Author: jason

WIR 1/26/-2/5

A week and a half this time as next week will be very different.

Tuesday 1/26: Beaver Brook ponds were flooded but had 2 Hooded Mergansers and a few American Black Ducks.

Wednesday 1/27: Charles, refound the Lesser Scaup and finally had a goldeneye for the year but very quiet otherwise. Not a single gull! Also had at least 25 Mallards buzzing around the neighborhood after sunset.

Thursday 1/28: Nothing of note.

Friday 1/29: Freezing cold but hit Lyman Pond quickly. It was frozen.

Saturday 1/30: Still freezing but checked Dunback briefly. Creeper and not much else.

Sunday 1/31: Plum with MBC. Snowy Owl (even further than last time), Rough-legged Hawk, Horned Lark, Bald Eagle, and lots and lots of ice and wind.

Monday 2/1: Beaver Brook North, nothing of real note.

Tuesday 2/2: Purgatory Cove: Lesser Black-backed Gull (last year’s bird back?) but no eagles.

Wednesday 2/3: Paine: creeper and not much else.

Thursday 2/4: Moody St, nothing much (no dark-mantled gulls at all)

Friday 2/5: Charles: scaup still around, 1 fish crow calling, fairly quiet otherwise.

WIR 1/19

Tuesday 1/19: Still snowing, stayed in at work.

Wednesday 1/20: Figured the only place with open trails would be Beaver Brook. Nothing other than Mallards that wouldn’t be in the yard right now (and not the 50 red-wings that flew over the yard in the morning).

Thursday 1/21: Charles by Moody St. Few Common Mergansers, nothing interesting among the gulls.

Friday 1/22: Duck ponds, 4 hoodies in with the mallards.

Saturday 1/23: Went to Cape Ann with my parents and a friend. Most of the usual stuff, missed King Eider and a few of the gulls. Did get 2 Peregrines on the tower, many Harlequins, and 2 Iceland Gulls including this adult:

Iceland

Sunday 1/24: Stayed in. Great Black-backed Gull was yard bird #26 for the year, lots and lots of the usual stuff in very quick waves.

Monday 1/25: Raining. Quick check of Hardy Pond had a few gulls and some mallards flying around. Did have 6 Red-wings fly over at work.

WIR 1/12-1/18

Tuesday 1/12: Checked the duck pond. Bunch of mallards, 1 hairy, not much else in 15 minutes.

Wednesday 1/13: Charles, more of the same plus 5 Fish Crows.

Thursday 1/14: Paine, nothing different.

Friday 1/15: Beaver Brook North, nothing different.

Saturday 1/16: Took a long walk to Lot 1 and then the West Meadow. Two red-wings at Lot 1 were the highlight, although lots of regular stuff.

Sunday 1/17: Checked Rock Meadow in the morning, 2 bluebirds, 2 Carolina Wrens, lots of regular stuff. Led the Waltham Land Trust duck walk along the Charles in the afternoon. All the regular stuff (minus the goldeneye) were there and a Lesser Scaup was a very nice surprise. A big crowd as well.

Scaup

Monday 1/18: Snowed, stayed in taking photos (see next post).

WIR 1/5-1/11

Tuesday 1/5: Kestrel on the way to work. Charles again at lunch. Carolina Wren and Hairy were about the only things different.

Wednesday 1/6: Cooper’s keeping everything down in the yard before work. Paine at lunch: red-belly, creeper. Sharpie in one of the trees in the courtyard at work.

Thursday 1/7: Charles at Moody St: one tagged gull. Charles at Elm St: nothing different.

Friday 1/8: Waverly Oaks Marsh had nothing so did a quick Screech-Owl run.

Saturday 1/9: Charles again and again nothing different. The Common Merganser below did pose nicely at least. Also had 19 species in the yard.

Merganser Preening

And stretching

Sunday 1/10: Pretty much stayed in, quick check for the ravens late in the afternoon (mostly to show someone where they are, saw nothing on the ride).

Monday 1/11: Beaver Brook North: Flicker, 2 Tree Sparrows, Red-belly. New Beaver Brook/Rock Meadow Patch page

WIR 12/29-1/4

Tuesday 12/29: Too cold to go out, plus free lunch at work so no reason to go out.

Wednesday 12/30: Beaver Brook Ponds: Kingfisher (don’t understand, the Charles is totally open and there’s no kingfishers but I’ve found two in the last few days in spots that I could leap over the open water).

Thursday 12/31: Took a quick trip over to the Mystic Lakes (for Great Cormorant and eagles). Not a whole lot there, a quick walk at Sandy Beach had 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, a few hoodies, and a red-wing or two. Saw some ducks on the river at the other rotary on the way home, so pulled in and stopped for a minute. More hoodies and a Ring-neck among the mallards and swans. Started snowing then, but decided to stop at Dunback anyway. Snow was much worse there and I gave up after a brief search of the pines. Only thing of note was a big flock of White-throats foraging about 15 feet up in the pines.

