2014 Statistical Report

By Robert H. Stymeist, Statistician

During 2014, the Brookline Bird Club listed 301 species of birds on 218 reported trips. A total of 259 trips were scheduled, 16 trips were cancelled by weather, and 27 trips unfortunately went unreported which is more than 10% of the trips scheduled. In Massachusetts the club listed a total of 290 species. The additional 11 birds seen out of state were Ring-necked Pheasant and Bicknell’s Thrush in Vermont, Spruce Grouse, Northern Goshawk, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Atlantic Puffin, Arctic Tern, and Red Crossbill from Maine, and Black-backed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, and Boreal Chickadee from both Vermont and Maine. Overall 2014 was about average in terms of the number of trips scheduled and a little less in the number of birds reported. In comparison last year the club celebrated its 100th year anniversary with an all-out effort for a big year; a total of 298 trips were scheduled with 19 impromptu trips added in search of rarities for a total of 317 trips, ironically the same number of species recorded in Massachusetts during 2013. In 2014 there were 45 all-day, 148 morning, 15 afternoon or evening, six pelagic, and four weekend trips. There were two impromptu trips organized, one to Cuttyhunk Island and one overnight pelagic.

One new species, Red-billed Tropicbird, was added to the overall Brookline Bird Club list of birds. This sighting on the August Hydrographer Canyon trip was just the sixth record for Massachusetts. The club recorded only its second Fork-tailed Flycatcher on May 14 at Mount Auburn Cemetery; the only other record was on Bill Drummond’s 1994 big May Day trip when he extended his Plum Island trip to Kittery Point, Maine.

Some of the more unusual species noted in 2014 included Ross’s Goose and Cackling Goose in Ipswich, a Tri-colored Heron, a Gull-billed Tern and a Summer Tanager all from Plum Island, and from the extreme pelagic trips, besides the tropicbird the only sightings of White-faced, Leach’s and Band-rumped Storm-Petrels, Audubon’s Shearwater, and South Polar Skua.

The club visited Essex County most often, with a total of 74 trips (39 to Newburyport and Plum Island area, 26 to Cape Ann, and trips to Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, three trips to Ipswich, three to Nahant, and visits to Boxford, Manchester, and Topsfield). The trips in Essex County accounted for 224 species, which is 77% of all the birds reported on club trips. Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge was second with 35 trips totaling 110 species including 24 species of warblers. There were 27 trips scheduled in the metropolitan Boston area. Twenty-eight trips to Cape Cod and the South Shore recorded 214 species. There were 15 trips in the Sudbury River Valley area, which includes Great Meadows NWR, Oxbow NWR, and the Assabet NWR and ten trips to areas in both central and western Massachusetts. There were seven pelagic trips scheduled for a combined total of 71 species including ten species that were not found anywhere else but on the high seas.

Out-of-state trips included weekend trips to the Machias area and to the Rangeley Lakes region in Maine, and a weekend trip criss-crossing the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The combined total number of species on the Maine trips was 149 and included some boreal birds such as Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, and Boreal Chickadee. Ida Giriunas led her 31st annual club trip to the Machias area, which includes the famous Machias Seal Island and recorded over 2,000 Atlantic Puffins! Ida and Eddie Giles have been leading these great trips for many years affording club members the opportunity to see some northern forest and ocean birds that don’t nest in Massachusetts. A weekend trip to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont was new this year after a hiatus of 29 years (for several years up until 1985 John Kennedy led our members to the famous Moose Bog). This year we recorded 108 species including the club’s only Bicknell’s Thrush and Ring-necked Pheasants. The Vermont trip logged in 18 different warblers, several Yellow-bellied Flycatchers, and great looks at a close moose. There was just one trip scheduled in New Hampshire. On November 2 Steve and Jane Mirick led their annual late fall trip along the coast. Though the weather was miserable they found a very late Laughing Gull among the 38 species that day.

Missing from the club list of routinely seen species in 2014 were Cattle Egret, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Black Vulture, Marbled Godwit, Stilt Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope, Common Nighthawk, Connecticut and Cerulean Warblers, Dickcissel and Seaside Sparrow. Five other species, Ring-necked Pheasant, Northern Goshawk, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Arctic Tern, and Red Crossbill were not seen on any Massachusetts trip but were noted from Vermont and Maine.

Highlights from the 2014 Brookline Bird Club Year

Laura de la Flor and Mark Burns as always kicked off 2014 by leading their 18th annual January 1 birding trip. Thirty-five members bundled up for a cold New Year’s Day of birding; after a welcoming toast of sparkling apple cider the group got down to birding and tallied a nice list of 62 species to start off the year. A Ross’s Goose that was discovered in Ipswich on Christmas Day 2013 was the club’s first target. Lucky for us the goose was not seen after the New Year. Other highlights included a Cackling Goose, a Black-headed Gull, eight Snowy Owls, and an adult Red-headed Woodpecker. January 2014 was the coldest in ten years with several big snowstorms, yet our club leaders recorded 88 species by the end of the month! The annual Owl Prowl was a victim of the snow and had to be cancelled as well as four other scheduled trips.

On February 9, Glenn d’Entremont led a trip throughout the south shore starting in Scituate with snow falling; they ended up in Middleboro with a total of 77 species. Highlights included a drake Barrow’s Goldeneye, three Snowy and five Short-eared owls, and 13 Eastern Meadowlarks. In March the club scheduled Woodcock walks in Stoughton, Reading, and in the Blue Hills as well as the annual Massachusetts Waterfowl Prowl, this year just on Cape Cod.

The 2014 winter meeting of the club was on Friday, February 28, at the Bedford Middle School. Nearly 200 members packed the school auditorium to hear Norman Smith talk about his research on Snowy and Saw-whet Owls. Prior to that Shawn Carey presented his latest documentary on migrating shorebirds. After the talk Norman walked around the audience with a Snowy Owl. The spring meeting at the Harvard Museum of Natural History on April 11 featured our own Neil Hayward, who presented a fascinating and humorous account of his “Accidental Big Year”; Neil tallied an amazing 750 year birds during 2013. The guest speaker at the fall lecture meeting at Harvard on October 24 was Andrew Vitz, the Massachusetts State Ornithologist, who discussed bird conservation in the state focusing on Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, and Piping Plovers.

Seven pelagic trips recorded 71 species; the extreme pelagic trips are the most exciting. The July trip recorded eight Band-rumped Storm-Petrels and a small shearwater that may have been Barolo’s but the photos proved inconclusive. The August trip logged in 100 Audubon’s Shearwaters, the highest number for any effort in Massachusetts, and the first club record of Red-billed Tropicbird. To top it off the group enjoyed excellent looks at a Whale Shark and a Tiger Shark. The November trip to Nantucket Shoals witnessed an estimated 100,000 Long-tailed Ducks and 60,000 Common Eider feeding in the rips off Monomoy.

Summer trips were highlighted by evening trips to Plum Island searching for early migrating shorebirds and flocks of herons flying to roost.  On July 14 on Plum the club recorded the only American Avocet, and other noteworthy shorebirds included a Baird’s Sandpiper and the only Hudsonian Godwit on August 21. A Gull-billed Tern was found on Jonathan Center’s Plum Island trip on August 30. Labor Day Weekend is the traditional time for Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Long-billed Dowitcher. The club recorded the Buffy but dipped on the dowitcher.

The fall migration started off with a two-day Cape Cod Blitz hitting the hot spots on the outer Cape from Wellfleet to Provincetown. A total of 103 species were seen including six Philadelphia Vireos, a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, and “thousands” of seabirds noted offshore. New this year was a Wednesday morning survey of Danehy Park in Cambridge led by Karsten Hartel and co-sponsored with the Menotomy Bird Club; they listed the only Nelson’s Sparrow of the year. October brings the sparrows and frequent visits to community gardens in Wayland and Newton as well as Cumberland Farms and Bolton Flats.

November and December found our members visiting Cape Ann with six trips and six trips to the Plum Island and Newburyport area. On November 8, Ida had a bright and beautiful day with the first Snowy Owl of the season, as well as a Barred Owl and Rough-legged Hawks.

At the end of the year the club suspends scheduled trips so that our members can participate in the Christmas Bird Counts (CBCs). There are 34 count circles in Massachusetts.  

A total of 62 leaders guided our members around the state throughout the year. All of our dedicated leaders deserve a special thank-you including several leaders that deserve recognition for not only many years of leading but the number of trips each year they lead. Ida Giriunas and Glenn d’Entremont tied for the most with 20 trips, followed by Linda Ferraresso with 14, then Jonathan Center and Eddie Giles with 12. Bill Drummond, Bob Petersen, and Peter Van Demark each led 10 trips. Another 11 dedicated leaders accounted for six or more trips each.

The biggest trip list this year was Glenn d’Entremont’s South Shore Century Run, recording 121 species on May 10. This trip, entirely within Plymouth County, recorded the club’s only Worm-eating Warbler and Vesper Sparrows for 2014. 

In the following table you can see which trip in each month recorded the most species; this may help in planning for a big year of birding.

January 1	Essex County	62 species	Laura de la Flor, leader
February 9	Scituate-Plymouth	77 species	Glenn d’Entremont, leader
March 16	Waterfowl Prowl	44 species	Eddie Giles, leader
April 27	Suffolk County	76 species	Bob Stymeist, leader
May 10	South Shore Century Run	121 species	Glenn d’Entremont, leader
June 21	Mt. Greylock area	72 species	Glenn d’Entremont, leader
July 26	Plymouth Beach	49 species	Glenn d’Entremont, leader
August 21	Plum Island	60 species	Bill Drummond, leader
September 13	Wellfleet	87 species	Bob Stymeist, leader
October 4	Outer Cape Cod	87 species	Glenn d’Entremont, leader
November 5	Boston	51 species	Bob Stymeist, leader
December 17	Cape Ann	40 species	Neil Hayward, leader

According to ebird, a total of 369 species were observed and reported by birders across the state during 2014; the Brookline Bird Club recorded nearly 79% of that total—pretty impressive! No new birds were added to the official state list, but some highlights included just the second record of Pacific Golden Plover, the third record of Common Ringed Plover, and the fourth record of Cassin’s Kingbird.

