Category: nature

Wednesday 3/19: Barred Owl, pair of Common Mergansers, a Ring-neck, and a bluebird at BBN.

Thursday 3/20: Lesser Scaup, eagle, usual at Forest Grove. Nothing much on Norumbega and just mergansers on the res.

Friday 3/21: Raining a bit too hard for Fresh Pond, so went out to Nine Acre where it was almost sunny. Nothing much there, couple Bufflehead at Flint’s, couple eagles at Spy Pond, nothing on the Mystic Lakes. Walked a bit of Arlington Res, lots of ducks but no snipe.

Saturday 3/22: Ended up fairly local. Alewife had a couple Rusties but not much else. Couldn’t find the Horned Grebe at Fresh Pond but had a loon. Woodcock was a surprise at Waltham St., snipe was expected. Tried a hawkwatch at Prospect Hill but the wind was really coming over the side and I wasn’t seeing much. Nothing exciting at the res.

Sunday 3/23: Started at Belle Isle. Lawn Ave had very little (interesting small hawk took off too fast). Gadwall and the shovelers were visible from the boardwalk but it was far too windy, so I headed inland. No Pileated at Allandale Woods but did have a Fox Sparrow and bunch of Turkey Vultures. First pass at Millennium didn’t turn up the Eurasian Teal but did have an eagle hovering by the canoe launch. Walked down to Brook Farm without much beyond FOY garter snake. Came back and the teal was right out in the open. Couldn’t find any of the common-ish stuff I needed to hit 100 for Suffolk in March though.

Monday 3/24: Horned Grebe was at the south end of the Mystic Lakes and a few cormorants were visible, so I decided to move on instead of walking up to the dam. Arlington Res had the scaup (obviously a Greater today) and a surprise yellowlegs.

Tuesday 3/25: Wigeon, 2 eagles, 2 Fish Crow, 2 Rusty, not much else at Great Meadows.

Wednesday 3/12: Started at Drumlin. Gave the Lark Sparrow 20 minutes, then walked the drumlin and down to Boyce Field. Pileated calling was about the only thing of note. Went back to the sparrow and Eva was photographing it just out of sight from where I had been standing. Buzzed through Nine Acre without much then checked the res (mergs but didn’t care to scope) and Hardy (same).

Thursday 3/13: Great Meadows had a few ducks (4 Gadwall at Borden the most interesting), an eagle, a good number of Tree Swallows and blackbirds, and a woodcock (which was somehow a new Concord bird for me).

Friday 3/14: Usual stuff at Arlington Res, Peregrine with food the best. Usual ducks at the res and at Hardy.

Saturday 3/15: Went out to the western part of the county for some town listing. Started with the Red-headed Woodpecker, which showed up as I walked up the power lines. Also got Wood Duck here. Remembered there was a pond nearby with a boat launch so drove over. It was frozen, but there was an otter on the ice so I got out and was rewarded with a calling sapsucker.

Next up was the river across from Fitch’s Bridge Rd. Got a bit lost on the way and there were no ducks but an eagle was nice (and the pigeon flying around the bridge leaving was new). Fitch’s Bridge Rd. had Killdeer, a few ducks, a ton of geese, a Savannah Sparrow, and several thousand blackbirds. That got me to 99 in Groton.

Went looking for other river access next, but the ones I could find were Pepperell. Marion Stoddard had a nice variety of ducks including all the expected diving ones, GW Teal, wigeon, etc. Also eagle, Pileated, Fox Sparrow, more blackbirds. Enough there to hit 99 in Pepperell too, so I went up to Heald St. hoping for one more. No luck but first of year phoebe and the overwintering Yellow-rumps were nice.

Back into Groton to Rocky Hill. The pond wasn’t terribly open but Ring-necks got me to 100. The swamp was pretty frozen too and had just geese and Mallard and not much in the woods. Skipped School St since the geese were gone and Flint’s was still frozen on the way home.

Sunday 3/16: Plan was to watch for migrating ducks and hawks on Water Row but it was foggy and not windy. Started on Pelham Island Rd and Heard Pond, both of which were pretty quiet. Went to Raymond next, Pileated and a few ducks. Thirty minutes at the overlook on Water Row didn’t have much, so I walked the road. Field Sparrow sang by the FWS buildings and a Pine Warbler popped up, both early arrivals or overwintering birds? A few ducks were at the north end but nothing exciting. School St had geese and Ring-billed Gulls, Flint’s had the usual ducks, and the res had an eagle and a few ducks.

