Author: jason

Wednesday 7/18: RB Nuthatch at Dunback.

Thursday 7/19: Usual at Lot 1. Hummingbird at Pease and a flock of ibis over 95 were interesting.

Friday 7/20: Pair of Pileateds among the usual at Heard.

Saturday 7/21: Went down to Westport for the day. Gooseberry was nice, although would have been nicer if the King Eider and any of the seabirds showed up. Did have a few shorebirds, some other oversummering ducks, the Great Cormorant, and a few other things. Couldn’t turn up Seaside Sparrows at Allen’s Pond but had a bunch of Saltmarsh, a White-eyed Vireo, and a bit more. Finished with 14 Bristol county birds. Stopped at Draw Seven (4-6 Common Terns, no shorebirds) and Blair Pond (2 Least Sandpipers) on the way home.

Sunday 7/22: Too rainy, quick pond loop had the 2 loons at Flint’s but little else.

Monday 7/23: Distant Least Bittern at Great Meadows, not much else.

Tuesday 7/24: Marsh Wren, Osprey, FOY Lance-tipped Darner at Round Hill.

Wednesday 7/11: Eagle among the usual at Forest Grove.

Thursday 7/12: Green Heron and not a whole lot else at Lindentree.

Friday 7/13: Clamp-tipped Emerald about it at BBN.

Saturday 7/14: Did a coastal swing. No migrants at Deer Island, did get a handful of new site birds but none were exactly exciting. Big feeding flock off the tip had me go all the way back for the scope, but couldn’t pull anything besides common gulls and terns. Belle Isle had a few shorebirds. Tide too high at Draw Seven.

Sunday 7/15: Lazy so just got eaten by mosquitos at BBN/West Meadow/duck ponds. Got scared by a turkey and had a Black-shouldered Spinylegs at the ponds, not much else.

Monday 7/16: Quiet at Kaveski/Meriam’s.

Tuesday 7/17: Prairie Warbler and little else at Hobbs Brook, water level way too high still (and another inch and a half of rain in the afternoon can’t help).

Wednesday 7/4: Sandy Beach had an event, so straight to Draw Seven. Few terns and the rest of the usual. Same at Sylvester Baxter and Earhart. Too hot for anything else.

Thursday 7/5: Two woodcock would have been the highlight at BBN except for this Lawrence’s Warbler:

Friday 7/6: Quiet at the duck ponds.

Saturday 7/7: Concord 4th of July butterfly count, very quiet. Black Dash was about the best butterfly, nothing exciting for odes or birds.

Sunday 7/8: Tried to refind the Lawrence’s with no luck (no Blue-wings either). Several Mocha Emeralds and a Black-tipped Darner were nice. Carlisle walk had a Sweetflag Spreadwing and the usual.

Monday 7/9: Had College Pond to myself thanks to construction. Barred Owl was calling as I walked in, Mocha Emeralds everywhere and probably a Spatterdock Darner too.

Tuesday 7/10: Day trip to NJ, a Broad-wing over the Pike and Fish Crows in the neighborhood were the only things of note.

Wednesday 6/27: FOY Calico Pennant in Sudbury.

Thursday 6/28: Way too rainy in the morning. Nothing at the res on the way home, RB Grosbeak in the yard though.

Friday 6/29: More of the same.

Saturday 6/30: Went to Hanscom before it got too hot (and the games started). Slowish start but ended with 48+ species including first for Bedford Orchard Oriole and American Woodcock plus FOY Widow Skimmers.

Sunday 7/1: Nice Eastern Least Clubtail photos and not a ton else at Bertozzi.

Monday 7/2: Sat at Flint’s for an hour, mostly sorting through swallows. FOY Familiar Bluet and Swift River Cruiser and the loon showed up as I was about to pack up.

Tuesday 7/3: Young Spotted Sandpiper and otherwise too hot at Great Meadows.

Computer issues…

Wednesday 6/13: Habitat survey was quiet beyond another RB Nuthatch. Stopped at the duck ponds on the way home without much of note.