Weather-wise 2014 was the warmest year worldwide on record. Ironically, of the large inhabited land areas, only the eastern half of the United States recorded below-average temperatures in 2014, a mirror image of the unusual heat in the west. January and February saw record snowfall, nearly 45 inches in Boston alone. March continued with cold temperatures. In the first week of spring Cape Cod was hit with a blizzard with gusts reaching 83 m.p.h. on Nantucket, which also recorded the most March snowfall ever with 9.5 inches! April finally saw some warm temperatures and May was nearly perfect for birding—no extreme heat, good southwest winds, and little rain. June was a great month for breeding birds with no cold spells and very little rain. July saw the first hurricane of the season when Arthur had winds of over 80 m.p.h. September and October saw several powerful thunderstorms including a nor’easter in late October that caused a great deal of coastal damage. November brought us the first major snowstorm with some areas receiving up to 16 inches the day before Thanksgiving. December was warmer than average and most Christmas Bird Counts experienced good weather.

2011 Year End Report

2011 STATISTICAL AND YEAR-END REPORT
Robert H. Stymeist, Statistician

During 2011, the Brookline Bird Club listed 302 species of birds on 197 reported trips, three more than last year. A total of 224 trips were scheduled, two more than last year but 66 fewer trips than the all-time high number of 290 in 2000. There were 49 all-day, 144 morning, 18 afternoon or evening, ten pelagic, and three weekend trips. There were also two impromptu trips organized for reported rare birds--one was successful in adding a new species to the overall Club’s list.

On May 18 Ida Giriunas led a small group to search for the FIRST state record of Cassin’s Sparrow . The normal range for this sparrow is in the western United States grasslands. The sparrow arrived during a period of northeast winds and remained in the area for five days. Ida and her team added this to the overall Club list with a day to spare before it disap- peared. Sylvia Martin, on the other hand, was a day late when on April 19 she led an impromptu trip to Hyannis in search of just the second state record of a Yellow-legged Gull.

Thirteen trips were not reported, and an additional 13 trips were cancelled by weather. In Massachusetts the Club listed a total of 291species, three more than last year. To put this in perspective, birders throughout the state recorded a total of 363 species during the year; thus the BBC total of 291 is 80% of all the species seen in the state in 2011!

Two new species were added to the overall Brookline Bird Club list of birds, a Cassin’s Sparrow that was discovered on the impromptu trip on May 18, and a Brown Booby from Provincetown on day three of the Cape Cod Blitz weekend led by Bob Stymeist. The Brown Booby, just the fifth record for Massachusetts, was discovered on August 16 in Dennis and then moved to Provincetown, where it remained until mid- December.

Missing from the Club list in 2011 were Tricolored Heron, Marbled Godwit, Black Skimmer, Snowy Owl, Long-eared Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Common Nighthawk, Acadian Flycatcher, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Golden-winged Warbler, and Clay-colored Sparrow. Three other species, Black-legged Kittiwake, Arctic Tern, and Nelson’s Sparrow, were not seen on

any Massachusetts trip but were recorded in Maine. These three species have been routinely found on our Mass lists in most years. Our trips to Maine also added the following species not recorded in Massachusetts: Spruce Grouse, Atlantic Puffin, Bicknell’s Thrush, Black-backed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, and Boreal Chickadee.

The Club visited Essex County most often, with a total of 73 trips (35 to the Newburyport and Plum Island area, 27 to Cape Ann as well as three trips to Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, four trips to Ipswich, two to Nahant, and visits to Boxford, Manchester and Salem). The trips in Essex County accounted for 225 species, which is 77% of all the birds report- ed on Club trips. Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge was second with 29 trips, two less than last year; at Mt. Auburn the Club recorded 27 species of warblers and on April 30 three Sandhill Cranes circled the cemetery, a first record! There were 27 trips scheduled in the Metropolitan Boston area. Thirty-five trips to Cape Cod and the South Shore recorded 241 species, surpassing Essex County for the first time in Club history for the total number of birds overall from an area; this is an amaz- ing 83% of all the birds reported on Club trips in 2011. There were 27 trips in the Sudbury River Valley area, which includes Great Meadows NWR, Oxbow NWR, and the Assabet NWR and five trips to areas in western Massachusetts. There were ten pelagic trips scheduled including three new trips out of Boston led by Naeem Yusuff. Only two of the four extreme pelagic trips were able to venture out to sea. Hurricane Irene cancelled the August trip and the heavy seas following the hurricane can- celled the make-up days. Rounding out the schedule were three trips in search of Woodcock, the annual Owl Prowl and the Cape Cod Waterfowl Census, and several new kayaking trips organized by Diana Fruguglietti and Paul Ippolito.

Out-of-state trips included weekend trips to the Machias area and to the Highland Plantation and Rangeley Lakes region in Maine. The combined total number of species on the Maine trips was 131 and included boreal birds such as Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpecker, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, and Bicknell’s Thrush

. Other species that were noted in Maine but not on any BBC trip in Massachusetts included Black-legged Kittiwake, Arctic Tern, Atlantic Puffin, and Nelson’s Sparrow. Ida Giriunas led her 29th annual Club trip to the Machias area, which includes the famous Machias Seal Island, and recorded over 6,000 Atlantic Puffins! Ida and Eddie Giles have been leading these great trips for many years, affording Club members the opportunity to see some northern forest and ocean birds that don’t nest in Massachusetts. There was just one trip scheduled in New Hampshire. On November 6 Steve and Jane Mirick led their annual early winter trip along the coast; 30 members shared Steve’s favorite birding spots in New Hampshire, including Great Bay, where three male Eurasian Wigeons were seen. Several of the participants con- tinued on to West Newbury, Massachusetts, and saw the Barnacle Goose that was first found early that day.

The Massachusetts Audubon Society (MAS) Checklist (07/2010) now includes most of the species that have been identified in the state as determined by the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee (MARC). The Club recorded the fol- lowing species that are listed as review species that the records committee is especially interested in as well as some species that are less than annual in occurrence.

Barnacle Goose	Acton	November 6
Brown Booby	Provincetown	September 18
Cassin’s Sparrow	Truro	May 18

Highlights from the 2011 Brookline Bird Club Year

The Spring Meeting at the Harvard Museum of Natural History on April 15 featured Julie Ellis, who presented a fascinating account of two of our common gulls, the Herring and Great Blacked-backed, and how they react together in coastal envi- ronments. The guest speaker at the fall lecture meeting at Harvard in October was Jerry Bertrand, the former president of Mass Audubon, who discussed ways Birdlife International is helping to save some of the world’s species that are threatened or endangered. Our Winter Meeting on February 25 at the Bedford Middle School featured many of our Club’s members sharing their birding trips and photographs.

Laura de la Flor and Mark Burns started 2011 off by leading their 15th annual New Year’s Day birding trip. Thirty members enjoyed a perfect day of birding; the temperature reached a balmy 55 by afternoon. After a welcoming toast of sparkling apple cider the group got down to birding and tallied a nice list of 56 species to start off the year. January 2011 was the third snowiest on record, yet our Club leaders recorded an amazing 112 species on just 18 trips during the month.

Eddie Giles and Mark Burns led the 13th Annual Owl Prowl on January 22. The trip is an attempt to find by sight or sound all seven species of owls wintering in the state, excluding the off- shore islands of Nantucket and the Vineyard. The group found ten individual owls of only three species. Eddie teamed up with Mary Kelleher on March 13 to lead the Club’s third Waterfowl Prowl. Like the owl prowl, the intent is to locate as many as possible of the 29 species of ducks in one day on Massachusetts ponds. The leaders tallied 24 species of ducks including Eurasian Wigeon and Northern Shoveler.

The Club scheduled Woodcock walks in Stoughton, Reading, and the Blue Hills. The Club continued co-sponsoring the TASL (Take a Second Look) surveys of the waterfowl of Boston Harbor and a Dawn Heron Census at Belle Isle Marsh in East Boston. Ongoing was a series of mid-week trips on Cape Ann in search of alcids led by Barbara Volkle. Glenn d’Entremont led the weekend jaunt out in the Berkshires birding Mount Greylock and October Mountain and recorded one of the only two Northern Goshawks and the only Cliff Swallows on a Massachusetts list.

Of the ten pelagic trips scheduled (three out of Boston, two out of Gloucester, one out of Newburyport and four “extreme” pelagics out of Hyannis), two of the popular offshore trips were cancelled because of weather. The June trip to Nantucket Shoals featured the impressive number of over 1,300 Sooty Shearwaters and great looks at both Parasitic and Pomarine Jaegers. The birders on board got a quick glimpse of a skua that vanished into the fog and could not be identified. The July trip to the canyons of the Continental Shelf was most memorable for the shark sightings; a Whale Shark, which Steve Mirick excitedly announced over the microphone, was the highlight of the trip, which also recorded a Tiger Shark, 2 Basking Sharks, and a Loggerhead Sea Turtle.

Summer trips were highlighted by evening trips to Plum Island searching for early migrating shorebirds and flocks of herons flying to roost. On an evening trip on August 8 the Club count- ed 138 Snowy Egrets before heavy rain started to fall. Eleven members joined Laura de la Flor and Mark Burns on the annu- al Hawaiian Shirt Shorebird Safari to South Beach; highlights were 17 shorebirds species and just offshore over 1,000 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels and three very obliging Parasitic Jaegers. The Club initiated its first kayak trip in August on the Nashua River; 17 people in 16 boats traversed the river from Lancaster to Still River and recorded 39 species. A second kayak trip paddled the Squanacook River in Groton, so watch for more kayak trips in 2012. The fall migration started off with a three-day Cape Cod Blitz hitting the hot spots on the outer Cape from Chatham to Provincetown. A total of 114 species were seen including the first record of Brown Booby for the overall Club list. Also noted during this sweep were five Philadelphia Vireos, the year’s only Olive-sided Flycatcher, and 15 species of warblers. A hawk watch on Mt. Tom saw 169 migrating Broad-wings and only the second Northern Goshawk on the Club list for the year. October brings the sparrows and frequent visits to community gardens in Wayland and Newton as well as the sparrow meccas of Cumberland Farms and Bolton Flats. At Cumbies on October 9 the Club recorded seven species of sparrows, a Dickcissel, a calling and circling Sandhill Crane, and a White-winged Widowbird, alas an escape but a very nifty-looking bird.

November and December found our members visiting Cape Ann with four trips, one of which was extended to West Newbury when word got out of a Barnacle Goose, just the sec- ond time that this species was seen by the Club (the first was in 2010). A trip to Fairhaven in early November recorded 83 species, which included great looks at Orange-crowned Warbler and Yellow-breasted Chat.

