New Year (but not of listing)

On Tuesday, Rosana and I headed to Jamaica Plain to see Dan, Meg, and Erin's new condo. It was quite nice, as was the veg chili. We had a chance to mess through Dan's record collection, as well as scare a guest away with non-soul music. In the morning, Rosana and I pondered Plum Island, but the temperature was insane. We got breafast at City Feed, and on the walk back to the car, Sam called us in to his WhiteHaus. It was a neat place to check out. We then went to some urban coastal look-outs instead of Plum at Newburyport. Castle Island in South Boston gave us looks at tens of BRANT, many COMMON EIDER, as well as some BUFFLEHEAD, AMERICAN GOLDENEYE, and RING-BILLED GULL. We then checked out Squaw Rock in Quincy and saw much the same. The temperature was devastating here, with wind-chills definitely going below zero.


Wednesday night, Rosana and I headed back to Worcester after some Indian food with Steve, Meg, Joe, and Bonnie. We slept late in preparation for a raucous New Year's Eve. In order to beat the snow, we left Worcester at about 2pm. We had a lot of fun at the Steve/Meg abode in Allston and/or Brighton, as well as at the Sillhouette.

The next morning, after crashing on the couch. Kearney, Steve, Meg, Ryan, Rosana, and I cleaned the house. We then attempted to get breakfast for several hours, with incredibly bad luck. We settled for D+D at almost 2pm. It hit spots, but not all of them. On the drive back to Worcester that afternoon, Rosana and I stopped at the Hanscom Air Field. There were good numbers of SONG SPARROW along the fenceline, as well as lifer AMERICAN TREE SPARROW. I was so preoccupied by these birds, that I failed to fully notice the British passerbys that suggested that our binocs, camera, and demeanor near a naval air base suggested that of terrorists. On the drive by them after birding, it was clear that they were phoning authorities about our presence. I have yet to hear from said authoritites.


On Saturday, Rosana and I were pretty lazy. We did get some packing done, and went for a walk at the Cider Mill up the street. It was still snowing steadily, and it was not very birdy. We did see a good number of AMERICAN CROW fly by, heard a NORTHERN CARDINAL, and at the end of the walk, saw a WINTER WREN. This was my first eastern WINTER WREN, so if the AOU changes its species designation this year, this will be a lifer

Saturday night we went out to see Fantastic Mr. Fox, and had some Thai food. Sunday morning we sadly got our things together to drive Rosana to the Providence airport in the afternoon.