Author: jason

Wednesday 2/24: Nothing at Gore. RB Merg (Watertown bird!), first spring Grackle, Wood Ducks, and a couple Redpolls at the square.

Thursday 2/25: Skating rink at BBN. Bluebird always nice especially without the boxes at Rock Meadow, a few Red-wings, and FOY Killdeer went over.

Friday 2/26: Tried Mt. Auburn again, as much because I figured it would be easy to walk around as anything. Red Crossbill flew over by Auburn Lake then had a goose sitting in the middle of the Dell. Looped around the tower and decided to give Auburn another quick check and had the flock of White-wings (‘commute’ #238!) in almost the same place. Also started the day with a Red-wing singing from the yard and had a flock of grackles go over.

Saturday 2/27: Ran out in the snow to Arlington Res, pintail, GW Teal about it. Checked Blair Pond (Common Merg and Ring-neck) and then buzzed Fresh Pond and Hardy without anything.

Sunday 2/28: Started at Millennium. Bluebirds flew up as I was sliding past the Sora spot, much overdue in Suffolk. Quiet otherwise. Worked down the river a bit on the way home. Usual ducks at Norumbega, more at Charlesbank plus a raven. Decided to skip Mt. Feake and go to Purgatory. Lot of ducks including some smaller ones on the ice, so I got out to scope. Crossbill was calling, Charles #170! Four Wood Duck, 4 GW Teal, more of the other ducks too.

Monday 3/1: Too rainy early, work call ran a bit long and then it was rainy again.

Tuesday 3/2: Gave Nine Acre a quick run just to get out even though it was too cold and windy, saw nothing.

Wednesday 2/17: Tried for the WW Crossbills at Mt. Auburn. 3 Creepers, RB Nuthatch, and GC Kinglet (finally) but no finches.

Thursday 2/18: Not much at BBN, two swans going over were the most interesting.

Friday 2/19: Didn’t bother with the snow.

Saturday 2/20: Started at Dunback, which was pretty quiet. Afternoon loop of the Charles had nothing new.

Sunday 2/21: Was going to Deer Island but saw a report of eider at Earhart so went that way instead. No eider, usual scoters and stuff, nothing particularly different.

Monday 2/22: Weston Station Pond had a Winter Wren, redpoll (town bird!), and a few other things.

Tuesday 2/23: Hanscom was fairly quiet beyond Fish Crows at the Gaining Ground entrance.

Wednesday 2/10: Didn’t get out, not much in the yard.

Thursday 2/11: Riverwalk had about the same as the weekend, but a Red-breasted Merganser was a nice addition.

Friday 2/12: At least one of the Yellow-rumps at Dunback had apparently moved to the pines and presumably the same Merlin was nearby. Too cold for anything else.

Saturday 2/13: Finally made it to the coast a bit. Castle Island had Purples and Dunlin plus most of the expected waterfowl. No turnstones though and it was too windy to go back and scope further out. Gave Norumbega down to Mt. Feake a quick look on the way home without much. Ran out briefly in the afternoon to get the Snow Bunting showing up in Arlington.

Sunday 2/14: Morning loop of Alewife missed the catbird, cormorant, and teal that had been around but did have redpoll, creeper, and Common Mergansers all of which were new for there. Quick stop at Fresh Pond had nothing. Afternoon check of the Mystic Lakes was pretty quiet.

Monday 2/15: Quiet at Meriam’s. Pileated, bluebirds, Red-wings at Kaveski. Take away geese and more people than birds at Great Meadows.

Tuesday 2/16: Pretty nasty out but a couple redpolls would have been very photogenic (if they weren’t soaking wet and I had a camera) at the Watertown dam. GW Teal was there too.

Wednesday 2/3: Moderate number of ducks on the riverwalk including a scaup but not much else.

Thursday 2/4: Pretty quiet at BBN, probably heard the Marsh Wren but couldn’t be positive. Finally got turkey for the year at Potter Pond on the way home.

Friday 2/5: 13 redpolls at Cookson, a GW Teal and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet by Watertown Square.

Saturday 2/6: Had to run to the office for a minute, so started in Wayland. Red-wings, a Purple Finch, and a ton of Tree Sparrows at the community gardens, a Red-shoulder at Water Row, and 2 Wood Duck by the town building. Was planning on Earhart after that but saw Haynes’ post about a huge flock of Redhead at Prospect St. Found them easily (still waffling on whether I actually had 13 or just the 12 in photos). Not too much else as I continued the loop down to Moody. Went to Purgatory next for a quick scan and was shocked to see the Redhead flock here too. Sounds like they were moving south.

Sunday 2/7: Snow was later than originally forecasted so got over to Earhart. Got all three scoters for the month plus 3 loons. No luck with the Horned Grebe or much else.

Monday 2/8: Tree Sparrow in the yard was the first in a couple years.

Tuesday 2/9: Actual commute today. Quick run around Forest Grove finally got Black Duck on the commute list but beyond a few redpolls not much else.

Wednesday 1/27: Active yard although nothing exciting. Lunchtime run around Moody St was pretty quiet except one of the Pine Warblers turned up in a yard along Crescent St.

Thursday 1/28: Nothing in the snow at Rock Meadow or the duc ponds.

Friday 1/29: Too cold.

Saturday 1/30: Mostly too cold, nothing at Norumbega, 5 Red-tails and a harrier at Nine Acre in a quick drive around midafternoon.

