Not exactly what I was expecting this morning when I pulled in at Hardy Pond for a quick scan.
Actually saw one (of the two) diving while still driving in. That set off alarm bells but I expected Black Terns so they really started ringing when I took a look and saw how white they were. Mad scramble for the scope and they were obviously Leasts. A bit headless chicken at that point (call someone? send email? take pictures?) but I eventually got the video.
I suspect they cleared out almost immediately (all the swifts in the area started getting higher and higher and the terns weren’t immediately visible on a last scan before heading to work, not to mention no one else seeing them).
Believe it’s the third record for the county and it’s #200 for Waltham! I did see the Great Meadows birds in 2003 (almost to the day). Given the dates, I will speculate that they’re potentially from the interior populations doing a bit of post/failed-breeding wandering or otherwise early migration (which would mean they’re probably more regular but hard to stumble across*).
*The only reason I stopped today was that my parents were running errands so my father and I didn’t take our usual pre-work walk down to the end of the street. Any other day and I would have not been there.