At the end of the year the Club suspends scheduled trips so that our members can participate in the Christmas Bird Counts (CBC). There are 34 count circles in Massachusetts.

A total of 50 leaders guided our members around the state throughout the year. All of our dedicated leaders deserve a spe- cial thank-you including several leaders that deserve recogni- tion for not only many years of leading but the number of trips each year they lead: Ida Giriunas, the Energizer bunny, led the most with 19 trips, followed by Bill Drummond and Linda Ferraresso with 15, then Glenn d’Entremont with 14, Jonathan Center and, Bob Stymeist with 13, Peter Van Demark with 11, and Eddie Giles with 10. Another 13 dedicated leaders accounted for five or more trips each. The club welcomed first- time trip leader Jim McCoy.

The club’s cooperation with and outreach to organizations with similar interests led to co-sponsorships of BBC trips by the fol- lowing: South Shore Bird Club, Woburn Residents Environmental Network, Athol Bird and Nature Club, Nahant Open Space Committee, Essex County Ornithological Club, Assabet River NWR, the Merrimac and Ipswich River Watershed Councils, Trustees of Reservations, Halibut Point State Park, Boston Nature Center, Menotomy Bird Club, Forest Hills Educational Trust, Arboretum Park Conservancy, Take a Second Look, the Frederick Law Olmstead National Historic Site, and the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

The biggest trip list this year was Glenn d’Entremont’s South Shore Century Run, recording 117 species on May 7. This trip, entirely in locations in Plymouth County, recorded the only Upland Sandpipers and Vesper Sparrows seen by the club in Massachusetts in 2011. Other highlights on this long day were 15 species of warblers including Cerulean and Worm-eating.

In the following table you can see which trip in each month recorded the most species; this may help in planning for a big year of birding.

Date	Location	# Species	Leader
January 8	Westport	78	Bob Stymeist
February 6	Scituate-Plymouth	66	Glenn d'Entremont
March 19	C. Cod-Cumberland Farms	59	Laura de la FLor
April 24	Suffolk County	76	Bob Stymeist
May 7	S.S. Century Run	117	Glenn d'Entremont
June 19	October Mountain	74	Glenn d'Entremont
July 11	Plum Island	63	Tom Young
August 13	So. Beach, Chatham	67	Mark Burns
Sept. 17	Wellfleet	89	Bob Stymeist
October 8	Outer Cape	107	Glenn d'Entremont
Nov. 5	Fairhaven	83	Bob Stymeist
Dec. 17	Cape Ann	46	Bob Petersen

The Club recorded nearly 80% of all the birds that were noted during 2011--pretty impressive! A total of at least 363 species were observed and reported by birders across the state. TWO new birds were added to the official state list: Yellow-green Vireo and Cassin’s Sparrow . Impressive species seen during the year not recorded on BBC trip lists were Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Pink-footed Goose, Ross’s Goose, Tundra Swan, Tufted Duck, Western Grebe, White-tailed Tropicbird, Wood Stork, Magnificent Frigatebird, American White Pelican, Brown Pelican, Little Egret, White Ibis, White-faced Ibis, Swallow-tailed and Mississippi kites, Eurasian Hobby, Purple Gallinule, Wilson’s Plover, Black-necked Stilt, Sooty Tern, White-winged Dove, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Cassin’s Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Yellow-green Vireo, Northern Wheatear, Townsend’s Warbler, Lark Bunting, Western Tanager, Painted Bunting, and Hoary Redpoll.

Weather-wise 2011 was 1.9 degrees warmer than normal, tying with 1991 as the fourth-warmest year on record. January saw record snowfall, nearly 39 inches in Boston alone. March brought record warm temperatures--70 degrees on March 18 in Boston was a record high, and April also saw very warm tem- peratures, which advanced the foliage before migration got into high gear. The summer was a mixed bag. June was unusually cool, which was probably good for our breeding birds, and July and August had above-normal temperatures. September and October were very pleasant, great birding weather, and November and December had record warm days with many birds lingering well their beyond normal departure dates.

2011 ANNUAL LISTS

The Brown Booby was the clear-cut favorite; this was just the fifth record for Massachusetts and the first of its kind to stick around for everyone to see. The bird was first noted at Corporation Beach in Dennis, where it lingered for a week and then reappeared in Provincetown, where it continued into mid- December! The Cassin’s Sparrow

–a first record for the state–was also mentioned despite its drab appearance. Yet another bird named after John Cassin (1813-1869), a curator of ornithology at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, garnered a few votes: the Cassin’s Kingbird that was discovered late in the year in West Newbury.

It was a very noteworthy fall for vagrant flycatchers in addition to the Cassin’s Kingbird; others mentioned the unprecedented numbers of Ash-throated Flycatchers that were seen as well as a few Western Kingbirds. Birders got incredible looks at two rare rails, a Clapper at Allen’s Pond and a King at Belle Isle marsh in East Boston.

There were many favorite birds that had been drawn to feed- ers, some hosted by BBC members. The Townsend’s Warbler that showed up on Christmas Day at Jim Berry’s home contin- ued into the new year. Linda Nachtrab kept a watchful eye on a Red-headed Woodpecker at her feeder in Maynard that sev- eral birders mentioned as their favorite. Another great feeder visitor was a female Painted Bunting in Eastham.

There were personal moments such as a walk down Crane Beach in Ipswich, where three Snowy Owls were all “picture perfect” sitting on top of the dunes. Other serendipitous occa- sions: zipping along the Plum Island turnpike hoping to get to Stage Island to see a reported White Ibis when out of the cor- ner of my eye I spotted a bird of interest--wow, a White Ibis— what luck! Taking a leisurely bike ride in Chatham and looking up to find a Swallow-tailed Kite, then finding out that another birder saw it minutes later. Finding two pair of Great Horned Owls on nests in your own birding area, or seeing Razorbills close to shore on Cape Cod.

Having your best bird turn into something else better; a Royal Tern became an Elegant Tern, which proved to be a very valu- able learning experience for many birders. Or the frustration of seeing a White-faced Ibis being done in by a Peregrine Falcon! Getting a call from a nonbirder to report a Snowy Owl in Somerville, of all places, and then getting to see it less than 10 feet away from an open window just above the bird.

Another time it was not a countable bird but just a very sweet bird visiting a feeder on Plum Island, an African Collared Dove, aka Ringed Turtle Dove. The bird seemed happy and the per- son who was feeding it was thrilled to have this unusual dove at her feeder. A Black Swan at Allen’s Pond was a nice surprise to see among several Mute Swans for another birder.

Other “best” birds included Cackling Goose, Tundra Swan, Tufted Duck, Little Egret, Mississippi Kite, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Yellow-legged Gull, Barn Owl, Lark Sparrow, and a singing adult male Blue Grosbeak.

For the most part, there was little to be disappointed about in the birding year 2011, though there are those moments that can be quite frustrating, especially when one puts out an effort to see a reported bird. The Mississippi Kites were noted by many who made several attempts to see an unusual occurrence of multiple Mississippi Kites and a Swallow-tailed Kite that were frequenting an area of Falmouth. Commitments forced delay of a trip for the Cassin’s Sparrow and the Pink-footed Goose and in both cases they were missed them by a day.

Then there are the “vanishing” species that we have come to look forward to seeing each and every year. Topping that list this year is Ring-necked Pheasant. Granted this is a stocked bird in many locations, but wild pheasants have virtually disap- peared from areas that are not hunted. The Golden-winged Warbler is another constantly missed bird; at one time, albeit many years ago, the Golden-winged outnumbered the Blue- winged in our area!

The Eurasian Hobby was a disappointment for several, espe- cially after multiple reports of its hanging around, though some lucky observers saw it more than once. Some of us must remember to check on some breeding birds before they stop singing and not to miss birds like American Woodcock, Whip- poor-will, Chuck-wills-widow, and Cerulean Warbler.

Again some of the regularly occurring birds were missed by the top listers: Ruffed Grouse, Northern Bobwhite, American Bittern, Broad-winged Hawk, Sora Rail, Wilson’s Phalarope, both cuckoos, Common Nighthawk, Pileated Woodpecker, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Tennessee Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, and Fox and Lincoln’s sparrows.

Finally, to quote from Ida Giriunas “2011 was a wonderful year for birds. Interesting, when I was working, birding was a life saver, and it helped me keep my sanity; now in retirement bird- ing is a life-saver because it helps me to keep getting around.” Thanks to Ida and the great group of birders who share their knowledge and their love of birding throughout the year. See you “around” in 2012.

ANNUAL LISTS

John Hoye, Wayland	333
Audrey McCarthy, Wayland	326
Margo Goetschkes, Cambridge	324
Steve Grinley, Newburyport	324
Bob Stymeist, Arlington	310
Glenn d’Entremont, Randolph	306
Linda Ferraresso, Watertown	306
Bev Chiasson, Newton	304
Neil Hayward, Cambridge	304
Oakes Spalding, Cambridge	302
Chris Floyd, Lexington	300
Herman D’Entremont, Somerville	295
Ida Giriunas, Reading	295
Karsten Hartel, Arlington	275
Jonathan Center, Chelmsford	274
Doug Chickering, Groveland	273
Fred Bouchard, Belmont	272
Tom Wetmore, Newburyport *	259
Paul Peterson, Boston**	234
Laura de la Flor, Salem	216
Bob Stymeist, Arlington ***	207

