GIVEN NO ENCUMBRANCES, somebody else’s expense account, and perhaps a private jet, I have summarized here the birding locations I would wrap into my perfect birding year. It’s not a Big Year but an itinerary tailored to engage the birding spectacles of the continent, starting with Newburyport, Massachusetts, on January 1. Yes, it’s cold, but species like Little Gull, Snowy Owl, Great Cormorant, Snow Bunting, Lapland Longspur, and white-winged gulls (i.e., Iceland and Glaucous) are cold-weather birds, and Newburyport is where you find them. The chowder is pretty darn fine, too. What kind of chowder? You jest!
Then, to thaw out later in the
