New Year's Day Birding ~ 2012

Today, Mark and I led our 16th annual New Year's Day birding trip for the Brookline Bird Club!  We met our group at 9:00AM in Newburyport and 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!  (My first bird of the New Year was Northern Cardinal.)  I love leading this New Year’s Day birding trip for many reasons but the #1 reason is seeing old friends and meeting new ones!  Fifty-one birders joined us for this trip! 

The weather could not have been better for us – the temperature ranged between 32 and 52df, the sky remained clear, and it was calm.  We ended the day at 5:15PM.  We birded Cherry Hill Reservoir, Salisbury Beach State Reservation, and Parker River National Wildlife Refuge and tallied 68 species for the Club list.   Below is a list of the birds we saw: 

Cassin’s Kingbird – 1; Barnacle Goose –  1; Canada Goose – 280; Brant – 14; Mute Swan – 7; Gadwall – 25; American Black Duck – 110; Mallard – 85; Northern Pintail – 22; Canvasback – 1; Redhead – 4; Ring-necked Duck – 14; Common Eider – 210; Surf Scoter – 60; White-winged Scoter – 80; Black Scoter – 15; Long-tailed Duck - 3; Bufflehead – 42 ... 

... Common Goldeneye – 6; Hooded Merganser – 9 ; Common Merganser – 4; Red-breasted Merganser – 20; Ruddy Duck – 92; Wild Turkey – 9; Red-throated Loon – 16; Common Loon – 28; Horned Grebe - 35; Red-necked Grebe – 7; Northern Gannet – 16; Great Cormorant – 4; Great Blue Heron – 3; Northern Harrier – 3; Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1; Red-tailed Hawk – 2; Rough-legged Hawk – 1; Merlin – 2; Peregrine Falcon – 2; American Coot – 6; Sanderling – 14; Purple Sandpiper – 22; Black-legged Kittiwake – 6; Bonaparte’s Gull – 4 ...

... Ring-billed Gull – 240; Herring Gull – 510; Great Black-backed Gull – 12; Razorbill - 72;  Rock Pigeon – 35; Mourning Dove – 22; Snowy Owl – 1; Cassin’s Kingbird – 1; Northern Shrike – 1; Blue Jay – 4; American Crow - 226; Black-capped Chickadee – 6; Tufted titmouse – 1; White-breasted Nuthatch – 2; Carolina Wren – 2; Eastern Bluebird – 10; American Robin – 60; Northern Mockingbird – 8; European Starling – 52; American Tree Sparrow – 3; Song Sparrow – 5; White-throated Sparrow – 2; Dark-eyed Junco - 2; Snow Bunting – 26; Northern Cardinal – 12; American Goldfinch – 6; House Sparrow – 24.

  Wishing you all good things in 2012!