Dear Birders in Connecticut and nearby states,

The top bird-of-the-month (BOTM) for Connecticut for the just-completed
month of December was selected to be the NORTHERN LAPWING  (deja vu the
late 2010 lapwing incursion of 8-10 birds into North America), spotted and
identified at long distance by Tom Murray on December 16 at  Milford Point,
CT.

COA is running its new bird-of-the-month (BOTM) project for both December
2021 and January 2022 as an experiment, to evaluate it and decide if it
should be run every month going forward.  Please continue to post your rare,
uncommon and other noteworthy birds (found in Connecticut) on COA's CTBirds
listserv  ( send your posts to this email address:
ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org  -- please subscribe to it if needed), and of
course, post on eBird also, the most important bird database.

December's “runner-up” birds after the lapwing include:
-- Western Kingbird (one since November 9, at Hammo, found by Tony Woodall
and then posted by Bob MacDonnell),
-- Tundra Swan (two since December 8, at Windham, by Jeff Fengler),
-- Snowy Owl (about ten individual birds in CT during December),
-- Long-billed Dowitcher (one on December 13, at Bridgeport, by Frank
Mantlik),

plus  Red Knot,  Barrow's Goldeneye,  Northern Shrike,  Harlequin Duck,
Glaucous Gull,  Dickcissel,  Iceland Gull,  Lesser Black-backed Gull,
Cackling Goose,  Pink-footed Goose, etc.

You can find out more about this Northern Lapwing and the “runner-up” birds
by clicking on the following link, which will take you to a webpage with
more details….

Bird of the Month - December 2021 - Connecticut Ornithological Association
| COA https://www.ctbirding.org/2021-botm-december/
https://www.ctbirding.org/2021-botm-december/

Happy Healthy New Year to all, and
Good Birding,
Tom Robben
President
Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA)
https://www.ctbirding.org/

Dear Birders in Connecticut and nearby states,

The top bird-of-the-month (BOTM) for Connecticut for the just-completed
month of January was selected to be the THICK-BILLED MURRE, first spotted
and identified by Patrick Dugan on January 17 at  Cove Island Park, CT.  A
second of this species was spotted on January 31 at Stonington Point, CT,
and seen by many birders in the week since then.

COA is running its new bird-of-the-month (BOTM) project for December 2021
and for every month of 2022.  Please continue to post your rare, uncommon
and other noteworthy birds (found in Connecticut) on COA's CTBirds listserv
( to do that, send your posts to this email address:
ctbirds@lists.ctbirding.org  -- please subscribe to it if needed), AND of
course, post on eBird also, the most important bird database.

January's “runner-up” birds after the thick-billed murre include the
following (click on the link below to see more details) :
-- Varied Thrush.
-- Pink-footed Goose.
-- Western Tanager.
-- Western Kingbird.
-- Eared Grebe.
-- Northern Shrike.
-- Harlequin Ducks.
-- Snowy Owls.
-- Yellow-headed Blackbird.
-- Lark Sparrow.
-- Red-necked Grebe.

You can find out more about this Thick-billed Murre and the “runner-up”
birds by clicking on the following link, which will take you to the DRAFT
webpage with more details….

*** BOTM Bird Of The Month report for 2022 January - Google Docs
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15D-e4vpchXsQAAHEHgEthHibh7Iatw43tVGf9UYeB3Q/edit#

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15D-e4vpchXsQAAHEHgEthHibh7Iatw43tVGf9UYeB3Q/edit#

The final version of this BOTM material will reside in the COA website
later this month :    https://www.ctbirding.org/

CONNECTICUT STATE YEAR LIST:
AND, note that the STATE'S YEAR LIST for 2022, combining all the reports in
eBird for the month of January, totals up to 175 bird species already,
which is about half of the total number of species seen in CT last year,
and about 40% of the state's all-time 446 bird species list.  A great start
for 2022!

Good Birding in February,
Tom Robben
President
Connecticut Ornithological Association (COA)
https://www.ctbirding.org/