For the Birds: Birding New Year’s resolutions

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Photo by Chris Bosak A black duck hides in the grasses near a pond in northern New Hampshire, July 2020.

I dreaded looking it up, but as it turns out, there was nothing to dread.

Let me explain.

There are a handful of regular birding columns that I write every year about this time. One is on Christmas gifts for the birdwatcher, one is about the Christmas Bird Count, one is on my birding highlights of the year, and one is on my New Year’s resolutions for the coming year.

It is the resolution column that I dread looking back on. There are sure to be many failures, and I just hope there are a few successes to go along with it.

I was surprised when I looked up last year’s resolution column. As it turns out, I didn’t write one last year after all. Maybe there was too much going on, maybe I figured I wouldn’t stick to the resolutions anyway, or maybe COVID’s first Christmas had me so down I just couldn’t bring myself to write a forward-thinking, optimistic column.

Well, COVID is still with us and wreaking havoc on another holiday season, but I am not going to let it win this year. So here’s my latest birding New Year’s resolution column.

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Post-Christmas bonus cards

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Here are a few more winter bird photos to stave off that post-Christmas letdown …

Gray jay on snowy bough in Pittsburg, N.H., Nov. 2018.

Christmas card 7 from Birds of New England

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Great Gray Owl perches in a pine tree and battles windy, snowy conditions in Newport, N.H., in March 2017.
Photo by Chris Bosak A Great Gray Owl perches in a pine tree and battles windy, snowy conditions in Newport, N.H., in March 2017.

Christmas card 6 from Birds of New England

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Photo by Chris Bosak A white-breasted nuthatch looks to grab a seed from a coffee mug with a white-breasted nuthatch painted on it, New England, fall 2020.

Have an island nature preserve named after you

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Hoyt Island

Here’s a release from my friends at the Norwalk Land Trust:

The Norwalk Land Trust is looking for a donor to contribute $60,000 towards the final cost of remediating Hoyt Island in return for naming a new bird sanctuary on the entire the three-acre tract on Long Island Sound after himself/herself or a family member or loved one.

    D. Seeley Hubbard, president of the NLT, said a tax-deductible donation is  “a wonderful opportunity for an environmentalist to establish in the spirit of the season an enduring legacy with the movement to conserve the ecological vitality of Long Island Sound.” 

    Additional information is available from NLT director Midge Kennedy at (203) 838-9985.     The island is a natural habitat for 149 species of birds–some of whom are rare or endangered–and other wildlife and native plants. Once the preserve is complete, the island will be closed to humans other than two people designated by the donor.

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Christmas card 4 from Birds of New England

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Photo by Chris Bosak Ablack-capped chickadee grabs a sunflower seed from a Christmas decoration during the winter of 2016-17 in Danbury, Conn.
Photo by Chris Bosak Ablack-capped chickadee grabs a sunflower seed from a Christmas decoration during the winter of 2016-17 in Danbury, Conn.

Christmas card 3 from Birds of New England

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Photo by Chris Bosak A song sparrow takes shelter in an old Christmas tree during a snowfall in Danbury, Connecticut, February 2019.

Bonus For the Birds: Christmas gifts for the birder

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Photo by Chris Bosak A bird house covered in snow, Danbury, CT, December 2019.

Here’s a Christmas column I wrote 6 years ago (Andrew is now 18). I stumbled across it on the internet and figured I’d rerun it. Why not? I thought the introductory story was pretty funny and I remember the day well. Some of the gift ideas may be out of date as this is an unedited version of the original column.

…

My son Andrew, now 12, needed a new pair of pants for school. And he needed them for the next day. Unfortunately it was a Sunday afternoon during the holiday shopping season.

Oh boy. Let’s get this over with, I said to myself. I avoid shopping malls and plazas at all costs all year round, let alone during a weekend a few weeks before Christmas.

It was even worse than I imagined. Parking was not an issue. There were plenty of spots far from the entrance and I don’t mind walking a few extra steps to avoid fighting over the closer spots.

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