Friday 1/1: Goldfinch for bird #1. Did the BBC trip, Laura’s report is up. Highlights: Ipswich Sparrow, Snowy Owl, Glaucous Gull, flock of Razorbills.

Saturday 1/2: Basically snowed in but ran out for a few minutes after hearing that a raven was on the deer carcass at the Cambridge Res. Took a bit of searching to find the carcass, but the bird was still there (no spot to stop though so no pictures).

Sunday 1/3: Snowed in again, nothing different for the yard but enough to be entertaining.

Monday 1/4: Charles at lunch for the Barrow’s Goldeneye that has reappeared. No goldeneye at all but 2 swans, 7 ring-necks, and a few Hooded and Common Mergansers made it a worthwhile trip.

Waltham Winter List 2009

Once again, taking an idea from the Canadians, here’s a December-February list for Waltham. Dates and locations are the first sighting. Birds in bold are my first Dec-Feb sighting in Waltham.

2007-2008

2008-2009

The List:

  1. Canada Goose (12/2, yard)
  2. Mute Swan (12/5, HP)
  3. Wood Duck (12/13, Purgatory Cove)
  4. American Wigeon (12/5, HP)
  5. American Black Duck (12/13, Purgatory Cove)
  6. Mallard (12/5, HP)
  7. Green-winged Teal (12/5, HP)
  8. Ring-necked Duck (12/19, Charles)
  9. Lesser Scaup (1/17, Charles)
  10. Common Goldeneye (12/23, Charles)
  11. Hooded Merganser (12/5, HP)
  12. Common Merganser (12/5, HP)
  13. Double-crested Cormorant (12/10, Lyman Pond)
  14. Great Blue Heron (12/5, HP)
  15. Turkey Vulture (2/20, Charlesbank)
  16. Bald Eagle (12/18, Purgatory Cove)
  17. Sharp-shinned Hawk (12/13, yard)
  18. Cooper’s Hawk (12/6, yard)
  19. Red-tailed Hawk (12/8, Lexington St)
  20. American Kestrel (12/26, Lot 1)
  21. American Coot (12/13, Charlesbank)
  22. Ring-billed Gull (12/1, WHS)
  23. Herring Gull (12/5, HP)
  24. Lesser Black-backed Gull (2/2, Purgatory Cove)
  25. Great Black-backed Gull (12/5, HP)
  26. Rock Pigeon (12/4, WHS)
  27. Mourning Dove (12/1, Paine)
  28. Eastern Screech-Owl (1/8)
  29. Great Horned Owl (12/4, Miriam)
  30. Belted Kingfisher (12/5, HP)
  31. Red-bellied Woodpecker (12/2, WHS)
  32. Downy Woodpecker (12/1, yard)
  33. Hairy Woodpecker (12/4, Beaver Brook North)
  34. Northern Flicker (12/18, Purgatory Cove)
  35. Blue Jay (12/1)
  36. American Crow (12/1, yard)
  37. Fish Crow (1/13, Charles)
  38. Common Raven (1/2, Cambridge Res)
  39. Black-capped Chickadee (12/1, Paine)
  40. Tufted Titmouse (12/1, Paine)
  41. Red-breasted Nuthatch (12/7, Paine)
  42. White-breasted Nuthatch (12/1, Paine)
  43. Brown Creeper (12/7, Paine)
  44. Carolina Wren (12/13, Purgatory Cove)
  45. Winter Wren (12/25, Lot 1)
  46. Golden-crowned Kinglet (12/1, Paine)
  47. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2/19, Lot 1)
  48. American Robin (12/1, yard)
  49. Northern Mockingbird (12/2, yard)
  50. European Starling (12/2, yard)
  51. Cedar Waxwing (12/14, Lot 1)
  52. American Tree Sparrow (12/18, Beaver Brook North)
  53. Chipping Sparrow (12/19, Gore Place)
  54. Song Sparrow (12/8, Charles)
  55. White-throated Sparrow (12/1, yard)
  56. Dark-eyed Junco (12/1, yard)
  57. Northern Cardinal (12/1, yard)
  58. Red-winged Blackbird (12/2, WHS)
  59. Common Grackle (12/14, Lot 1)
  60. Common Chaffinch (12/1, yard)
  61. House Finch (12/5, yard)
  62. American Goldfinch (12/2, yard)
  63. House Sparrow (12/1, yard)
  64. Can’t say yet

Big misses: Barrow’s Goldeneye, Tufted Duck

Cumulative total: 86

And new this year:

  1. Autumn Meadowhawk (12/4, Beaver Brook North)