Author: jason

Wednesday 8/16: Nobscot, couple gnatcatchers, couple redstarts, Blue-wing.

Thursday 8/17: Black-and-white and not much else at Prospect Hill.

Friday 8/18: Dunback had 2-3 Least Flycatchers, a waterthrush, and a few Bobolinks.

Saturday 8/19: Started with Blair Pond (4 Least), then Alewife (Blue-winged Warbler, not a lot else). Continued to Assembly Square where a Common Tern was fishing in close and a Least Sandpiper flew over (bet there was stuff there at low tide). Debated working towards home or Belle Isle and saw the Black Tern report from Winter Pond, figured there was a slight chance it moved to the Mystic Lakes. No luck with that but a few more Least and some Spotted plus the waterthrush and a hummingbird at Sandy Beach.

Sunday 8/20: Hop Brook was fairly quiet, got a few Sudbury year birds but nothing exciting. Very quiet at the Desert. Continued west to Sterling Peat which had 4 Green Heron, a Great Egret, a bunch of common shorebirds, and a Prairie Warbler. Nothing in a quick stop at the duck ponds.

Monday 8/21: Started at Round Hill, which was on the quiet side beyond lots of swallows over Pantry Brook. Had a few minutes, so stopped on Water Row and had a snipe buzz over.

Tuesday 8/22: Canada Warbler was the highlight at College Pond.

Wednesday 8/9: Duck ponds were dead, so made a quick run to the parkway marsh. No shorebirds but a patch tick Great Egret made it well worth the effort.

Thursday 8/10: Nothing exciting at Dunback.

Friday 8/11: Usual at Heard Farm, Swift River Cruiser eating a meadowhawk on the ground was interesting.

Saturday 8/12: Plum for a change. Black Tern at Stage Island, gnatcatcher at Hellcat, tons of shorebirds at the new blind, Least Bittern at the Warden’s. Joined parents and Merrill in Gloucester later. Short walk down to the water had a few Bonaparte’s, more shorebirds, and a Laughing Gull.

Sunday 8/13: Walked to the duck ponds. Bobolinks near the basketball court at BBN were about it.

Monday 8/14: First hummingbird for the Charles in a couple years at Forest Grove plus yearly first Green Heron and Spotted Sandpiper.

Tuesday 8/15: Great Meadows had a flyover egret but not much else.

Wednesday 8/2: Redstart at BBN.

Thursday 8/3: Hoped the rain would have created some nice shorebird habitat at School St but no luck. Did add Indigo Bunting and BG Gnatcatcher to the site’s ebird list (and the gnatcatchers were new for me in Acton).

Friday 8/4: Usual at Forest Grove.

Saturday 8/5: Started at Cutler Pond. Pretty quiet, managed gnatcatcher for Norfolk but little else. Continued to Millennium. Sora wasn’t out when I first walked by and I decided to keep going and wait it out later. Overhead Bobolinks, a Green Heron, and a Peregrine were all nice (plus a hummingbird to make me feel better about last week’s bird zooming by at Deer Island). Got back to the Sora, heard a Marsh Wren and then it started pouring before the bird returned.

Sunday 8/6: Out to Ashby. Started at Blood Hill, which looks good for hawkwatching in a few weeks. Family of juncos just below the summit and a Blackburnian was about it. Checked a few of the ponds and had a pair of loons at one. Nothing at Ashby WMA. Took a while to get going at Watatic, but finished with 5 species of darners, 3 meadowhawks, 21 odes in total. Plus a few other interesting bugs and a few birds.

Monday 8/7: BBN had a Blue-winged (first since mid-June), Black-and-white, and a couple redstarts. Parkway marsh looking better for shorebirds but none there. Did have 4 Green Herons though.

Tuesday 8/8: Nothing exciting at Great Meadows.

Wednesday 7/26: BBN was birdy although nothing out of the expected.

Thursday 7/27: Lots of hummingbirds but little else at Dunback.

Friday 7/28: Gnatcatchers and hummingbirds at Rock Meadow were about it. Monarch at work.

Saturday 7/29: Another Suffolk county run. Deer Island had very little. First stop at Winthrop Beach had a Piping Plover. Belle Isle was dead, tide totally wrong. Scanned ebird reports and based on others from Winthrop Beach, I realized I was quite silly for not having spent some time scoping (thanks Chris), so headed back. Parked further north and had a few Bonaparte’s Gulls, a Manx Shearwater, and finally a Wilson’s Storm-Petrel or two. Earhart, Mystic Lakes, and Blair Pond had zero on the way home.

Sunday 7/30: Stopped at Foss Farm on the way to the walk at the Cranberry Bog. Fairly quiet but Willow Flycatcher and kingfisher were new for me in Carlisle. Lance-tipped Darner was the walk’s highlight, fairly quiet otherwise.