*Plum Island only

**Suffolk County only

***Middlesex County only

2010 Statistical Report

2010 STATISTICAL AND YEAR END REPORT
By Robert H. Stymeist, Statistician

During 2010, the Brookline Bird Club listed 298 species of birds on 181 reported trips, seven less than last year. A total of 222trips were scheduled, 11 trips less than last year and 68 trips less than the all time high number of 290 in 2000. There were 50 all day, 143 mornings, 23 afternoons or evening, 4 pelagic and three weekend trips. There was one impromptu trip that was highly successful; on November 26 Bill Drummond organ- ized a “wild goose chase” to the Sudbury River Valley, which was one very hot birding location with birders from across the country flocking to our state in search of both Pink-footed and Barnacle Geese. Bill led 13 members and found the Club’s first Barnacle Goose and the first Pink-footed Goose for the Club in Massachusetts (Bill led an impromptu trip to Newport, Rhode Island for the Pink-footed Goose in 2007). That same trip recorded the only Snow Goose seen on Club trips in 2010. Forty-one trips were not reported, 17 were cancelled by weath- er and 24 went unreported. In Massachusetts the Club listed a total of 288 species, five less than last year on 175 reported trips. To put this in perspective, birders throughout the state recorded a total of 367 species during the year, thus the BBC total of 288 is 78% of all the species seen in 2010!
One new species was added to the overall Brookline Bird Club list of birds, a BLACK RAIL that was discovered on May 31 and was heard at the North Pool until at least June 21, and was added to the BBC Club list on Laura de la Flor’s Summer Solstice Saunter June 19. The Pink-footed Goose and Barnacle Goose mentioned above were the first reported on a BBC Massachusetts list.
Missing from the Club list in 2010 was: Northern Bobwhite, Tricolored Heron, Common Moorhen, Upland Sandpiper, Long- billed Dowitcher, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Cerulean Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush and Connecticut Warbler. Two other species, Ruffed Grouse and Vesper Sparrow were not seen on any Massachusetts trip but were recorded in Maine. The Golden-winged Warbler again was missed despite a detour to Nahant on Bill Drummond’s big May Day trip. The trip to Nahant took over an hour to get there in traffic and the group waited for nearly four hours but missed it- now that’s dedication!
The Club visited Essex County most often, with a total of 76 trips (34 to Newburyport and Plum Island area, 27 to Cape Ann as well as five trips to Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, three trips each to Ipswich and Nahant and visits to Boxford, Manchester and Salem). The trips in Essex County accounted for 219 species which is 76% of all the birds reported on Club trips. Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge was second with 31 trips, 3 more than last year. There were also scheduled 24 trips in the Metropolitan Boston area, 14 trips each on Cape Cod and the South Shore and Sudbury River Valley areas, which included Great Meadows NWR, Oxbow NWR, the Assabet NWR and just three trips to areas in western Massachusetts, six less than last year. There were four pelagic trips scheduled.
Out-of-state trips included a weekend trip to the Machias area and to the Highland Plantation and Rangeley Lakes region in Maine, as well as a Summer Solstice Saunter to Maine’s southern coast. The combined total number of species on the Maine trips was 152 and included some boreal birds such as Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpecker, Gray Jay and Boreal Chickadee. Ida Giriunas led her 29th annual Club trip to the Machias area which includes the famous Machias Seal Island and recorded over 4000 Atlantic Puffins! Ida and Eddie Giles have been leading these great trips for many years affording Club members the opportu- nity to see some northern forest and ocean birds that don’t nest in Massachusetts. There were two trips scheduled in New Hampshire; on June 12 Chris Ciccone led 6 members in search of Bicknell’s Thrush which was successful with four individuals seen; on November 7 Steve and Jane Mirick led their annual early winter trip along the coast, 22 members not only shared Steve’s favorite birding spots in New Hampshire, but they also really enjoyed the last stop in Salisbury, Massachusetts where a Northern Saw-whet Owl was found.
The Massachusetts Audubon Society (MAS) Checklist (07/2010) now includes most of the species that have been identified in the state as determined by the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee (MARC). The Club recorded the fol- lowing species that are listed as review species that the records committee is especially interested in as well as some species that are seen less than annual in occurrence.

Pink-footed Goose	Sudbury	November 26
Barnacle Goose	Acton	November 26
White-faced Storm-Petrel	Hydrographer	August 28
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel	Hydrographer	August 28
BLACK RAIL	Plum Island	June 19
Great Skua	Nantucket Shoals	August 28
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher	Plum Island	August 8
SAGE THRASHER	Salisbury	January 16

Highlights from the 2010 Brookline Bird Club Year

The Spring Meeting at the Harvard Museum of Natural History on April 16 featured Josh Rose, who worked at the World Birding Center at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park in Texas and who shared with us photos of birds like Green Jays and why this area of Texas is one of the top birding destinations in the country. The fall lecture meeting at Harvard featured our own member, Shawn Carey, who presented a grim first-hand account with images and video of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Shawn was joined by Drew Wheelan who works with the American Birding Association and was their representative in helping with the clean-up.
Laura de la Flor and Mark Burns opened up the start of 2010 by leading their 15th annual New Year’s Day birding trip. Thirty members enjoyed a perfect New Year’s Day of birding; the temperature reached a balmy 55 by afternoon. After a wel- coming toast of sparkling apple cider the group got down to birding and tallied a nice list of 51 species to start off the year.
Eddie Giles and Mark Burns led the 12th Annual Owl Prowl on January 9. The trip is an attempt to find by sight or sound all eight species of owls wintering in the state. The group found nine individual owls of five species. Ten members joined Jonathan Center on January 16 in Salisbury that found only the SECOND Sage Thrasher on a Club trip.
Eddie teamed up with Mary Kelleher on March 13 to lead the Club’s third Waterfowl Prowl. Like the owl prowl, the intent is to locate as many of the 30 species of ducks in one day on Massachusetts ponds. The leaders tallied 20 species of ducks including Eurasian Wigeon, Redhead and King Eider. On March 20, Laura and Mark led members on a Vernal Equinox trip from upper Cape Cod to Cumberland Farms, the temper- ature reached a very mild 72 degrees and the day ended with the courtship flight of the woodcock. On May 1, eight club members birded by bicycle up and down Plum Island, the tem- perature was ideal with abundant sunshine and no wind, the group tallied 77 species including 12 warbler species.
The Club scheduled Woodcock walks in Stoughton, Reading, and the Blue Hills. The Club continued co-sponsoring the TASL (Take a Second Look) surveys of the waterfowl of Boston Harbor and a Dawn Heron Census at Belle Isle Marsh in East Boston. Ongoing was a series of mid-week trips on Cape Ann in search for alcids led by Barbara Volkle Breeding Bird Surveys were conducted in Woburn, and in Moose Brook Valley, Hardwick. A weekend Campout at Wompatuck State Park had to be cancelled because of heavy rain, but three other trips there in the spring added some nice birds: American Bittern, Little Blue Heron, (both big surprises for the area) Yellow-throated Vireo and Worm-eating warblers. Glenn d’Entremont led the weekend jaunt out in the Berkshires birding Mount Greylock, where the Club recorded its only Black Vulture in Massachusetts for the year on Saturday and October Mountain on Sunday.
Of the four pelagic trips scheduled only one was cancelled because of weather and high seas. The first trip on June 26 was another great success, more so with the mammals than the birds. Two very rare Blue Whales, three Sperm Whales over 450 Short- beaked Common Dolphin and a very rare Green Sea Turtle were among the spectacular marine mammals. Four species of shear- water and 137 Leach’s Storm-Petrels gave great looks as they fed on the chum that was thrown to them. The August pelagic was nothing short of phenomenal, 22 White-faced Storm-Petrels was a record for the western Atlantic, as many as ten Band-rumped Storm-Petrels were recorded, a Great Skua gave great views on Nantucket shoals, while another skua eluded identification. Land birds included a Baird’s Sandpiper, 48 Hudsonian Godwits and a Red-headed Woodpecker, the only one seen on a 2010 BBC trip! On November 13 the final extreme pelagic saw amazing concen- trations of birds 350,000 Common Eider, 16,750 White-winged Scoter, 2,800 Great Shearwaters, 45 Northern Fulmars and a Great Skua.
Summer trips are highlighted by evening trips to Plum Island searching for early migrating shorebirds and flocks of herons fly- ing to roost. On August 8, the Club added Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and on August 18 and adult Yellow-crowned Night Heron was found on the refuge. Twelve members joined Laura and Mark on the annual Hawaiian Shirt Shorebird Safari to South beach, highlights were 16 shorebirds species including the only Marbled Godwits seen in 2010. The fall migration starts off with a three day Cape Cod Blitz hitting the hot spots on the outer Cape from Chatham to Provincetown; a total of 108 species were seen, including 8 Yellow-crowned Night Herons, a Baird’s Sandpiper, four Philadelphia Vireos and the only Hooded Warbler of the year. October brings the sparrows and frequent visits to community gardens in Wayland, Newton and Bolton Flats.
November finds our members visiting Cape Ann with six trips, a trip to Quabbin on November 20th was a great success for the leader and just one participant, and they got to see a record number of 19 Tundra Swans and 36 Wild Turkeys. Finally on November 26 Bill Drummond led an impromptu trip in search of some rare geese that were in the Sudbury River Valley. Thirteen members met Bill at the Riverside T station and were successfully in finding both the Pink-footed and Barnacle Goose, both new Massachusetts birds for the BBC overall list.
At the end of the year the Club suspends scheduled trips so that our members can participate in the Christmas Bird Counts (CBC). There are 34 count circles in Massachusetts and again this year, like 2009, stormy weather forced some counts to reschedule.
A total of 57 leaders guided our members around the state throughout the year. All of our dedicated leaders deserve a special thank-you including several leaders that deserve recognition for not only many years of leading but the number of trips they lead each year: Ida Giriunas, led the most with 16 trips, followed by Jonathan Center with 13, then Bill Drummond, Glenn d’Entremont and Sylvia Martin with12 trips each, Laura de la Flor, Linda Ferraresso and Bob Stymeist each led 10. Another 12 dedicated leaders accounted for five or more trips each.
The biggest trip list this year was Glenn d’Entremont’s South Shore Century Run trip, recording 114 species on May 8, sur- passing the usual late May trip on Plum Island and vicinity led by Bill Drummond who has in the past always topped the list.
In the following table you can see which trip in each month recorded the most species; this may help in planning for a big year of birding. Thanks to our group leaders!

Date	Location	# Species	Leader
January 9	Westport	58	Bob Stymeist
February 11	Scituate-Plymouth	72	Glenn d'Entremont
March 20	Outer Cape Cod	59	Laura de la Flor
April 25	Boston	73	Bob Stymeist
May 8	South Shore Century Run	114	Glenn d'Entremont
June 20	October Mountain	73	Glenn d'Entremont
July 19	Plum Island	68	Tom Young
August 28	Marshfield-Middleboro	72	Glenn d'Entremont
September 11	Wellfleet	83	Bob Stymeist
October 16	Newburyport-PI	69	Tom Young
November 6	Outer Cape Cod	86	Laura de la Flor
December 17	Cape Ann	36	Barbara Volkle

The Club recorded nearly 81% of all the birds that were noted during 2010--pretty impressive! A total of at least 367 species were observed and reported by birders across the state during 2010. There were no new birds added to the official state list. Impressive species seen during the year not recorded on BBC trip lists were: Ross’ Goose, Eared Grebe, White-faced Ibis, Swallow-tailed and Mississippi kites, Purple Gallinule, Wilson’s Plover, Common Ringed Plover, Black-necked Stilt, Bar-tailed Godwit, Red-necked Stint, Ivory Gull, Slaty-backed Gull White-winged Dove, Rufous and Allen’s Hummingbird, Tropical Kingbird, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Townsend’s Solitaire, Spotted Towhee LeConte’s Sparrow, Western Tanager, Painted Bunting and Common Chaffinch.
Weather wise 2010 was 2.2 degrees warmer than normal, with above average temperatures being recorded in all of the first ten months; in 2009 only four months recorded above normal readings. In November and December the average was just below the norm, the biggest weather event occurred just after Christmas when a blizzard left 18.2 inches of snow in Boston and caused severe damage along the coast, with Scituate bear- ing the brunt of the northeast gales. The summer was a sizzler, a total of 25 days had temperatures of 90 degrees or higher with 100 noted in Boston on July 6, 2010. In 2009 there were just 9 days that reached the 90 degree mark.

