My birding efforts for 2026 officially began up on the roof of my Astoria apartment during a predawn snow squall on New Year’s Day, straining against the limited visibility to pick out my first bird of the year. As the storm passed and the skies started to brighten, I spied a procession of American Herring Gulls making their way south over the East River. I have always been a little superstitious about the auspices of the first entrant on each new year list, and this tenacious, adaptable, social species seemed to set an appropriate tone for the months to come. The intervening weeks have unsurprisingly proven to be exceptionally busy, but they have also provided a number of opportunities to explore the natural world in between my other responsibilities, often in the company of family and friends.
I only picked up a handful of additional species from my home on January 1st, but the list definitely favored quality over quantity with highlights such as Common Raven, Peregrine Falcon, and Red-tailed Hawk. With my return from parental leave slated for the 8th, I was determined to make the most of my remaining time off from work. Accordingly, most of the first week of 2026 saw me spending quality time with my wife and son, but I did manage to arrange a few outings to search for wildlife around Long Island. On the 2nd, while my parents babysat Brennan, Jacqi and I partook in a pleasant stroll along the shore at Jones Beach, where we encountered rafts of Harlequin Ducks, Razorbills, Common Loons, and all three scoter species. A solo venture on the 3rd allowed me to connect with continuing local rarities like Bullock’s Oriole in East Islip and Tundra Bean-Goose in Locust Valley, as well as a few local goodies like Boat-tailed Grackle, Northern Gannet, and Black-crowned Night Heron.
The 4th offered a brief respite from this winter’s prolonged bitter cold, so Dad and I took Brennan for a quick jaunt around the lake at Hendrickson Park. Though the youngest Healy boy slept soundly through the entire outing, we managed to pick up a few year list additions, such as Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, and Green-winged Teal. The last major expedition of my paternity leave period was a solo venture out on the Island on the 5th. I was especially delighted to enjoy a peaceful encounter with a handsome Snowy Owl on the beachfront at daybreak. Additional prizes included Belted Kingfisher and Canvasback, leaving me just a handful of species from closing out the January 100 less than a week into the new year!
After such a strong start to my year listing efforts, my progress predictably ground to a halt once I resumed my usual scheduled work in the classroom on January 8th. At least my students seemed reasonably happy to have me back in the building! Although spending such long periods of time away from my family required a bit of an adjustment, I gradually found myself settling back into the groove of my established routine. My next opportunity for a proper birding foray came on the 11th, with a lovely family expedition to Jamaica Bay. Jacqi was thrilled to finally add American Barn Owl and Snow Goose to her life list, while Brennan once again spent the entire walk snoozing contentedly. A solo trip to Jones Beach on January 19th finally delivered my 100th species for 2026 with a sighting of a pair of Savannah Sparrows. I also noted my first Snow Buntings of the year and enjoyed an extended photo shoot with a cooperative flock of Horned Larks and their Lapland Longspur companion. Horned Lark was recently revealed as the American Birding Association’s 2026 Bird of the Year, so the chance to savor a close encounter with these charming songbirds felt especially apropos.
My first visit to Randall’s Island this year coincided with the onset a particularly brutal cold snap. With the prolonged freezing conditions this season, there were a number of reports of ducks and geese making interesting moves throughout the region after fleeing from their usual freshwater haunts, providing my friends and I with a reasonable degree of hope that braving the cold could prove fruitful. Adam and I documented more than a dozen different species of waterfowl during our search efforts at our patch, highlighted by a handsome drake Northern Pintail and a pair of American Wigeon. Additional notable sightings from this preliminary survey including a lively flock of Tufted Titmice and a trio over Field Sparrows.
The month of January closed out with the most highly anticipated event of the season, the Northport Winter Bird Count. Inspired by the longstanding tradition of the nationwide Christmas Bird Counts, my friends Taylor and Brent have hosted this late winter stock take for the better part of a decade now. I am always happy for an excuse to get out and do some proper, exploratory birding at this time of year, and my assigned territory for this Count features a diverse array of perennially productive habitats. This year I was joined by Max and both of the Ryans, who drove out from NYC to meet me just after sunrise. With deep snow carpeting the ground and most bodies of freshwater fully iced over, it quickly became apparent that avian activity throughout the Count circle was highly concentrated wherever accessible food sources and patches of open water could be found. In such areas, however, the birds were surprisingly lively and conspicuous! The final cumulative total, tallied during an uproariously entertaining compilation dinner with our friends, reached 94 species, and my team’s efforts resulted in a handful of saves: Winter Wren, Brown Thrasher, Wood Duck, Red-shouldered Hawk, and Redhead. I am always grateful for the opportunity to share good birds with good people, and the Northport Birding Club can always be counted on to deliver on that front!
February somehow wound up being even busier than January, but I still managed to pick up a number of high-quality species for my year list during my weeklong winter break. A full Randall’s Island circuit with Dmitriy, Adam, Efua, and Ryan allowed me to connect with Great Cormorant and Common Merganser, and we also stumbled upon a marvelously accommodating flock of Cedar Waxwings feasting on juniper berries along the shores of the Harlem River. It was nice to have so many of my friends all together at our beloved patch for a change, especially since I know that a planned move will be taking me further away from this corner of the City in the months to come. I intend to savor as much Randall’s time as I possibly can while I still live so close to this remarkable little hotspot!
My long overdue first sightings of Black and Turkey Vultures for 2026 were documented during a trip up to Connecticut to visit Jacqi’s family. I closed out the week with some targeted county birding to close out a few conspicuous holes in my localized lists, finally tracking down a Red-necked Grebe for Nassau and a Wilson’s Snipe for Queens. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the wintering flock of Rusty Blackbirds at Oakland Lake had swelled to an impressive total of 60 plus birds, the largest uniform group of this precipitously declining species that I have ever encountered. I also took the opportunity to check in on a local Great Horned Owl nest, wishing the incubating female good luck with the oncoming blizzard bearing down on the region. The heavy snowfall wound up extending my vacation by an extra day, though unsurprisingly the number of birds observed through my apartment window during the storm was quite low.
Kicking off the month of March with a bang, news of a spectacular Trumpeter Swan discovered hanging out along the Williamsburg waterfront with a resident Mute Swan offered an irresistible excuse to make a jaunt down to Brooklyn with my family. This massive, majestic waterfowl is an incredibly rare sight in downstate New York, with this observation representing perhaps the first chaseable record for the entire City! I am always thrilled to cross paths with one of these amazing conservation icons, and I suspected that this individual’s shockingly accommodating behavior would present a fantastic occasion to line up Brennan’s first-ever encounter with a bird in the wild. Given the notably harsh weather conditions this winter and the inherent limits of a newborn’s visual capabilities, my son had not gotten the chance to lay eyes on any wildlife during the first three months of his life. His rapidly developing curiosity about his surroundings and fondness for high-contrast colors, however, meant that this enormous, cooperative, all-white animal would make for a suitably attainable objective to focus on. Sure enough, when I gently lifted him up to peer over the railing, he instantly locked onto the strikingly conspicuous creature floating just a few feet from our vantage point on the pier. What a magnificent introduction to the natural world! While I cannot say for certain whether my son will ever count this sighting on any lists he may someday keep, I am confident that my own memory of this shared experience will last a lifetime.
The initial months of 2026 have already been a roller coaster of surprises, some better and some worse. With the first tentative hints of spring gradually starting to appear around the region, I am eager to see what the coming weeks have in store. I can only hope that the end of the winter season will usher in some fresh new positive experiences for me and my family, and for all of my devoted readers, for that matter!