Sunday 1/31: Midday walk along the Mystic Lakes had a kingfisher and lots of mergansers. Tiny bit of open water at the res but just common stuff.

Monday 2/1: Merlin and Red-wings at Dunback.

Tuesday 2/2: Too snowy.

Wednesday 1/20: Quiet at Forest Grove.

Thursday 1/21: Went over to Fresh Pond for the Red-necked Grebe, loon, and scaup. Found all those plus 3 Red-breasted Mergansers.

Friday 1/22: Uncooperative redpolls along the Mystic Lakes. Eagle, lots of mergansers (1 Red-breasted), about it.

Saturday 1/23: No redpolls along the lakes, good numbers of ducks. Quick stop at Meadowbrook had the usual, as did Spy Pond.

Sunday 1/24: Flock of waxwings near the res were my first locally in a little while. Nothing else there or at Nine Acre. Looped Round Hill and Great Meadows Headquarters, chipmunk was the only thing of any interest.

Monday 1/25: Raven was about it at College Pond.

Tuesday 1/26: GW Teal (just one) at Watertown Square, few ducks to the east.

Wednesday 1/13: GW Teal and a Wood Duck by Watertown Square, eagle but no interesting waterfowl at Mt. Feake.

Thursday 1/14: Quick buzz of Nine Acre had nothing, walked St. Anne’s a bit and had a few things of minimal interest.

Friday 1/15: Odd finch call at BBN eventually turned out to be a Pine Grosbeak (‘commute’ 237, patch 186)! Also had 2 Yellow-rumps and maybe some crossbills plus a flock of grackles on the way over.

Saturday 1/16: Waited for the rain to stop (or thought I did), then ran to Draw Seven. Found the scoter flock (11 Surf, 1 White-winged) and eventually the Black on the other side of the dam plus a few redpolls. Thought about Sylvester Baxter but no close spaces so went to Station Landing instead. A few Ruddy and more redpolls plus more of the same ducks (minus the scoters).

Sunday 1/17: Got the Fox Sparrow at Horn Pond but other than 50+ coots there wasn’t too much else.

Monday 1/18: Gadwall and the pintail were at Arlington Res, bluebirds at Cambridge Res.

Tuesday 1/19: Wood Duck at Watertown Square, single redpoll over Gore.

Wednesday 1/6: Falzone and West Meadow had a Ruby-crowned Kinglet (calling only).

Thursday 1/7: Redpolls at Cookson and by the pool in Watertown, not much else along the river or at Gore.

Friday 1/8: Ring-necks and the usual other ducks at Forest Grove.

Saturday 1/9: Quick trip to Meriam’s and Kaveski had a harrier. Afternoon visit to the riverwalk (down to Prospect St) had a few ducks but no Pine Warblers.

Sunday 1/10: Finally got out to Bolton for Pine Grosbeaks. Poked around Nine Acre a bit after, distant Red Crossbills but no obvious White-wings, a Pileated, and a few other things.

Monday 1/11: 3 Yellow-rumps, a Barred Owl, and 3 Purple Finches at Dunback.

Tuesday 1/12: Didn’t get out.

Wednesday 12/30: Redpolls about it at Forest Grove. No big mallard flock to pick a pintail out of.

Thursday 12/31: Just did a very brief res/Flint’s/Nine Acre check, wigeon and Ring-necks at the res, 300+ geese at Nine Acre, and that was about it.

Friday 1/1: No BBC trip this year, so just did the res (not much) and Dunback (distant crossbills, a siskin, another interesting flyover call).

Saturday 1/2: Only able to do a very quick check of Hardy, nothing there.

Sunday 1/3: Concord CBC, few redpolls, lots of tree sparrows, and a calling crossbill in lousy weather.

Monday 1/4: Quick run partway around Arlington Res had a raven but no interesting ducks.

Tuesday 1/5: Very little at BBN.

Wednesday 12/23: Couple redpolls but nothing else at BBN.

Thursday 12/24: Kingfisher east of Watertown Square.

Friday 12/25: Too nasty.

Saturday 12/26: Started at Draw Seven, where two of the three scoters were barely visible in the sun (turns out the Black was around the corner). Also a nice kestrel. Crossed the river to get all that from the Earhart side and added a loon and an Iceland Gull. Decided on the Mystic Lakes instead of Ell Pond and vicinity after which was a mistake, but did see the cormorants at least.

Sunday 12/27: Supposed to be a finch day. Started at Watatic (after a quick, birdless scan of Fitchburg Res). Surprise of the day was a Herring Gull as I was starting the hike up. Grouse flushed in the usual spot, nothing at the top, but did at least hear a WW Crossbill as I started down. Pretty birdless on the way back to the car. Continued to Townsend State Forest where I did the longer loop and had 3 chickadees and a RB Nuthatch, then a few more plus titmice and WB Nuthatch at a feeder walking back along the road. Townsend Hill WMA had a mobile flock of redpolls and Michael Veit, who I hadn’t seen in years. He gave me a couple spots for Pine Grosbeak in Pepperell. Headed over to those but only found Cedar Waxwings. Decided it was too late for the Bolton ones and headed home.

Monday 12/28: No crossbills or anything else at Habitat.

Tuesday 12/29: Little bit of CBC scouting, 8 redpolls, 3 flickers, 27 turkeys at Ricci Fields. Quick check of Nine Acre had lots of geese and a few cowbirds.