2010 ANNUAL LISTS

Without a doubt the best bird of the year is one that nobody saw--the Black Rail. It received the most votes not only because of its rareness but also because of the experience of just being in its presence. Doug Chickering wrote “I don’t think I have ever seen so many birders so delighted NOT seeing a bird--that great phantom of birding--the Black Rail. I still get a quiet pleasure when I recall that ki-ki-krrr drifting over to us in the gathering darkness from the North Pool on Plum Island.”
Another described the Black Rail as a big adventure “Waiting along the road on the Parker River refuge for the Black Rail to call, the mosquitoes were vicious, comradely was a treat, and just as the “federale” were chasing us out, the bird called!”
The great assembly of geese in the Concord area was among the top favorites. A Pink-footed Goose, only the third state record, as well as a very rare Barnacle Goose, played hide and seek moving from one field to the next, frustrating the many birders who made numerous trips to find them. One observer commented on one occasion when birders attempted to see the Pink-footed Goose in a far rear field by climbing trees and building make-shift elevated platforms; they were rewarded with seeing at most the head and maybe the upper body. Another observer was pleased to see ALL eight species of geese that have ever been seen in the state during the year.
“The Purple Gallinule in Rockport on BIRDATHON day was a real treat. We got to see it before the crowds started aggravat- ing the neighbors.”
“My life looks at a Long-tailed Jaeger while on an Aquarium Whale Watch. It flew directly overhead and was no more than 100 feet away!”
Ida’s Extreme Pelagic trips to offshore waters provided great opportunities to see some of the rarer seabirds “Being on board to see an amazing 22 White-faced Storm Petrels, sever- al Band-rumped Storm-Petrels and a Great Skua to boot.”
“My favorite was the BBC boat trip to Nantucket Shoals, over 300,000 Common Eiders-- that was a really amazing sight to see all those birds out there.” “Best birding experience: easily the November BBC pelagic and the thrilling experience of watching clouds of hundreds of thousands of eiders and scoters in Narragansett Sound. The great skua on the trip was anti-climatic.”
Weather related events made for some observers memorable moments: “May 1 was the day to be out birding and Plum Island was the place to be--98 species, 14 species of warblers, most notably the Northern Waterthrushes singing loudly and seemingly everywhere on the island.”
“The August storm that produced a fallout of Common and Black Terns on inland lakes.”
Personal moments such as a close encounter with a male Northern Goshawk, “as I walked down a trail I was warned I was getting too close to the nest with a couple of close fly- over’s forcing me to duck. Needless to say, it worked”.
“After years of missing Ruffed Grouse, a brief but very satisfy- ing sight at Assabet NWR.”
“Focusing on a flying Northern Hawk Owl heading right toward me and feeling his wings as he passes right over my head.”
“Seeing over a thousand Broad-winged Hawks passing over Mt. Watatic in one day.”
“Watching a female Cerulean Warbler feeding three fledglings in a nest.”
“Having a Common Chaffinch in my yard every day for two and a half months.”
For one birder, working on the Breeding Bird Atlas has taken away from chasing birds, but “I have to admit that it's really been fun to work on this project and I'll really miss working on it when it's over.”
Other “best” birds included: Tundra Swan, Ivory Gull of Race Point, Ivory Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Thick-billed Murre, Long- eared Owl, the Red-headed Woodpecker in Dracut, Cave Swallow, Western Kingbird, Sedge Wren, Townsend’s Solitaire, Sage Thrasher, Blue Grosbeak, White-winged Crossbill, and Lincoln’s Sparrow. The latter for one observer was only his second in his home town in 25 years.
For the most part there was little to be disappointed in the birding year 2010, though there are those moments that can be quite frustrating especially when one puts in an effort to see a reported bird. “The Greater White-fronted Goose eluded me after repeated trips to areas where it had been found even though I kept seeing the rarer Barnacle Goose four times and the Pink-footed Goose three times.”
“Missing the Tufted Duck in Waltham in an area that I bird almost every day except the one day it was found.”
“Not seeing a Golden-winged Warbler for the fifth straight year.”
“My most disappointing miss was a Dovekie that I never saw the on the boat trip and they were right there in front of me.”
“Missing a Pomarine Jaeger which is surprising considering I got TWO species of skua from land!”
“My biggest miss was Cape May Warbler, not sure when the last time I missed this considering the amount of time I spend in the field in the spring.”
Again some of the regular occurring birds were missed by the top listers: Ring-necked Pheasant, Northern Bobwhite, American Bittern, Tricolored Heron, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Broad-winged Hawk, Semipalmated and Pectoral sandpipers, Long-billed Dowitcher, Yellow-throated Vireo and the follow- ing warblers: Orange-crowned, Connecticut, Louisiana Waterthrush, Yellow-breasted Chat and Fox Sparrow.

	ANNUAL LISTS
Jeremiah Trimble, Cambridge	333
John Hoye, Wayland	331
Audrey McCarthy, Wayland	320
Linda Ferraresso, Watertown	311
Chris Floyd, Lexington	311
Glenn d’Entremont, Randolph	309
Ida Giriunas, Reading	305
Neil Hayward, Cambridge	304
Herman D’Entremont, Somerville	301
Oakes Spalding, Cambridge	300
Bob Stymeist, Arlington	300
Fay Vale	295
Steve Grinley, Newburyport	292
Bev Chiasson, Newton	290
Margo Goetschkes, Cambridge	290
Karsten Hartel, Arlington	277
Fred Bouchard, Brookline	276
Jonathan Center, Chelmsford	266
Doug Chickering, Groveland	260
Jason Forbes, Waltham	252
Tom Wetmore, Newburyport *	251
Laura de la Flor, Salem	213
Bob Stymeist, Arlington **	201
George Leet, Beverly	162
Jason Forbes, Waltham ***	156

Plum Island only *
Suffolk County only **
Waltham only ***

2009 Statistical and Year End Report

By Robert H. Stymeist, Statistician

During 2009, the Brookline Bird Club listed 305 species of birds on 194 reported trips, just one species less than last year. A total of 233 trips were scheduled, 16 trips less than last year, and 57 trips less than the all time high number of 290 in 2000. There were 62 all-day, 144 mornings, 24 afternoons or evening, and 3 weekend trips. THIRTY-NINE trips were not reported, 18 were cancelled by weather and 21 went unreported. In Massachusetts, the Club listed a total of 293 species, three less than last year on 190 reported trips. To put this in perspective, birders throughout the state recorded a total of 369 species during the year, thus the BBC total of 293 is 79% of all the species seen in 2009!

Two new species was added to the overall Brookline Bird Club list of birds. On the first day of Spring Laura and Mark’s Vernal Equinox trip recorded a total of seven ROSS’S GOOSE in Ipswich. Prior to this sighting there were only three accepted records of this species in the state. The Club encountered its first Pterodroma petrel, a BLACK-CAPPED PETREL that was around the boat for almost five minutes making two close passes as the Captain pursued and kept the bird visible for all on board to see. Another almost new bird was not one but two IVORY GULLS, the last time the Club recorded this species was in 1976.

The weather in 2009 was typical New England-if you don’t like it- just wait a minute! January was cold, New Years Day saw readings below zero in western Massachusetts and a low of 6 in Boston, February was on the warm side with not much snow. March sprung up like a lion on the first with a major nor’easter complete with heavy snow to all of New England. April was warm and wet-three temperature records were broken with 80’s to readings into the 90’s from April 28-30 which also brought unprecedented fallout of migrants as well as the foliage. May was also warm and dry but June and July were WET and cold with very little sunshine- June was the 7th coldest in 138 years and had the second least amount of sun in 138 years. July was very wet- the 6th wettest July on record and the month continued to be on the cool side. Finally summer arrived in August with very warm temperatures and not much rain. The fall migration was a mixed bag weather-wise-September was sunny but cold; October was quite cold with frequent rains. November was exceptional- unseasonably warm and dry- Thanksgiving Day saw the temperature reach over 50 and there was no frost in Boston until December 7th, a new late record.

The sixth Annual Winter Meeting was held at Bedford Middle School on February 6, 2009. This was the Club’s Second Members Night, many members of our Club travel all over the world as well as in our own backyards taking excellent photo- graphs and sharing their images with us. The Spring Meeting at the Harvard Museum of Natural History featured past BBC President Peter Alden whose talk entitled “The Ups and Downs of Inland Massachusetts Birds and Why” highlighted the changes in bird life in just a short period of time and included a lively discussion on invasive plants and whether to feed birds or not. The fall lecture meeting at Harvard featured Dr. Ian Newton, a population ecologist who discussed factors that have influenced migratory birds showing declines in numbers for several species and how conservation efforts can help.

Laura de la Flor and Mark Burns opened up the start of 2009 by leading their 13th annual New Year’s Day birding trip. Nineteen members came out on a frigid but dry day to begin a New Year of birding. The mercury was only 8 degrees as the bundled participants toasted the new year with apple cider and the temperature never got higher than 18 all day! The trip tallied 58 species from Salisbury to Andrew’s Point. Highlights included a King Eider and a Dovekie at Bass Rocks as well as a Peregrine Falcon on the Gloucester City Hall and a Lapland Longspur in Salisbury.

Eddie Giles and Mark Burns led the Tenth Owl Prowl on the last day of February. The trip is an attempt to find by sight or sound all eight species of owls wintering in the state. It was a rough day with northwest winds and rain and the getting tied up in traffic didn’t help. The group found six species of owls starting with a predawn Barred Owl in Salisbury and ending with a Barn Owl on Martha’s Vineyard; the group missed both Long and Short-eared Owls.

