A Barnacle Goose spent the first months of the year wandering the northern and western suburbs of Greater Boston. It first appeared in Newton at Bulloughs Pond and flew among several nearby locations, ending up at Longfellow Pond, Wellesley, on February 4. It next appeared on February 6 in Revere, February 12–19 around Woburn, March 5–9 in Concord, and March 11–14 in Acton. Photograph by Henrietta Yelle.
A Common Gull, formerly lumped with Short-billed Gull as Mew Gull—showed up in January at Kings Beach on the North Shore. It is thought to be the same banded gull that appeared in the vicinity in 2017 and several winters thereafter. That gull had been banded in 2013. If the 2023 bird is, indeed, the same individual, this gull is now 10 years old. Photograph by Suzanne Sullivan.
A Varied Thrush in the Fannie Stebbins Wildlife Refuge in Longmeadow played hide-and-seek with birders in February. Michele and Christopher Moore first crossed paths with it on February 5. The next sighting was on February 12, and the third sighting was on February 18. It was more cooperative for the rest of February through March 6, then it dodged seekers until March 12. Photograph by Matthew Eckerson.
A trio of birders photographed a Western Grebe off of Winthrop Beach on January 28. A Western Grebe that had been found at Mashpee Wakeby Pond during that area’s Christmas Bird Count—and lingered for much of January—disappeared from there around the same time.Winthrop Beach had a western theme going in January and February, with the grebe joining an Audubon’s Warbler that spent over a month there. Photograph by Shilo McDonald.
On January 15, Josh Bock came across Norfolk County’s first Tufted Duck on Lake Pearl in Wrentham. The bird remained on the lake into early March. It was one of three in the state this winter. One was found in Harwich on New Year’s Day and stayed for most of January. A male in Nantucket has appeared there for several winters in a row. Photograph by Erik Nielsen.
A Tundra Swan visited Great Meadows NWR at the end of January. Likely the same individual later appeared in Wayland at Heard Farm. Photograph by Cristine Van Dyke.