Photo by Chris Bosak
A junco perches on a branch after a snowfall in New England, January 2022.
If it weren’t for the American robin running away with the Bird of Winter title, the dark-eyed junco would be a serious contender.
The Bird of Winter is my very unofficial contest for the bird species seen in unusually high numbers during the winter. As I wrote a few weeks ago, the American robin is far and away the leader this winter, and I continue to see great numbers of robins nearly everywhere I go these days.
The dark-eyed junco, which has won the Bird of Winter title in years past, is making a strong case for honorable mention this year. I see them in my yard, at work, on my walks and all along the roadsides.
Photo by Chris Bosak
An American robin eats border privet berries in New England, January 2025.
I wrote a few weeks ago about robins being the frontrunner for the Bird of Winter. Click here to find out what that even means. The photo I ran with it showed a robin eating border privet berries. Separately, I also wrote recently about my fascination with photographing birds eating berries. Click here for that one.
Well, here are more photos of those robins eating berries.
Photo by Chris Bosak
An American robin eats border privet berries in New England, January 2025.Continue reading →
Photo by Chris Bosak – A Belted Kingfisher seen near the Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk on Sunday during the annual Christmas Bird Count.
What comes to mind when thinking of year-round birds in New England?
My guess is the first species that come to mind are songbirds such as black-capped chickadees, tufted titmice, or white-breasted nuthatches. The next birds that come to mind may be slightly larger, like woodpeckers, cardinals, blue jays, or mourning doves. Then it may eventually get to even larger birds such as red-tailed hawks, barred or great horned owls, mallards or turkey vultures.
Some people’s thoughts may veer off to less obvious year-round species such as eastern bluebirds and American robins, which many people may not realize are found in New England during the winter.
My bet would be that belted kingfisher would not immediately come to mind. It certainly would not have for me. I thought about that when I saw one the other day in a rather surprising place, and it reminded me that they are, indeed, year-round birds in New England.
I was walking to the cafeteria at work when I heard a familiar rattling call off to my right. Along the walkway, two consecutive small bridges span streams, one of which is small and often nothing more than a dried-up bed, and the other is a bit larger and flows meekly in dry times and mightily after heavy rains.
Photo by Chris Bosak
An American robin eats border privet berries in New England, January 2025.
The American robin has secured a spot as the frontrunner for the Bird of the Winter.
I usually announce my Bird of the Winter much later than the second week of January, but I could tell already that the robin is likely to be the winner. The Bird of the Winter recognition, of course, is a very unofficial designation made by yours truly. It goes to the bird, as the name suggests, that is seen in surprisingly high numbers throughout the winter.
Past winters have included snowy owl, barred owl, dark-eyed junco, and eastern bluebird. This year the robin is running away with it.
It started on Christmas Day when I looked out of a window into the side yard and noticed a lot of activity in an eastern cedar tree. The activity, as you probably have guessed, was robins going in and out of the branches, gobbling up the berries in the tree. The robins came and went for hours upon end, and, all told, there had to be over 100 of them.
Photo by Chris Bosak – A gray catbird sits among snowy branches during the winter of 2024.
Welcome to 2025, everyone. Without introductory fanfare, here are my top birding highlights from the past year.
10. I see more and more bald eagles every year. I’m not the only one, of course, as bald eagles are doing well as a species, thankfully. I visited family in Erie, Pennsylvania, over the holiday break and saw five bald eagles at Presque Isle during a single visit. I saw a few more on the drive home along I-86 in New York.
9. Hawks, particularly red-tailed hawks and red-shouldered hawks, are even more common than bald eagles, of course. On a few occasions this year, I came across cooperative hawks and got some good close-up photos. In a later column, I’ll show the differences between zoom focal lengths when photographing birds.
8. Overall, it was a slow year for ducks, which is disappointing considering ducks are my favorite type of bird to watch. My best “duck day” came during the Christmas Bird Count when I got close-up views of long-tailed ducks and American wigeons. I need to do better on my ducks in 2025.
7. A pair of catbirds and four purple finches were regular sightings at my local park throughout January and February. Catbirds do not typically overwinter in New England, but these birds had a reliable food source that kept them here. It was strange to see catbirds with snow covering all the surrounding branches. Purple finches are not uncommon winter sightings, but it was fun to see them daily, nonetheless.
Photo by Chris Bosak – An eastern bluebird gets a drink from a birdbath in New England, January 2025.
I had a nice bird walk this weekend and found 24 species in the bitter cold. When I got home, I was treated to a surprise eastern bluebird sighting in the yard. Below, a winter wren was one of the highlights of the walk.
Photo by Chris Bosak – Winter wren in New England, January 2025.
Photo by Chris Bosak – A merlin spotted in southern Connecticut during the Christmas Bird Count, Dec. 2024.
The Christmas Bird Count is typically one of my birding highlights of the year. This year was no exception.
The Christmas Bird Count is a bird census conducted by volunteers each winter to track bird populations and trends. Keene was one of the original 25 locations in 1900. Now there are well more than 2,000 counts held throughout the United States and beyond.
I did my usual area along a coastal region of southwestern Connecticut. It is a good area to cover as there is a nice variety of habitats, including Long Island Sound, marshes, freshwater ponds, wooded areas and even some patches of open field.
We started, as usual, at a park that has a river on one side and a marina on the other. Long Island Sound is a mile or so to the south, so the river and marina often get winter ducks normally associated with larger bodies of water.
Photo by Chris Bosak
A cardinal and chickadeee share a platform feeder following a snowfall in Danbury, CT, March 2019.
When birdwatching has been an integral part of your life for so long, almost everything has an association with birds. Christmas is no exception.
For this holiday season, I’m going to examine some of my favorite Christmas birding associations and memories.
This one is a little morbid, but it clearly sticks out in my mind. When the boys were little, about 7 and 4, we sat on the floor by the tree Christmas morning passing out their gifts one by one. I glanced out the sliding glass door onto the deck only to see a Cooper’s hawk devouring a mourning dove about six feet away.
Birds of New England.com 