Eddie teamed up with Mary Kelleher on Sunday March 15 to lead the Club’s second Cape Cod Waterfowl Prowl. Like the owl prowl, the intent is to locate as many of the 29 species of ducks in one day on Cape Cod ponds .The leaders tallied 69 species and came up with 23 of the 29 duck species! The Club scheduled Woodcock walks in Stoughton, Reading, and the Blue Hills.

The Club continued co-sponsoring the TASL (Take a Second Look) surveys of the waterfowl of Boston Harbor and a Dawn Heron Census at Belle Isle Marsh in East Boston. Ongoing was a series of mid-week trips on Cape Ann in search for alcids led by Barbara Volke; Breeding Bird Surveys were conducted in Woburn, Ipswich River Sanctuary in Topsfield and in Moose Brook Valley, Hardwick. A weekend Campout at Wompatuck State Park had to be cancelled because of heavy rain, but three other trips there in the spring added some nice birds: Acadian Flycatcher, Cerulean and Worm-eating warblers and Louisiana Waterthrush. Glenn d’Entremont led the weekend jaunt out in the Berkshires birding Mount Greylock on Saturday and October Mountain on Sunday where the Club recorded its only Olive-sided Flycatcher in Massachusetts for the year.

This year, the Club scheduled five pelagic trips; the trip scheduled for waters off Chatham in November was cancelled because of weather and high seas. These Extreme Pelagics as they are called are 18 hour marathons to the Continental Shelf waters about 100 miles south of Muskeget Island. The first trip to Atlantis Canyon on July 18 started off with heavy rain and a pretty rough sea that did calm down by afternoon. The highlight of this trip was the Club’s first Black-capped Petrel as mentioned earlier, other highlights included a new state high count of 19 Audubon’s Shearwaters and 58 Leach’s Storm Petrels. The major lowlight was seeing a Right Whale entangled in fishing gear south of Nantucket Shoals. The twice postponed August Extreme Pelagic finally set off midweek with 40 participants on September 3. This trip was a smashing success-smashing the state records for White-faced Storm-Petrel, Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, Bridled Tern and Long-tailed Jaeger.

Summer trips are highlighted by evening trips to Plum Island searching for early migrating shorebirds and flocks of herons flying to roost as well as the annual Hawaiian Shirt Shorebird trip to South beach. Each summer Jane Lothian and Pam Perry have a Birds and Nature Journaling program at Mount Auburn Cemetery to practice field sketching. The fall migration starts off with a three day Cape Cod Blitz hitting the hot spots on the outer Cape from Chatham to Provincetown, a total of 101 species were seen including 8 Yellow-crowned Night Herons, the only ones reported all year on our trips. Tom Gagnon leads our members on the annual Hawk-watching trip to Mt Tom in Holyoke and Eddie Giles leads a moderate walk through the cornfields and mud of Cumberland Farms and other areas in the Middleboro area in search of all the sparrows.

At the end of the year the Club suspends scheduled trips so that our members can participate in the Christmas Bird Counts (CBC); there are 34 count circles in Massachusetts and this year stormy weather forced some counts to reschedule.

A special thank-you to the 66 leaders who guided our members throughout the year. There are several leaders deserving special mention. Ida Giriunas, led the most with 21 trips followed by Bill Drummond with 17 Jane Zanichkowsky with 15 trips, Bob Stymeist with 13, Glenn D’Entremont with 12, Jonathan Center led 11and Linda Ferreresso and Eddie Giles each led 10. Another ten dedicated leaders accounted for five or more trips each.

The Club visited Essex County most often, with a total of 81 scheduled trips seeing 231species-which is 79% of all the birds reported this year! Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge was a distant second with 28 trips, eight trips fewer than last year and recorded 107 species. There were also 47 scheduled trips in the Metropolitan Boston area, 22 trips were scheduled in the extended Sudbury River Valley, which included Great Meadows NWR, Oxbow NWR, the Assabet NWR, and one to Bolton Flats. Twenty-seven trips to the South Shore and to areas on Cape Cod including four trips to the hot birding spot at Wompatuck State Park in Hingham. and nine trips to areas in Western Mass.

Out-of-state trips included a weekend trip to the Machias area and to the Highland Plantation and Rangeley Lakes region in Maine. The combined total number of species on the Maine trips was 149 and included some boreal birds such as Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpecker, Gray Jay and Boreal Chickadee. These Maine trips also added Northern Fulmar, Northern Goshawk, Sandhill Crane, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Philadelphia Vireo, Red Crossbill and Evening Grosbeak to the total list of birds seen on Club trips for 2009. Ida Giriunas led her 28th annu- al Club trip to the Machias area which includes the famous Machias Seal Island and recorded over 4000 Atlantic Puffins! Ida and Eddie Giles have been leading these great trips for many years affording Club members the opportunity to see some northern forest and ocean birds that don’t nest in Massachusetts. There were two trips scheduled in New Hampshire; on May 30 Bill Drummond led 13 members in search of Bicknell’s Thrushwhich was successful with four individuals seen and on November 1 Steve and Jane Mirick led their annual early winter trip along the coast, 15 members got to see a Eurasian Wigeon and a Common Murre along with 67 other species.

The Massachusetts Audubon Society (MAS) Checklist (10/2000) now includes all the species that have been identified in the state as determined by the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee (MARC). The Club recorded the following species that are listed on the new list as rare or as accidental species.

Ross's Goose	Ipswich	March 21
Cackling Goose	Ipswich	November 8
Pacific Loon	Rockport	November 20
Black-capped Petrel	Atlantis Canyon Trip	July 18
Audubon's Shearwater	Atlantis Canyon Trip	July 18
White-faced Storm-Petrel	Hydrographer Canyon	September 4
Leach's Storm-Petrel	Atlantis Canyon Trip	July 18
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel	Hydrographer Canyon	September 4
Long-tailed Jaeger	Hydrographer Canyon	September 4
Ivory Gull	Eastern Point, Gloucester	January 19
Ivory Gull	Plymouth Harbor	January 25
Bridled Tern	Hydrographer Canyon	September 4
Bohemian Waxwing	Newburyport	January 17
Kentucky Warbler	Quabbin Reservoir	June 6
MacGillivray's Warbler	Boston Fenway	November 21
Yellow-headed Blackbird	Salisbury	January 19

The following species occur with some regularity in Massachusetts but were missed by the Club during 2009: Redhead, Tricolored Heron, Northern Goshawk (seen in Maine), American Golden Plover, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher, Black-legged Kittiwake, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (seen in Maine), Philadelphia Vireo (seen in Maine), Gray-cheeked Thrush and Seaside Sparrow. In addition some other species that also occur each year but in limited time frames was missed: Connecticut Warbler, Clay-colored and Lark sparrows. One very special bird that was not recorded was the Eared Grebe, the first time in SIXTEEN years!

The biggest trip list this year was Bill Drummond’s trip on May 17 from Rowley to Newburyport and including Plum Island which recorded 131 species.

Date	Location	# Species	Leader
January 1	Salisbury-Cape Ann	58	Laura de la Flor and Mark Burns
January 4 (tie)	Boston	58	Bob Stymeist
January 10 (tie)	Cape Ann	58	Linda Ferraresso
February 15	Scituate-Plymouth	70	Glenn d'Entremont
March 15	Cape Cod Waterfowl	69	Eddie Giles and Mary Keleher
April 26	Boston	90	Bob Stymeist
May 17	Rowley-Plum Island	131	Bill Drummond
June 21	October Mountain	75	Glenn d'Entremont
July 13	Plum Island	64	Tom Young
August 15	South Beach	51	Laura de la Flor and Mark Burns
September 12	Wellfleet	80	Bob Stymeist
October 4	Ipswich-Essex	57	Tom Young
November 8	Fairhaven	78	Bob Stymeist
December 13	Plum Island-Salisbury	40	Ida Giriunas

The Club recorded 79% of all the birds that were noted during 2009-pretty impressive! A total of at least 369 species, five more than last year were observed and reported by birders across the state during 2009. Other noteworthy species seen during the year but not on the BBC list were: Pink-footed Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, Tundra Swan, Common Shelduck, Tufted Duck, White Pelican, White-tailed Tropicbird, White-faced Ibis, Wood Stork, Swallow-tailed Kite, Golden Eagle, Eurasian Kestrel, Purple Gallinule, Black- necked Stilt, American Avocet, Curlew Sandpiper, Sabine’s Gull, Mew Gull, Slaty-backed Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Great and South Polar skuas, White-winged Dove, Chuck-will’s-widow, Allen’s Hummingbird, Black-backed Woodpecker, Say’s Phoebe, Scissor and Fork-tailed flycatchers, Brown-chested Martin, Varied Thrush, Northern Wheatear, Townsend’s and Prothonotary warblers, Summer and Western tanagers, Henslow’s, LeConte’s and Golden-crowned sparrows, and Common Chaffinch to name a few.

ANNUAL LISTS

There were so many great birds in 2009 it was difficult for any- one not to name multiple species but the clear choice gather- ing the most votes in the top three was the Ivory Gull or should we say Ivory Gulls. The last Ivory Gull that was seen in Massachusetts for a period of time was back in 1976.For many of us old-timers it was the first time we saw an ADULT Ivory Gull, the bird in Salisbury 33 years ago was an immature as was another immature that stayed awhile in Portland Maine.

The Brown-chested Martin, discovered in the Cumberland Farm fields on October 12 was another top vote getter. This was only the second state record and only the SIXTH record for all of North America. The fusca race of the Brown chested Martin is an austral migrant that breeds in South America and then migrates north during the austral winter. This bird went a little off course, similar to another austral migrant- the Fork-tailed Flycatcher and landed in Massachusetts and not northern Venezuela!

A two way tie in the sparrow department between the Henslow’s Sparrow of Montague and the LeConte’s Sparrow of Cumberland Farms with the LeConte’s having the edge because it was paired with another favorite at the same time and place- the Lark Bunting. The Chaffinch, only the third ever in Massachusetts was listed by many as their favorite and especially if it’s in your own yard! Another multiple vote getter was the very cooperative Chuck-wills-widow that sat motionless on branches just feet away in Nahant, for some this was the first visual for a bird that previously was only a voice in the dark. The MacGillivray’s Warbler was particularly sweet affording some of the best looks of this elusive and rare western warbler.