Monday 7/31: Went to the Wayland Community Gardens hoping for a Yellow-throated Vireo. No luck with that or much else, a couple interesting Traill’s-type flycatchers was it.

Tuesday 8/1: Nothing new at College Pond other than an unseen Louisiana Waterthrush-ish call.

Wednesday 7/19: Usual at Forest Grove.

Thursday 7/20: Nothing exciting at Sedge Meadow beyond a Monarch.

Friday 7/21: Somatochlora and the usual at BBN.

Saturday 7/22: Did some more county listing. Started at Belle Isle where I got four for Suffolk (all easy, SB Dowitcher flyover, Bank and Rough-winged Swallow, and Saltmarsh Sparrow). Lots of peep but nothing all that exciting. Continued to the far side, which had more of the same. Decided to skip the beaches and go to Squantum where I got Semipalmated Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, and Least Tern for Norfolk. Quick stop at Blair Pond had a few Least but no Semi.

Sunday 7/23: Wandered Bedford a bit. Ravens at Hartwell Town Forest, Broad-wings at Fawn Lake (and lots of odes including Vesper and Slender Bluets). Decided to continue into Billerica and walked the Great Meadows trail for a while, which was quiet. Hummer was the best on the trail and a Fish Crow while walking from the parking lot to the river were about it.

Monday 7/24: Finally got a Least Bittern at Great Meadows before the rain got too bad. Least Sandpiper too.

Tuesday 7/25: Nothing unusual at Heard Pond but the swallow show was something.

Wednesday 7/12: Looped Lincoln without anything overly interesting.

Thursday 7/13: Drove up to NH for the DSA meeting via Amherst.

Friday 7/14: Went with Josh and Ken to Moose Bog. Weather wasn’t good for odes but outside of Spruce Grouse (which was the only one I really wanted), we got the complete boreal list: Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, Black-backed Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Palm Warbler, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Moose. Rained too hard to do anything after but we did have a Snowshoe Hare while poking around for future locations.

Saturday 7/15: Went to some random pond in NH. Weather was fair and odes weren’t overly cooperative. Best was an Eastern Red Damsel totally out of habitat. Some decent butterflies and a family of Ruffed Grouse. We continued to the Nash River where we had Superb Jewelwings and not much else (but another family of grouse along the road).

Sunday 7/16: Went to Trudeau Rd which had crossbills and a few emeralds. On to Profile Lake where we had distant Lake Emerald (plus a nymph) but no captures. Then a long ride home.

Monday 7/17: Quick loop of the duck ponds was quiet.

Tuesday 7/18: College Pond had the usual.

Wednesday 7/5: Nothing unusual at Forest Grove.

Thursday 7/6: Weasel at Dunback.

Friday 7/7: YT Vireo and not much else at Heard Farm.

Saturday 7/8: Half-assed attempt at the pelican mostly as an excuse to fill some Norfolk county holes. Picked up a few shorebirds and Willow Flycatcher to get over 100 before it got too hot and buggy. First Wandering Glider of the year and first Seaside Dragonlet in a little while too.

Sunday 7/9: Concord butterfly count. Back in the Acton sector, which was quiet for butterflies. Broad-wing and a Bank Swallow colony were nice as was the presumed Mocha Emerald.

Monday 7/10: Single Red-bellied Tiger Beetle at Prospect Hill finally but next to nothing else.

Tuesday 7/11: Nothing at Great Meadows

Wednesday 6/28: Buckeye but no tiger beetles at Prospect Hill.

Thursday 6/29: Very quiet at Round Hill other than lots and lots of meadowhawks.

Friday 6/30: Not much at Prospect Hill, FOY Painted Lady about it.

Saturday 7/1: Got Indigo Bunting and gnatcatcher in Bedford finally. Slender Bluets on the Concord were county ode #105. BH Vireo at Hugh Cargill along with Bog Coppers.

Sunday 7/2: Nothing at the duck ponds. Carlisle dragonfly walk was pretty quiet beyond a distant Swamp Darner.

Monday 7/3: Lot 1 had Rough-winged Swallows and a kingfisher. Spinyleg was a patch first ode.

Tuesday 7/4: Couldn’t find a Wood Thrush at Horn Pond but had a few other things. Handful of hairstreaks on the mountain.

Wednesday 6/21: Nothing much at Dunback.

Thursday 6/22: Red-shoulder, 2 BB Cuckoos, meadowhawk at Rock Meadow.

Friday 6/23: Did the Minuteman survey finally. Too much traffic and would have been better a couple weeks earlier.

Saturday 6/24: Ran to Nine Acre (Cliff Swallow at the nest) and Great Meadows (nothing) before the rain. Tried to check the res in the downpour and got soaked for a loon.

Sunday 6/25: Couldn’t find the junco or Blackburnian at Watatic but did have lots of good bugs. And more at Townsend State Forest.

Monday 6/26: Usual at Cow Common.

Tuesday 6/27: Usual at Meriam’s Corner and Kaveski.