Thursday 6/14: Rock Meadow survey had 3 flyover cormorants but nothing else. Ran around the parkway and middle area of BBN, Ovenbird singing, Rough-winged Swallow, and Blue-wing with food. Out for a little ride in the evening and had an Osprey more or less over Lot 1.

Friday 6/15: Nothing exciting at Great Meadows.

Saturday 6/16: Couldn’t find the Ruddies at Horn Pond (cub scout fishing event didn’t help). Continued to Bare Meadow in Reading (nothing exciting), then Hobbs Brook (nothing).

Sunday 6/17: Out to Ashby. Quiet at Blood Hill. Lots of good butterflies and a few odes at Watatic. No loons at Fitchburg Res, so one at Flint’s was a nice surprise on the way home.

Monday 6/18: Usual at BBN, finally caught up with one of the Green Herons.

Tuesday 6/19: 5+ Ravens at Dunback.

Wednesday 6/20: Barred Owl, another 5 ravens, and a Red-bellied Tiger Beetle at Prospect Hill.

Thursday 6/21: Slender Bluet at the Wayland CG.

Friday 6/22: Ovenbirds, Winter Wren, Northern Waterthrush at Hamlen Reservation.

Saturday 6/23: Wandered Rock Meadow and BBN without anything particularly exciting.

Sunday 6/24: Every single bird on my Suffolk needs alert was at either Millennium or Brook Farm, so headed that way (also hoping to be nearby if the computer was fixed). Got Orchard Oriole at Millennium and Pewee at Brook but no GC Flycatcher or RE Vireo (plus the less likely stuff). Continued to the Charles River Peninsula which had a juv cuckoo and lots of Slender Bluets.

Monday 6/25: Usual at Forest Grove.

Tuesday 6/26: Usual at Lot 1.

Wednesday 6/6: Habitat survey was quiet again, BT Green still singing away.

Thursday 6/7: Rock Meadow survey finally had Orchard Oriole. Stopped at Lot 1 after, nothing much.

Friday 6/8: FOY Silver-spotted Skipper, Hobomok Skipper, and Wild Indigo Duskywing at Prospect Hill plus a Painted Skimmer and very few birds.

Saturday 6/9: Started at Ell Pond in Melrose, where the Bufflehead had disappeared. Pine Banks Park had Red-breasted Nuthatch and FOY Prince Baskettail and Slender Spreadwing. Heard the King Rail at Belle Isle, lots of eiderlings at Revere Beach. Calling YB Cuckoo was a surprise at Earhart.

Sunday 6/10: Minuteman survey, turkeys, Pileated, normal stuff. Probably shouldn’t have slept the rest of the day (see Tuesday).

Monday 6/11: Had to take the car in, managed a few minutes on Pelham Island Rd first (Green Heron among the expected stuff), then had some swallows and stuff at the auto body shop waiting for Enterprise.

Tuesday 6/12: Audubon’s Warbler had apparently left Mt. Auburn, which was pretty dead beyond another RB Nuthatch.

Wednesday 5/30: First Habitat survey of the season was fairly quiet. Ran to Horn Pond after work but couldn’t find the Cattle Egret.

Thursday 5/31: Rock Meadow survey was also quiet. Stupidly went to West Meadow (Green Heron) and BBN instead of Horn Pond.

Friday 6/1: No egret at Horn Pond.

Saturday 6/2: Ode walk at the Cranberry Bog. Worked my way over via the Great Meadows Billerica trails (nothing exciting) and then Fawn Lake (presumed Spatterdock Darner, Lilypad Clubtail, etc). Decent at the bog although I would have liked to have seen the Arrowhead Spiketail.

Sunday 6/3: Nothing of note at Hayden Woods then a bunch of us went out to the ABNC walk in Royalston. Dave found us the Ebony Boghaunters we were all after and we had some other good stuff too (Arctic Skippers, sapsuckers working on a nest, etc). We continued for another couple stops that were a bit quieter but still had stuff of interest. Waiting on pictures but pretty sure I caught a Uhler’s Sundragon, which would be my second most wanted ode for the state (after the boghaunter).