Some of the other species that made birders smile included: Tufted Duck, White-faced Storm-Petrel, Purple Gallinule, Atlantic Puffin, Black Vulture, American Avocet, Red-headed Woodpecker and Yellow-breasted Chat to name a few. Memorable days in the field can be quite special as mentioned by our members:

“Having seen all eight owls on the Massachusetts Checklist plus seeing a Northern Hawk Owl and a Great Gray Owl in New Hampshire”

“Watching Chimney Swifts gathering sticks for nest building while in a kayak” “An Avocet in full fig at Pikuls Pans”

“That perfect May fallout of passerines- in APRIL”

“First time seeing two Red-headed Woodpeckers in the same location”

“Salisbury’s egret roost as my outdoor, long-legged wader classroom”

“The chase for the Lark Bunting and LeConte’s Sparrow on a Saturday-we looking for birds to see, hunters looking for birds to shoot”

“Sharing an autumnal sunset counting waterfowl from the Tower at Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary”

“A Fox Sparrow at our ground feed, a Carolina Wren in the snow, memories just stretch on and on”

It always is interesting to see what the top listers miss, most often it is a regular migrant that has a limited time in passage like a Common Nighthawk or an Olive-sided Flycatcher or he or she fails to visit a well-known nesting site like a Roseate or Arctic Tern or an American Oystercatcher. The Brown-chested Martin was one that received a lot of votes. This bird was present for several days but was absent for long periods of time during the day. Some made several trips on all the days but still did not see it while others arrived and it was there.

For some it’s the same birds each year: Northern Goshawk, Ruffed Grouse, Ring-necked Pheasant, American Bittern, Lincoln’s Sparrow.

Shorebirds were mentioned frequently: Buff-breasted and Baird’s Sandpiper, Oystercatcher, Upland Sandpiper, Wilson’s Phalarope and Long-billed Dowitcher.

Warblers: Louisiana Waterthrush, Cape May, Hooded Warbler but not Golden-winged-most of the birding community now regards this as super rare and wonders if another will be seen regularly in the state again.

“Missing the Club’s very first Black-capped Petrel- I’d just broken my ankle after being thrown around on deck during the storm, I was in a lot of pain just trying to stand up let alone seeing the bird too”

“The Black-backed Woodpecker on Nantucket, having been there awhile I was confident I might see it, I spent four hours in vain searching in all its known locations. It was an expensive miss with ferries and taxis as well as time and distance”

Other disappointing or embarrassing misses included: Blue- winged Teal, Black Scoter, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Ruddy Turnstone, American Woodcock, Forster’s Tern, both Yellow and Black-billed cuckoos, Common Raven, Cliff Swallow, Red- breasted Nuthatch, Philadelphia Vireo and Fox Sparrow to mention a few.

Finally to quote Neil Hayward “This was my first full year prop- erly birding in the US. Most of the birds were new, and all the locations were exciting new places- and a great way to see a lot of Massachusetts. It was a very memorable year, especially for all the wonderful people I met and who helped me improve my birding skills.” Yes Neil it was another great year and you are right-we have a great birding community who share their knowledge and sightings of birds throughout the year.

THE ANNUAL LISTS

John Hoye, Wayland	323
Audrey McCarthy, Wayland	317
Oakes Spalding, Cambridge	312
Herman D’Entremont, Somerville	308
Glenn d’Entremont, Stoughton	303
Ida Giriunas, Reading	301
Linda Ferraresso, Watertown	300
Bob Stymeist, Arlington	292
Margo Goetschkes, Cambridge	287
Steve Grinley, Newburyport	286
Neil Hayward, Cambridge	284
Bev Chiasson, Newton	282
Fred Bouchard, Belmont	279
Chris Floyd, Lexington	275
Doug Chickering, Groveland	273
Jonathan Center, Chelmsford	264
Tom Wetmore, Newburyport	258*
Dug Chickering, Groveland	228*
Laura de la Flor, Salem	223
Jason Forbes, Waltham	201**

* Plum Island Only, Tom saw 91% of all birds seen on Plum Island in 2009 (283)

** Middlesex County only, Jason saw 82% of all birds reported in Middlesex County in 2009 (246)

 

Statistical Reports

The BBC has a yearly report summarizing the trips taken and the birds seen, along with individual birders's highlights and lists.
See the reports for:

• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009
• 2010
• 2011
• 2012
• 2013 (the Big Year)
• 2014

2008 Statistical and Year End Report

By Robert H. Stymeist, Statistician

During 2008, the Brookline Bird Club listed 306 species of birds on 190 reported trips, three species less than last year. A total of 249 trips were scheduled, 4 trips more than last year, but 41 trips less than the all time high number of 290 in 2000. There were 70 all-day, 152 mornings, 25 afternoons or evening, and two weekend trips. FIFTY-NINE trips were not reported, 20 were cancelled by weather and THIRTY-NINE went unreported. In Massachusetts the Club listed a total of 296 species, two less than last year on 186 reported trips. To put this in perspective, birders throughout the state recorded a

total of 364 species during the year, thus the BBC total of 296 is 81% of all the species seen in 2008!

Three new species were added to the overall Brookline Bird Club list of birds. The Club recorded SLATY-BACKED GULL from Gloucester. This bird, along with another sighting from Cape Cod, showed up in December of 2007 and remained in the area through at least February 24 and was seen on several Cape Ann trips beginning January 12. The Club added the BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD in September in East Dennis. This adult male arrived on August 24 and remained until December 13 and was a first state record. A pre Machias Maine weekend trip to Newmarket, New Hampshire added MISSISSIPPI KITE to the overall BBC Club list. Three birds, two of which SUCCESSFULLY bred, constituted the northern most breeding record for the species. Mississippi Kites also bred for the first time in Connecticut; hopefully they will start breeding in Massachusetts soon.

For the birder, the weather in 2008 was for the most part unremarkable, with no ocean storms or massive fallouts noted during migration. January and February were unseasonably warm, the temperature rose to a balmy 67 on January 7 and for the third winter in a row the temperature never reached zero or below in the Boston area. Rainfall was just a bit above average and snowfall for the winter season reached 24.3 inches in Boston, just four inches above normal. March began rather lamb-like but soon heavy rains caused floods in eastern Mass. and heavy snows in the north and western parts of the state. April brought samples of summer with the mercury hitting into the eighties causing the trees to leaf out, making it harder to see the first migrants. May, on the other hand, was on the cool side with a lot of east and northeast winds during the first half of the month, hampering migration for many of us in eastern Massachusetts. The last half of the month saw many more days with winds from a southwesterly direction, providing us with happier birding. The summer months were busy for many birders searching for breeding birds with the start of the Mass Audubon Breeding Bird Atlas. The temperature averaged out at nearly 72 in Boston for the summer months of June, July and August. The start of the fall migration began in earnest in August with the first shorebirds returning and helped by a good number of days in August with northwest winds. The fall season was a bit cool with a of lot rain especially with Hurricane Hanna in September which did not produce any major flight of storm related birds. The first freeze hit the Boston suburbs well into October, but the first hard freeze did not occur in Boston until November 18th. December was a bit on the mild side but was very wet and snowy. Many of the Christmas Bird Counts had to be rescheduled due to a major snowstorm. Boston recorded 7.10 inches of rain, 3.37 inches over normal and a near record 25.3 inches of snow, 18.4 inches more than normal for December.

The sixth Annual Winter Meeting was held at Bedford Middle School on February 29, 2008. This was the Club's FIRST Members Night. So many members of our Club travel all over the world as well as our own backyards and take excellent photographs. Peter and Fay Vale shared some of their best photos from a trip to South Africa in October 2007 and Paul Ippolito and Diana Fruguglietti took us on their adventure to Uganda, the pearl of Africa. Eddie Giles entertained the Club with his multi-media show on the annual BBC Rangeley Lake trip, which prompted a quick sign-up for the summer of 2009. Helen Bailey with a little help from her friends as well as strangers, gave an interesting presentation followed by Joe Paluzzi with a fun show on bird lists and Shawn Carey closed the evening with fabulous photos of the birds and other wildlife he has taken in Massachusetts. The Spring Meeting at the Harvard Museum of Natural History featured Alison O'Hare, who shared with us the results of a two-year study of the Purple Martins of Plum Island. The fall meeting at Harvard featured members Paul Ippolito and his wife Diana Fruguglietti on their trip to the Galapagos Islands. This famous group of islands that Charles Darwin explored is a photographer's utmost dream.

Laura de la Flor and Mark Burns opened up the start of 2008 by leading their twelfth annual New Year's Day birding trip. A small army of THIRTY-THREE members came out on a warm but wet day to begin a New Year of birding. The trip tallied 49 species from Newburyport to Gloucester and finished up at the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield. There were many highlights including the only Hoary Redpolls of the year. Laura and Mark also led us through the seasons with a Vernal Equinox walk on March 22, a Summer Solstice hike on June 21and an Autumnal Equinox walk on September 20th. Jane Zanichkowsky led a Leap Day Lark trip on February 29 where mergansers and goldeneyes were in heavy courtship mode.

The annual Grand Slam Owl Prowl had to be cancelled this year due to weather, but Eddie Giles carried out a Cape Cod Waterfowl Prowl with Mary Kelleher. The intent of this trip was to cover as many ponds on Cape Cod as possible in hopes of seeing the 29 species of ducks (geese and swans don't count). The leaders tallied 61 species and came up with 27 of the 29 duck species! The Club scheduled Woodcock walks in Stoughton, Reading, and the Blue Hills. The Club continued cosponsoring the TASL (Take A Second Look) surveys of the waterfowl of Boston Harbor and a Dawn Heron Census at Belle Isle Marsh in East Boston. Ongoing was a series of mid-week trips on Cape Ann in search for alcids led by Barbara Volkle; Breeding Bird Surveys were conducted in Woburn and in Moose Brook Valley, Hardwick.

Again this year there was a three day Cape Cod Blitz, starting on Friday, September 12 at the feeder in East Dennis to add the Club's first record of Broad-billed Hummingbird. The weather went downhill from there with gusty winds on South Beach and off and on rain, sometimes heavy. Despite the weather, the trip recorded 113 species, which included 4 Yellow-crowned Night Herons, and absolute killer looks at a Baird's Sandpiper just a few feet away.

