By Peter Alden
A whopping 86 species of birds were spotted in Concord during the Winter Bird Count.
The fairly warm and rainy early winter allowed many waterfowl to linger, as well as some birds that should winter further south. We usually find 60 to 75 species on our end of the year count.
Our 83 birders found two rarities on December 31, 2023.
Priscilla Cark photographed a Bullock’s oriole at her bird feeder on Jennie Duggan Road (north of White Pond).
And Peter Alden’s West Concord party discovered a clay-colored sparrow amongst juncos and chipping sparrows at Marshall Farm on Harrington Avenue. The tiny buff-colored sparrow of the upper Midwest is starting to nest in New England.
These two rarities were the first noted in over 60 years of the Concord count.
