Author: jason

Tuesday 10/6: Met State before work, one good flock but nothing too interesting. Two sharpies weren’t bad. Paine at lunch, quiet.

Wednesday 10/7: Didn’t do anything

Thursday 10/8: UMass Field Station at lunch, 2 Cooper’s Hawks kept everything else down.

Friday 10/9: Hardy Pond at lunch: 3 Shovelers, 1 Ruddy.

Saturday 10/10: Besides the Lark Sparrow, Danehy highlights included an adult White-crowned Sparrow and an Orange-crowned Warbler. Arlington Res in the afternoon, lots of wigeon, a Pied-billed Grebe, and 1 Green-winged Teal. Nothing beyond Yellow-rumps in the trees.

Sunday 10/11: Started by joining the Menotomy walk to Rock Meadow. Fairly late Eastern Wood-Pewee was the main highlight, lots of the regular stuff but nothing overly exciting. Quick run around the Lindentree Farm fields in Lincoln after. Pileated called a couple times and not much else. On to the Wayland community gardens. Ran into the BBC trip, who informed me that there had been a Nelson’s Sparrow up above early in the morning. No luck with that, but a Merlin buzzed over. Ended up with a decent number of butterflies (for this year at least) including a Painted and two American Ladies, a Monarch, and an Eastern Tailed-Blue but no Bronze Copper. Around the neighborhood late in the afternoon, there were a boatload of yellow-rumps.

Monday 10/12: Beaver Brook North report tomorrow. Great Meadows in the afternoon, very quiet outside a harrier, 2 Pied-billed Grebes, and 7 pintail. No Brown-chested Martins.

Monday 9/28: Stayed home, Red-tail over the yard and Turkey Vulture down there street. Jays were excited by something at the corner but couldn’t find anything.

Tuesday 9/29: UMass field station and gardens at lunch. Palm Warbler, House Wren, Black Swallowtail.

Wednesday 9/30: Purgatory Cove: 40 Wood Ducks, 4 Rough-winged Swallows.

Thursday 10/1: Prospect Hill in the morning: Cape May Warbler (new for Waltham) and quite a bit else that I didn’t have time to cover carefully. Checked out the Met State boardwalk at lunch, 3 turkeys and my first Marsh Wren for Lexington.

Friday 10/2: Hardy Pond, same as last week pretty much. Beaver Brook ponds at lunch, good flock of things that I didn’t have time to go through but Red-eyed Vireo and BT Green Warbler among them.

Saturday 10/3: Rainy.

Sunday 10/4: Rock Meadow: Kestrel, few warblers, Lincoln’s Sparrow or two, 5 phoebes. Nine Acre Corner (or nearby): Black-tipped Darner, lots of geese. Waltham St. Fields: not much.

Monday 10/5: Prospect Hill at lunch: Swainson’s Thrush, Savannah Sparrow (#98 and #99 for the park). Great Meadows after work, finally got the Glossy Ibis and then huge (450+) numbers of Wood Duck and 4(!) American Bitterns as it got dark.

Monday 9/21: Lyman Pond at lunch, lots of Wood Ducks, a kingfisher, etc.

Tuesday 9/22: Paine, not a whole lot.

Wednesday 9/23: Hardy Pond on the way to work: 4 wigeon, Green Heron, several Blackpolls. Prospect Hill at lunch, 1 interesting warbler (90% sure it was a Mourning) but not much else other than my first Question Mark in Waltham this year.

Thursday 9/24: Back to Prospect Hill to see if the warbler was hanging around. No luck with that, but Wilson’s, Nashville, several Blackpolls, and a Black-throated Green. Jays also picked up a Sharp-shin going overhead (which didn’t seem to actually be looking down at all).

Friday 9/25: Met State before work. Lot of activity near at the cemetery, including a Tennessee Warbler and first of fall Yellow-rump and Golden-crowned Kinglet.

Saturday 9/26: Started at Dunback. Fairly quiet (first Lincoln’s Sparrow of the fall, Blue-headed Vireo, few Blackpolls) but wandered around with a few people. Led Waltham Land Trust walk to Beaver Brook North (Met State) but didn’t really look at birds. Afternoon walk around Arlington Res had a few wigeon and Green-winged Teal.

Sunday 9/27: Rainy, lousy day. Stayed in for the most part. Red-wings were vocal at the end of the street for the first time in a while.

Monday 9/14: Prospect Hill in the morning (Big Prospect and Whitney Trail). Good number of migrants including first of fall Blackpoll, Junco, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Blue-headed Vireo. Paine at lunch, singing Pine Warbler and a few more migrants.

Tuesday 9/15: Prospect Hill at lunch (base up to top of the slope). One White-throat was about it, although a Mourning Cloak was nice.

Wednesday 9/16: Met State before work, not much. UMass Field Station at lunch, nothing.

Thursday 9/17: Beaver Brook Ponds at lunch, nothing really there. Big flock of geese at Fernald.

Friday 9/18: Hardy Pond on the way to work, Spotted Sandpiper was the most interesting thing. Met State at lunch, a Wandering Glider actually landed but otherwise nothing.

Saturday 9/19: Busy with family.

Sunday 9/20: Dunback and Waltham St. in the morning. Not too bad with 7 warblers, a few Broad-wings, and 2 Common Loons overhead. Great Meadows in the afternoon, incredibly quiet.

Tuesday 9/8: Met State at lunch, Wood Thrush and nothing else.

Wednesday 9/9: Prospect Hill before work, almost nothing. Paine Estate at lunch, also nothing. Did hear Carolina Wren in the yard for the firs time in a few weeks.

Thursday 9/10: Beaver Brook Ponds at lunch, nothing really of note. Not much at home but big numbers of robins around the neighborhood at dusk.

Friday 9/11: Wigeon at Hardy Pond at lunch.

Saturday 9/12: Rainy all day, stayed in.

Sunday 9/13: Went to Lincoln in the morning. Two Indigo Buntings, a few Savannah Sparrows, and some hawks. Afternoon trip to Arlington Res, very little, water level way up.

Monday 8/31: Prospect Hill at lunch: Pileated! Maybe two as the one I saw didn’t appear to be making the calls I was hearing. Also 3 redstarts and a Black-and-white. Redstart at the end of the street and in the yard as well.

Tuesday 9/1: Met State before work (already miss summer hours). Prairie, BT Green, Nashville, and a Warbling Vireo. Paine at lunch, Least Flycatcher and Hummingbird. Single nighthawk feeding over the house at night.

Wednesday 9/2: Beaver Brook at lunch, nothing. Nothing around the house either.

Thursday 9/3: Beaver Brook Ponds at lunch, not a whole lot (Solitary, Kingfisher). Very few dragonflies even.

Friday 9/4: Dunback in the morning. Singing Parula, Blue-winged, and Least Flycatcher were about it. Out to New Salem after work where there was a big swarm of Aeshna and Somatochlora but none low enough to catch.

Saturday 9/5: Few warblers in New Salem but none cooperating and then a drive up to Lunenberg, Vermont. Poked around there a bit, White-faced Meadowhawk being the highlight. See some photos from the weekend.

Sunday 9/6: Went to Pondicherry in New Hampshire (early afternoon though). Few warblers and a Gray Comma. Back in Lunenberg, Variable Darner was a highlight as was a Barred Owl calling.

Monday 9/7: Sat around in Lunenberg for a couple hours with bluebirds, a few warblers, and sapsuckers flying in and out. Back to New Salem and then home without much of note.