This year, the Club scheduled five pelagic trips; the trip scheduled for waters off Chatham in November was cancelled because of weather and high seas. These Extreme Pelagics as they are called are 18-hour marathons to the Continental Shelf waters, about 100 miles south of Muskeget Island. The super rarities found on these trips included Audubon's Shearwater, Band-rumped Storm-Petrel, Long-tailed Jaeger and Bridled Tern. The mammal show wasn't too shabby, on the June 30th trip a staggering count of over 1100 Common or Saddleback Dolphins charged the boat to come and investigate us and to ride the bow waves and wake.

At the end of the year the Club suspends scheduled trips so that our members can participate in the Christmas Bird Counts (CBC). There are 34 count circles in Massachusetts and this year stormy weather forced some counts to reschedule.

A special thank-you to the 72 leaders who guided our members throughout the year, this was the second highest number of leaders ever - in 1988 there were 78 leaders. There are several leaders deserving special mention. Bill Drummond and Ida Giriunas, two of our long term members led the most with 19 trips each, followed by Soheil Zendeh with 15 trips, Bob Stymeist with 14, Jane Zanichkowsky and Glenn D'Entremont each with 13, Jonathan Center led 12 and Linda Ferraresso and Bob Petersen each led 10. Another twelve dedicated leaders accounted for five or more trips each.

The Club visited Essex County most often; with a total of 86 scheduled trips seeing 232 species on 74 reported trips. Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge was a distant second with 36 trips, which recorded 108 species. There were also 34 scheduled trips in the Metropolitan Boston area, 19 trips were scheduled in the extended Sudbury River Valley, which included Great Meadows NWR, Oxbow NWR, and the Assabet NWR, and one visit to Bolton Flats. Thirty-three trips to the South Shore and to areas on Cape Cod, including four trips to the hot birding spot at Wompatuck State Park in Hingham and seven trips to areas in Western Mass.

Out-of-state trips included a weekend trip to the Machias area and to Rangeley Lakes in Maine. The combined total number of species on the Maine trips was 137 and included some boreal birds such as Spruce Grouse, Black-backed Woodpecker, Gray Jay and Boreal Chickadee. Both Ida Giriunas and Eddie Giles have been leading these great trips for many years, affording Club members the opportunity to see some northern forest and ocean birds that don't nest in Massachusetts. There were three trips scheduled in New Hampshire plus one diversion to Newmarket for the Mississippi Kites. Highlights among the 94 species included Rufous Hummingbird, Gray Jay, and Boreal Chickadee, plus the only report of Ipswich Sparrow.

The Massachusetts Audubon Society (MAS) Checklist (10/2000) now includes all the species that have been identified in the state as determined by the Massachusetts Avian Records Committee (MARC). The Club recorded the following species that are listed on the new list as rare or as accidental species:

Eared Grebe	Gloucester	January 5
Scopoli's (Cory's) Shearwater	Atlantis Canyon trip	June 28
Audubon's Shearwater	Atlantis Canyon trip	June 28
Leach's Storm-Petrel	Atlantis Canyon trip	June 28
Band-rumped Storm-Petrel	Atlantis Canyon trip	July 19
MISSISSIPPI KITE	Newmarket, NH	June 13
King Rail	Plum Island	July 7
Long-tailed Jaeger	Atlantis Canyon trip	July 19
Thayer's Gull	Gloucester	February 17
SLATY-BACKED GULL	Gloucester	January 12
Bridled Tern	Atlantis Canyon trip	July 19
BROAD-BILLED HUMMINGBIRD	East Dennis	September 13
Rufous Hummingbird	Plaistow, NH	November 2
Townsend's Solitaire	Rockport	January 5
Bohemian Waxwing	Rockport	January 12
Summer Tanager	Mt. Auburn	May 16

The following species occur with some regularity in Massachusetts but were missed by the Club during 2008: Northern Bobwhite, Cattle Egret, Upland Sandpiper, Ruff, Long-billed Dowitcher, Little Gull, Black-headed Gull, Long-eared Owl, Olive-sided Flycatcher (seen in Maine), Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (seen in New Hampshire and Maine), Gray-cheeked Thrush, Golden-winged Warbler, Connecticut Warbler, and Pine Siskin (seen in Maine).

The biggest trip list this year was Bill Drummond's trip on May 10 from Rowley to Newburyport and including Plum Island which recorded just 89 species, this is the first year in decades that did not reach the century mark in a single day!

Date	Location	# Species	Leader
January 26	Somerset-Westport	59	Bob Stymeist
February 10	Scituate-Plymouth	67	Glenn d'Entremont
March 15	Cape Cod Waterfowl	61	Eddie Giles
April 27	Boston	85	Bob Stymeist
May 10	Rowley-Plum Island	89	Bill Drummond
June 22	October Mountain	85	Glenn d'Entremont
July 7	Plum Island	82	Tom Young
August 31	Newburyport-PI	65	Bill Drummond
September 13	Wellfleet	79	Bob Stymeist
October 5	Ipswich	70	Tom Young
November 1	Plum Island-Salisbury	75	Bill Drummond
December 6	Cape Ann	44	Bob Petersen

The Club recorded 81% of all the birds that were noted during 2008 - pretty impressive! A total of at least 364 species, thirteen less than last year were observed and reported by birders across the state during 2008. Other noteworthy species seen during the year but not on the BBC list were: Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Greater White-fronted Goose, Cackling Goose, Barnacle Goose, Tundra Swan, White Pelican, Black Vulture, Swallow-tailed Kite, Golden Eagle, Gyrfalcon, Yellow Rail, Purple Gallinule, Black-necked Stilt, Curlew Sandpiper, Franklin's Black-tailed, and Sabine's gulls, Calliope Hummingbird, Say's Phoebe, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Loggerhead Shrike, Sedge Wren, Mountain Bluebird, Varied Thrush, Audubon's and Prothonotary warblers, and Yellow-headed Blackbird to name a few.

There were a few spirited competitions during the year; the most ambitious one was on Plum Island. Tom Wetmore kept a daily tally of all the birds seen on the Island and generated a friendly contest (though those heavily involved were hesitant to bird any where else) and the total number of species seen on the Island was an amazing 292 which was taken from a total of 52,853 reports. Not to be outdone, a group from Boston formed the BIMBO's (Birding in metro Boston only) to challenge the Plums. It was a see-saw year with the Plums winning by just five species, the BIMBO's finished the year with 287 birds. Another competition initiated by the Brits and embraced by a cadre of Boston birders was a BIGBY; this is an acronym for birders doing a Big Green Big Year in which birders attempt to build a long list of species without once contributing to greenhouse gas emissions though public transportation was allowed.

ANNUAL LISTS

There was no question among those who sent in their lists, the Broad-billed Hummingbird that spent almost five months coming to a feeder in Dennis was the clear favorite. You have to also believe that the whole scene there in the backyard of Ron and Marge Murphy had a lot to do with it. The Murphy's opened up their yard to the birding community and totally changed their daily routine to accommodate their visitor. The Fork-tailed Flycatcher, which showed up in early April in a small pond in Brighton provided excellent photo opportunities and was listed as a favorite on many lists. Here in their own words are some other favorite memories of 2008.

"A Cape May Warbler feeding in the spruce tree illuminated by a warm October sun"

"Watching Cave Swallows heading to their roost in the north-east corner of the pavilion in Salisbury"

"Seeing a Sandhill Crane flying low over the Bill Forward Pool on Plum Island"

"King Rails at Plum Island, hearing the bellowing male, then seen preening, stretching its wings and making "kik" calls at 20 feet away"

"The Say's Phoebe popping up on a sprig of goldenrod in the dunes at dawn"

"Watching Chimney Swifts retiring to a chimney in West Newbury one evening"

"Visiting the active tern colony at the end of Plymouth Beach, seeing four species of terns on a gorgeous, cloudless summer day"

Other favorites included personal finds: a Gyrfalcon, a Bicknell's Thrush, baby Barred Owls, seeing 36 species of Wood warblers. Rounding out the list of favorites was: White-faced Ibis, Slaty-backed and Black-tailed gulls, Golden Eagle, Clapper Rail, Townsend's Solitaire, Bohemian Waxwings and Western Tanager.

The Gloucester Eared Grebe it seems, failed to return in the fall and was among the top vote getters for most missed bird, Doug Chickering wrote, " Since 1996 it has been my first "write-in" on my Massachusetts list; it seems the era of the Eared Grebe of Gloucester Harbor is over, for over a decade this unlikely visitor could be seen, usually next to a white mooring ball, I'll miss him"

Most aggravating multi-year miss: "Ruffed Grouse in spite of a serious effort"

Most disturbing new this year miss: ‘Stilt Sandpiper"

Actually Stilt Sandpiper was listed by many along with Western, Baird's, Buff-breasted and Upland sandpipers.

Repeated trips in search of a rare bird only to keep coming up empty frustrated some birders, the Black-tailed Gull at Race Point in Provincetown always seemed to be missing on the days they looked and the Tundra Swans in Longmeadow had always just flown away moments after arriving. Cave Swallow and Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow garnered votes especially after an extensive search.

Then there are the "should have got that" bird, one respondent listed FORTY species! Owls always seem to make the list and Barred Owls were mentioned most often and still, the Golden-winged Warbler makes the list from veteran birders who remember the days when they outnumbered the Blue-winged Warbler.

All in all it was a very good year, really hard to complain, and a great big thank-you to Massbird, the Internet and the great group of birders who share their knowledge and their love of birding throughout the year.

THE ANNUAL LISTS

John Hoye, Wayland	326
Audrey McCarthy, Wayland	323
Oakes Spalding, Cambridge	312
Herman D'Entremont, Somerville	311
Glenn d'Entremont, Stoughton	307
Chris Floyd, Lexington 303
Linda Ferraresso, Watertown	300
Ida Giriunas, Reading	293
Margo Goetschkes, Cambridge	293
Mollie Taylor, Danvers	291
Steve Grinley, Newburyport	289
Bev Chiasson, Newton	288
Doug Chickering, Groveland	273
Bob Stymeist, Arlington	272
George Gove, Southboro	272
Karsten Hartel, Arlington	269
Fred Bouchard, Belmont	266
Paul Gurn, Fall River	261
Eileen Synnott, Fall River	260
Tom Wetmore, Newburyport	260*
Steve Grinley, Newburyport	257*
Lois Cooper, Groveland	254
Jonathan Center, Chelmsford	252
Margo Goetschkes, Cambridge	241*
Doug Chickering, Groveland	231*
Sue McGrath, Newburyport	231*
Laura de laFlor, Salem	229
Davis Noble, Marblehead	189**

*Plum Island Only

** Marblehead only

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