Author: jason

Wednesday 3/18: Leucistic Killdeer and singing Fox Sparrow at Kaveski/Meriam’s/Brook Village. At least 5 woodcock peenting without getting out of the car at BBN around 7:30.

Thursday 3/19: Yuck

Friday 3/20: Scaup among the ducks at the res, nothing at Nine Acre or School St.

Saturday 3/21: Town listing is good right now, going to lots of places with essentially zero people. Did a long loop in Carlisle from Foss Farm. Added Winter Wren, Great Black-backed Gull (100 up!), and Common Raven plus a few Rusties and 2 Pileated. Tried across the river on the Billerica GMNWR trail, only managed Carolina Wren there and not much else in the wind. Plus Turkey Vulture over Rt. 3 on the way home.

Sunday 3/22: More town listing. Desert Natural Area added Golden-crowned Kinglet and Killdeer for Marlborough but no luck with any different sparrows. Continued to Fort Meadow Reservoir which had 2 Greater Scaup, so 100 up (and town #20!). Buzz through School St and Nine Acre on the way home had absolutely nothing.

Monday 3/23: Quiet at Dunback and Upper Vine Brook.

Tuesday 3/24: Probably should have gone for a walk even with the snow on the ground, 3 Ruddy at Hardy, nothing at the res or Nine Acre, nothing much at Elm Brook.

Wednesday 3/11: 3 Shovelers at Arlington Res.

Thursday 3/12: Bunch of Rusties at the Pelham Island Rd bridge.

Friday 3/13: Rainy, nothing much at any ponds/rivers.

Saturday 3/14: Usual at the res. Did a bit of a town listing run although it was too windy for much. Added 3 in Melrose at Ell Pond, then 17 in Stoneham at Greenwood Park before checking Brooks for the OC Warbler again (no luck).

Sunday 3/15: No luck with the RH Woodpecker but did have a few Tree Swallows and some ducks to pump up the Ayer list a bit. Kestrel on the way over to Fitch’s Bridge Rd, which was fairly quiet. Yellow-rump at Heald St. Nothing good among the Canada Geese in the prison fields on the way home.

Monday 3/16: Mostly the usual at BBN. Winter Wren was a commute year bird if going home counts.

Tuesday 3/17: Ruddy among the usual at Hardy Pond, nothing new at the res.

Internet issues are fun…

Wednesday 2/19: Nothing of note at BBN.

Thursday 2/20: Grackle down Trapelo, 2 Pileated at Meriam’s.

Friday 2/21: Wood Duck was about it at Forest Grove.

Saturday 2/22: Chased a few month birds. No rails at Great Meadows but did have 2 Fish Crow. No scoter at Earhart, 2 Common and a Red-throated Loon plus a Yellow-rump. Pulled up at Silver Lake, set up the scope, looked in, saw the Glaucous, and an eagle flew in and flushed everything.

Sunday 2/23: Walked all the way to the duck ponds. Hermit Thrush and creeper at Lot 1, TV at Rock Meadow, little else.

Monday 2/24: Shrike, eagle, 3 kingfishers, bunch of ducks at Heard Farm.

Tuesday 2/25: Killdeer at Dunback.

Wednesday 2/26: Nothing at Arlington Res

Thursday 2/27: Pond check was quiet.

Friday 2/28: Usual at Forest Grove

Saturday 2/29: RC Kinglet at Mystic Lakes, missed the cormorant though. Couldn’t find the OC Warbler at Brooks but had a Pileated there and 2 Chipping Sparrows in the cemetery. Couldn’t find the scoters again at Earhart, did get the Savannah.

Sunday 3/1: Used Glenn’s interesting Fox Sparrow as an excuse to go down to Fairhaven. No luck with that but catbird, towhee, 2 kinglets, etc. on the bike path. Nothing exciting at West Island (but a nice male harrier flew in front of me on the way out). Up to the goose fields in Plymouth county where Pam directed me to the Barnacles and Snow and I had a flock of Savannah Sparrows (which was about the most overdue bird for any county I’ve birded regularly), Drove around Cumberland Farms quickly but no obvious Rough-leg (although one interesting bird just to the south disappeared before I pulled over).

Monday 3/2: 2 ravens at BBN then another near Rt. 20.

Tuesday 3/3: Pair of Gadwall at Elm Brook, nothing exciting at Hanscom.

Wednesday 3/4: Too windy, usual at Hardy, res, Flint’s, Heard. Nothing at Nine Acre or River Rd. Few teal at the Pelham Island Rd marsh.

Thursday 3/5: Raven about it at Rock Meadow, nothing at the duck ponds.

