23 BBCers joined us at the Newburyport “T” Station parking lot where we toasted in the New Year with sparkling apple cider. During the toast, introductions were made and folks told us where they traveled from and what their first bird of the New Year was.

We birded Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Cashman Park area, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (PRNWR), and Cape Ann [Jodrey Fish Pier and Bass Rocks). The temperature ranged from -1 to +10df with winds up to 15mph and wind chills of -15! Five of us ended the day at 4:00PM at Bass Rocks. We tallied 51species for the Club list. Following is a complete list of the birds we saw:

Canada Goose – 120

American Black Duck – 180

Mallard – 45

Greater Scaup – 12

Common Eider – 35

Surf Scoter – 7

White-winged Scoter – 20

Black Scoter – 3

Long-tailed Duck – 18

Bufflehead – 34

Common Goldeneye – 11

Red-breasted Merganser – 12

Red-throated Loon – 1 (Parking Lot #1, PRNWR.)

Common Loon – 3

Great Cormorant – 3

Turkey Vulture – 1

Bald Eagle – 2 (Cashman Park.)

Northern Harrier – 1 (Sandy Point, PRNWR.)

Cooper’s Hawk – 1

Red-tailed Hawk – 2

Rough-legged Hawk – 1

Merlin – 1 (Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Jetty area. The Merlin had just caught a Horned Lark and swooped over our heads into the dunes!)

Peregrine Falcon – 1 (Seen from Jodrey Fish Pier on the City Hall Tower.)

Sanderling – 8 (Parking Lot #1 and Sandy Point, PRNWR.)

Dunlin – 4 (Sandy Point, PRNWR.)

Ring-billed Gull – 35

Herring Gull – 83

Iceland Gull – 1 (Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Jetty area.)

Great Black-backed Gull – 7

Rock Pigeon – 66

Mourning Dove – 15

Downy Woodpecker – 4

Blue Jay – 13

American Crow – 37

Horned Lark – 24

Black-capped Chickadee – 17

Tufted Titmouse – 14

White-breasted Nuthatch – 5

American Robin – 46

Gray Catbird – 1 (PRNWR)

Northern Mockingbird – 8

European Starling – 112

Cedar Waxwing – 12

Yellow-rumped Warbler – 1 (PRNWR)

American Tree Sparrow – 17

Song Sparrow – 10

White-throated Sparrow – 8

Dark-eyed Junco – 34

Snow Bunting – 6 (Cashman Park.)

Northern Cardinal – 5

House Sparrow – 55

As always, what make this trip so much fun to lead each New Year’s Day are those who participate – Thank you for spending part or all of your day birding with us!

Wishing you a very Happy, Healthy, and Birdy 2018!