Looks Like it's 2021.

 Our January thus far...

We went out on the First to do some birding. We walked around a pond, then to the local feeders in the Arboretum. We started off the year with 12 birds. Not a bad start. There were no fancy-dancy species seen but we always enjoy starting with a fresh slate. Common as hell and technically invasive (but I still love 'em), here is a good shot I got of a House Sparrow (#3).

Mostly everything else we photographed was at the feeders. We saw this Red-tail zoom into the trees, so we ran over in that direction. Another human couple was under the tree, trying to get a cell-phone shot. This is how the hawk (#12) looked upon them... with disgust.

On the way to the grocery store after our birding, I just had to pull over to a slow dribbling stream and try for our first "herp" of the year. I took my net and netted a Two-lined Salamander larvae. He actually slid through the mesh, so wee was he.

First of Year! Then I went for some adults and finally got a pair in the net.

My search attracted a few people and I got to teach some kids about salamanders and larvae and stuff. I didn't hate on them. Just tried to teach them to be interested and respectful.

Two days later, we took a drive to Castle Island to see what birds we could add from Boston Harbor. Hot damn, we added 16 more species! Lots of gulls and ducks. Some of my better shots include...

A Red-breasted Merganser. (#16)

Not a great shot, but a cool Surf Scoter. (#17)

A stack of Dunlins (#20).

A group of our beloved Brants (#22).

A 3rd winter Herring Gull having a snack. (#23)

Hey- where'd that Merganser go?

Obviously, we were pretty happy to be off to a 28 bird count so early in the year!

The next weekend, we spent our Sunday up North. We took our Christmas tree to a farm in Georgetown for their goats to eat. From there, we went to Plum Island, a place where the birding can be pretty good. We didn't have the expected luck, but we did add our target species... a Snowy Owl (#30)

Everything else would be gravy. This is our first non-Cape Snowy and our first overall in two years.

While we didn't get the huge count we'd been hoping for, we did see quite a lot of beauty.

Here's a Black Scoter, another species we didn't see last year. In fact, our last sighting was in 2016 in New Jersey!

Driving out (we were hungry and wanted lunch!), Andrea saw a large bird in a tree. I pulled over and ran back (on the other side of the road) and photographed this huge Cooper's Hawk (#32). I doubt I'll get a better, sharper picture than this one this year.

So, that's where we're at so far this year. It has been pretty cold and blustery thus far so, despite a few attempts, we still haven't seen any of our Garter pals peeking outside of the safety of their dens. The streak is in danger!! Oh no! Ah, it really doesn't matter.

The situation in the world is no better than last year, worse in some ways, and we do not have plans to get on a plane this year again, so... whatever comes will come. Hopefully, we'll see a lot of beautiful and amazing animals right here in Massachusetts. Last year wasn't so horrible in that respect.