Friday 3/6: Kingfisher by Watertown Square but no RB Merg, Yellow-rump, or catbird.

Saturday 3/7: Pond loop was pretty empty. Did get the cormorants at Mystic Lakes finally and RB Merg was new for Winchester.

Sunday 3/8: Indoors at the Birder’s Meeting. Quick stop at the res on the way home had the usual.

Monday 3/9: Few Wood Ducks and all the regulars at BBN.

Tuesday 3/10: Pintail, Wigeon, GW Teal, lots of ducks at Great Meadows plus mink and coyote.

Wednesday 2/12: Lots of Red-wings and the usual ducks at BBN.

Thursday 2/13: Rather nasty, quick check of the res didn’t have anything.

Friday 2/14: Usual at Hardy in a quick scan.

Saturday 2/15: Couldn’t find the Surf Scoter or much else at Earhart and Draw Seven.

Sunday 2/16: Went out to Otis for the day but between a slightly late start, a bit of traffic on the way, and lots of ice, it wasn’t worth going out anywhere.

Monday 2/17: Missed the GWF Geese in Boston (did finally get Fish Crow), missed the bluebirds at Millennium, no towhee at Nahanton. Francis saved the day with a wigeon at the duck ponds, patch #183.

Tuesday 2/18: FOY Grackle and not much else at Dunback.

Wednesday 2/5: Only had a couple seconds to scan the res, nothing there.

Thursday 2/6: Black squirrel in the yard for the first time in ages (and I missed the first chipmunk of the year). Quick check of the res had 4 goldeneye (finally for the commute).

Friday 2/7: Still too nasty for much but GW Teal at Norumbega and not much elsewhere along that bit of river.

Saturday 2/8: Too cold and windy. Usual ducks at Spy Pond, nothing obvious at the Mystic Lakes. Draw Seven had 1 RB Merganser and a few gulls so I didn’t bother going to the Everett side. Nothing at Blair Pond and not much at Clay Pit. Did see the chipmunk briefly at least.

Sunday 2/9: Bit of a strange loop. Started by getting the RH Woodpecker for February. Took a bit of effort as it was further out than normal. Continued to Fitch’s Bridge Rd, which was a skating rink. No luck with the Field Sparrows or Snow Bunting. On to Lowell. Boat ramp looked quiet, noticed a bunch of gulls somewhat hidden as I drove off so I said I’ll come back later. Got to the Tsongas Center and ran into John and Suzanne. No luck with the male Barrow’s but Suzanne had picked out a candidate female earlier. We wandered down and found 2 of the flock of Pine Warblers then got good if brief looks at the female Barrow’s on the way back. I walked a little more not seeing anything then joined them back at the boat ramp. Iceland Gull among 130 Ring-bills on the water, but the Peregrine and Mute Swan were new for Lowell for me. Eagle also came through. We decided to head to Silver Lake next. Arrived to a quite a few gulls and more streaming in by the minute. Several young Iceland Gulls immediately and I picked up an adult. John found a near adult Lesser then Suzanne found 2 younger ones. The gulls (which we estimated at over 1200) eventually got up but most landed again. Just before packing in, I found one more Lesser (or something, it’s a bit weird). Got home about 2 hours later than I expected but a nice day with 2 new February birds for MA and 3 for the county.

Monday 2/10: Rainy so 135 geese and 7 Ring-bills at NAC, 3 Ring-bills and 3 swans at Heard, 2 swans, 8 black ducks, and 4 Hooded Mergansers at the swamp.

Tuesday 2/11: Eagle on the ice at Mt. Feake, Red-wing singing across from Purgatory, not a ton else.

Wednesday 1/29: Very quiet at Kaveski and Meriam’s. Had enough time to check Pelham Island Rd and there was a nice adult eagle sitting by the river.

Thursday 1/30: Fox Sparrow, RC Kinglet, and Yellow-rump at Falzone. Eagle over 128.

Friday 1/31: Riverwalk was quiet, did finally get commute Great Black-backed Gull. Stopped for a few seconds at Cronin’s and had almost as many birds there as I did in 45 minutes earlier.

Saturday 2/1: Dunback was quiet. Sapsucker but no phoebe at Upper Vine Brook. No thrasher or much different at Fresh Pond.

Sunday 2/2: Started at Deer Island. No murres, just 3 Razorbills among the usual stuff. Continued up Revere/Lynn/Swampscott with no interesting gulls before heading to the Eared Grebe in Beverly. Took quite a while before it turned up fairly close. Continued through Magnolia to Jodrey where we had 3+ Thick-billed Murres and 3+ Dovekies along with the Black-headed Gull.

Monday 2/3: Nothing different at BBN.

