Wednesday 10/24: Ruddy Duck count down to about 10 at Hardy Pond. Wandered the wooded middle of Prospect Hill at lunch and saw just above nothing.
Thursday 10/25: Ran to Cambridge Res after seeing scoter reports everywhere. Found nothing of note. Took a quick trip to the north end too, but ended up talking to the watershed protection guys instead of really birding.
Friday 10/26: Purgatory Cove: 28 Wood Duck, 9 American Wigeon, 2 Pintail, 1 GW Teal, 4 Coot between the cove and river. Walking back along the river, a Great Egret flew by! My latest in the county by 4 days. Checked the boat ramp and a quick look at Prospect St for it as I drove to Stanley. Heading back to the office, I pulled in at Mt. Feake for another quick scan. No egret, but a Great Cormorant was a good surprise. Lovely phone to bins photo from the running car below.
Saturday 10/27: Started in the fog at Great Meadows. Not a whole lot there (that I could see). White-crownd was about the best. Once it cleared I headed to the School St. fields, which were loaded with geese. Over 650 of them were Canada, and the one that wasn’t was still part Canada. The other part appeared to be a Greater White-fronted (11/5: more likely domestic Greylag). Also in the flock was a Canada that was very dilute, a pale brown all over. Further checks of different fields, Flint’s Pond, and the Cambridge Res had nothing. Got home, scanned through recent emails and saw that this was the exact goose flock Willy Hutcheson reported Wednesday (about the same count and the same 2 oddballs).
Went back to Mt. Feake with my parents in the afternoon, hoping the cormorant was still there. I probably wasn’t thorough enough yesterday as there were 2 Greats there today (you’ll probably want to click through to the larger image below). Purgatory Cove was about the same (fewer Wood Ducks and Wigeon but a Ring-necked on the cove and 3 Pied-billed Grebe on the river).
Sunday 10/28: Cambridge Res: 7 Greater Scaup. Fernald: 75 Canada Geese. Rock Meadow: patch tick Red-shouldered Hawk. BBN: 3 Hermit Thrush, Sharp-shinned Hawk. West Meadow: Catbird.
Monday 10/29: Stayed in for the storm. Bufflehead and Ruddy swam into the visible corner of Hardy Pond.
Tuesday 10/30: Ran to Cambridge Res early. Five White-winged and two Black Scoters and a Horned Grebe. Trapelo end was blocked off so couldn’t check out the Ring-necks. Hardy Pond later was pretty dull, Ruddy, a Pied-billed Grebe, and a couple Hoodies.