Monday 6/4: Nothing in drizzle at Great Meadows and even less when it started pouring on my way back out.

Tuesday 6/5: Orange-variant House Finch was the most exciting thing between Codman and Farm Meadow.

Wednesday 5/16: Nobscot was fairly slow, FOY hummer finally along with a Tennessee and a few other warblers but not much else.

Thursday 5/17: Too birdy at BBN, needed another two hours as I only covered the parkway and down to the cemetery. Sixteen warblers, Bobolinks, another YT Vireo, etc for 50 species (first time in ages I’ve hit that on the way to work).

Friday 5/18: Rock Meadow had a flyover loon, a Broad-wing, a few warblers, etc. A few minutes at the duck ponds added a Cape May among others.

Saturday 5/19: Supposed to be crappy but woke up to sun. Nothing exciting at Hobbs Brook. Foss Farm had FOY baskettails (finally) but no birds of interest. Quick stop at the river crossing had a parula. Still semi-nice but went to Great Meadows anyway. Did get Swainson’s Thrush (#196 there) but no storm birds. Mid-afternoon loop of the res in the rain had lots of swallows but no hoped-for terns. Magnolia in the yard in the morning, turkey in the evening.

Sunday 5/20: Initial plan was to check Great Meadows for storm-related stuff but decided to swing around the res first. Nothing much there but a ton of song as I reached Trapelo. Combining that with the clearing sky, and I decided to skip GM and head straight to the Heald St. Orchard in Pepperell. Wasn’t totally hopping but 6+ Tennessee, 2 Bay-breasted, 2 Broad-wings, and a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher made it worthwhile. Realized that the Golden-wings in NH were only 20 minutes away, so headed that way next. Stopped at a random wetland on the way as I had rolled down the windows and a Louisiana Waterthrush was singing loudly. Added a few more things before reaching the NH site. Took a good bit of effort but eventually did see one. Not totally thrilled as it had pretty distinct, whitish wing bars and a hint of yellow under the throat, but not sure how much better they get locally*. Also a Blue-winged, YB Cuckoo, and some commoner stuff that I still needed for NH and an interesting warbler song that sounded like a BT Blue singing a BT Green song.

Stopped at Brooks on the way home in case Marj’s Kentucky was still singing. Once the rain stopped, I found out it wasn’t but had another YB Flycatcher, so worth the effort.

*I scrolled through a few hundred Macaulay library images and could pick every one of this bird out from the thumbnails with very few false positives (and all of those were from Maine or Vermont).

Monday 5/21: BBN had Alder Flycatcher, Bay-breasted, Canada, and Tennessee Warblers, and more of the usual (51!).

Tuesday 5/22: Tried Cutler Lake to fill a few Norfolk gaps (which includes most warblers). Not overly successful, got 6 to hit 149). Tennessee Warbler was the most interesting (and a Bank Swallow).

Wednesday 5/9: Blackburnians at Prospect Hill plus FOY Black Swallowtail.

Thursday 5/10: More of the same at College Pond, BT Blue was new for Weston.

Friday 5/11: Pair of GW Teal and a YT Vireo at BBN. Pileated flew over 128 on the way to work.

Saturday 5/12: Bird-a-thon. Lousy weather, got about 93. Highlights included Cerulean in Medford, Cape May in Winchester, and the usual.

Sunday 5/13: Led the Mt. Auburn trip. Still lousy weather, more Cape Mays and the like but hard work. Wandered to Earhart after and had 10 warblers there. Quick stop at the Mystic Lakes didn’t turn up much and Meadowbrook had a parula and too many people visiting graves.

Monday 5/14: House Wren in the yard, eagle, turkey, a few warblers, etc at Forest Grove.

Tuesday 5/15: Had to renew my license, so got a few hours in at Mt. Auburn first. Twenty warblers (missing yellowthroat(!)) including 2 Cape Mays, a few Bay-breasted, a Tennessee, etc. Missed Olive-sided and a few other things but not bad at all.