Tuesday 2/4: Had to drive into Boston so stopped at the Fenway gardens for a couple. Fox Sparrow, couple Red-wings, lots of sparrows.

Wednesday 1/22: Not much at BBN.

Thursday 1/23: Bunch of mergansers and an eagle along the riverwalk.

Friday 1/24: Sora super cooperative at Great Meadows. Virginia Rail flew off too but little else.

Saturday 1/25: Started at Draw Seven/Earhart. Got the Greater Scaup at both (plus another scaup sp) and the Red-throated Loon for Everett but not too much else. Continued to Belle Isle which was quiet, then Revere Beach which was very quiet.

Sunday 1/26: Wandered Horn Pond a bit. Nice immature eagle landed close to me, got the RC Kinglet and Lesser Scaup, decent number of other birds. Buzzed Mystic Lakes, Spy Pond, Meadowbrook, and the res without anything of note.

Monday 1/27: Creeper about the only thing of note at Forest Grove. Spent quite a while scoping the Mallards but no hybrid.

Tuesday 1/28: Pair of Wood Duck, a few waxwings, and a Yellow-rump along the Charles by Watertown Square.

Wednesday 1/15: Was a nice morning so the Pine Warbler was chipping away. Not much else there, eagle and 4 Ring-necks down by Purgatory in a quick drive through.

Thursday 1/16: Too rainy, pond check came up pretty empty.

Friday 1/17: Too cold and running errands but 10 minutes along the river in Watertown didn’t find anything.

Saturday 1/18: Bit too cold for much walking. Res had a few mergs then a turkey dropping down from the office park. Wood Ducks but no scaup at Leverett Pond. That was because it moved to Jamaica Pond, so first county bird of the year. Also a few Greater Scaup, lots of Ring-necks, a few Ruddies here. Nothing much at Chestnut Hill. Hammond and Kendrick Ponds were frozen. Almost went to Nahanton for towhees but decided to just check the Charles quickly. Mallards, geese, and Ring-bills at Norumbega. Mallards at Charlesbank but one was part pintail, first male of that hybrid combo I’ve seen.

Sunday 1/19: Waltham St had 65(!) Red-wings. Dunback had another 12 but not much more.

Monday 1/20: Midday check of the Charles had a goldeneye by Newton St and the Pine Warbler (presumably the same one) at Landry Park.

Tuesday 1/21: Hermit Thrush was the only thing of any interest at Habitat, no luck with any Fox Sparrows.

Wednesday 1/8: Falzone had a GH Owl and the Yellow-rump Cliff had on the CBC.

Thursday 1/9: Hermit Thrush and a chipmunk at the Wayland Community Gardens.

Friday 1/10: Kingfisher and Merlin at Forest Grove.

Saturday 1/11: Nice Coyote near Forest St, then started at Alewife with a flyover eagle and 2 GW Teal. Continued to Draw Seven which had nothing, Sylvester Baxter which had the usual ducks, and Earhart where I talked to Bob and saw about what was at Draw Seven. We debated a coastal swing in the wind but I decided to try Fresh Pond instead, which was pretty quiet too.

Sunday 1/12: Eagle at Hardy. Went out to get the RH Woodpecker for January, which was easy. Also had a pair of ravens and a few other things. Did the Middlesex bit of Oxbow after, nothing of note there. And nothing much at School St, Flint’s, or the res.

Monday 1/13: Nothing in the snow at BBN.

Tuesday 1/14: Chipping Sparrow (almost expected at this point) at College Pond.

Wednesday 1/1: Joined the BBC trip as usual. Was a bit cold and windy but Snowy Owl, Turkey Vulture, and King Eider were nice.

Thursday 1/2: Started with a long loop of BBN, didn’t find much beyond 2 Winter Wrens. Had some time to check Purgatory and Forest Grove after, Peregrine was the best there.

Friday 1/3: Two Yellow-rumps at Dunback.

Saturday 1/4: Common Mergansers and Ring-billed Gulls it at Spy Pond. Got the whole(?) Chipping Sparrow flock at Meadowbrook plus a couple Red-wings. Mystic Lakes were pretty much empty, except way up at Sandy Beach where there were a couple Wood Duck in addition to mergansers and Bufflehead. Nothing at Draw Seven and not much more across the river. Ring-neck at the res in the fog.

Sunday 1/5: Did a loop out to Nagog then through Nine Acre etc without seeing anything. Continued to Norumbega which had a few ducks, then nothing at the res.

Monday 1/6: Got the Virginia Rail and a Marsh Wren at Great Meadows but no Sora.

Tuesday 1/7: Nothing much at Moody St or Purgatory.