For the past 14 years (hard to believe), Mark and I have led a New Year's Day birding trip for the Brookline Bird Club. Each year we are warmed to see our old friends who have been coming on the trip since year one and look forward to meeting new ones! As usual, we greet everyone at about 9:00AM with sparkling apple cider to toast in the New Year. As part of our introductions, I like to ask everyone to share their first bird of the year - my first bird of 2010 was a Blue Jay seen feeding at at our feeders.
We usually bird right up to sunset (weather permitting) and cover territory between Newburyport and Cape Ann. This year we birded Salisbury Beach State Reservation, Cashman Park/Merrimac River, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, and north Plum Island. Because the birding was good in the Newburyport area, we never made it to Cape Ann! We tallied 51 species for the Club list but I only saw 44. Here is the complete day list and a few photos of the group:
Red-throated Loon – 2 ; Common Loon – 12; Horned Grebe - 9
Red-necked Grebe – 1; Northern Gannet – 18 ; Great Cormorant – 4
Great-blue Heron – 1; Canada Goose – 500; Brant – 6
American Black Duck – 90; Mallard – 180; Northern Pintail – 5
Common Eider – 350; Surf Scoter – 3; White-winged Scoter – 25
Black Scoter – 2; Oldsquaw – 12; Bufflehead - 40
Common Goldeneye – 18; Red-breasted Merganser – 47
Bald Eagle -1; Northern Harrier – 3; Red-tailed Hawk - 3
Sanderling – 30; Purple Sandpiper – 12; Ring-billed Gull - 90
Herring Gull – 175; Glaucous Gull – 1; Great Black-backed Gull – 35
Razorbill – 65; Black Guillemot – 1
Rock Dove – 250; Mourning Dove – 28; Snowy Owl – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 3; Blue Jay – 37; American Crow – 52
Horned Lark - 22
Black-capped Chickadee – 18; American Robin – 400
Northern Mockingbird – 5; European Starling – 600
American Tree Sparrow – 23; Savannah Sparrow – 7 (5 = Ipswich)
Song Sparrow – 5; Dark-eyed Junco – 8; Lapland Longspur - 1
Snow Bunting – 2; Northern Cardinal – 9
American Goldfinch – 33; House Sparrow - 25
Happy New Year and Great Birding in 2010!