Monday 3/17: Aborted a pond loop in the morning as the rain picked way up. Had to run out in the afternoon and gave Spy Pond and the Mystic Lakes a quick scan, DC Cormorant the only thing of note.

Tuesday 3/18: Ended up watching more baseball than I had planned, but had enough time to circle the ponds at Weston Station. Lots of ducks, a phoebe, not too much else.

Wednesday 3/5: Green-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, and a loon at Fresh Pond plus an eagle.

Thursday 3/6: Wood Duck, Tree Swallow, Pileated, couple eagles, etc at Great Meadows. Tiny bit of the res was open in the afternoon and had a bunch of mergansers and a few other ducks.

Friday 3/7: Too windy for much. Turkey Vulture over the Food Project fields, cowbirds at Nine Acre, and an eagle on the ice at the res.

Saturday 3/8: With no lapwing reports, started at Draw Seven. The Surf Scoters and a couple loons were still around but not much else. Since I was parked in the garage, I walked down to the platform at Sylvester Baxter too, lots of Bufflehead and Ruddy about it. Mystic Lakes next, walked from the south end up to the dam. Pintail, 300 mergansers, Greater Scaup, Great Cormorant, etc plus 4 eagles. Sandy Beach also had 4 eagles. Walked up through the pines without anything and came back to 8 on the ice. Went up to Melrose for a Snow Goose drive by, too windy to bother with checking the pond.

Sunday 3/9: Did a Worcester county loop. Probably a week too early as there was still more ice than open water. The Snow Geese were at Bolton Flats when I arrived although they flew off shortly after. Also a Pileated, 2 harriers, and lots of blackbirds. Wachusett was mostly frozen, a few goldeneye and mergansers near the spruce grove and a scaup and loon at Fletcher St. Decided that was enough and worked home, checking Delaney (frozen), School St (geese), Nine Acre (geese, Ring-necks, turkeys), and the res (mergansers).

Monday 3/10: Harrier was almost the first bird at Kaveski. Purple Finch was about the only other one of note though. Quick drive through Nine Acre and around the res had nothing worth writing down.

Tuesday 3/11: Killdeer over Cookson, nothing much by the square.

Wednesday 2/26: Blackbirds were in at BBN. Red-shoulder was flying around the West Meadow and a Green-winged Teal was on the pond.

Thursday 2/27: Usual along the riverwalk.

Friday 2/28: Fish Crow was about it at the Great Meadows skating rink but a Pileated flew across Virginia Rd on the way home.

Saturday 3/1: Started at Franklin Park where the Red-headed Woodpecker took 20 minutes to show up. Nothing else of note. Millennium next. River was dead and very few sparrows around, which made my goal of hitting 100 March Suffolk birds tough. Did get Hairy and Red-shoulder but still three short. Also GW Teal, Turkey Vulture, etc. Walked the boardwalk and powerline at Cutler Park next in case the Rough-leg was hanging out, Fish Crow the only thing of any interest. Gave the river and res a quick loop on the way home, nothing of any note.

Sunday 3/2: Rather cold and windy but started at Pelham Island Rd. Sun was also not good here but I picked out a pair of pintail. Wayland side of Water Row had a couple GW Teal. Walked the Sudbury side, nothing particularly interesting. Buzzed over to Mill Pond in Maynard next, no pintail but Common Merganser was an addition. School St had lots of geese and a vulture, as did Nine Acre.

Monday 3/3: Lesser Scaup was the most interesting duck at Forest Grove, usual landbirds too.

Tuesday 3/4: Usual at BBN.

Wednesday 2/19: Quick check of Watertown Square had a RB Merg and most of the usual ducks, too icy to have time to check more fully.

Thursday 2/20: River walk had a whole flock of scaup, a few goldeneye, and various other ducks.

Friday 2/21: Stopped at Drumlin and got the Lark Sparrow after 15 minutes or so. Bunch of robins at Nashwatuc but little else at Nine Acre. No room to pull over at School St.

Saturday 2/22: Got car issues straightened out enough to go to Dunback late morning. Yellow-rump in the pines but not much else.

Sunday 2/23: Started at Draw Seven where there were 4 Common and a Red-throated loon, 2 Surf Scoters, and not too much else. DCR work has removed a lot of the trees, hopefully more will be planted. Continued to Belle Isle where a field trip was assembling so I went to the greenway and cemetery instead. Not too much around, 4 grackles were a year bird and a GB Heron was a Suffolk year bird. Planned on Revere Beach next but I climbed one of the rocks at the greenway parking and saw very few gulls so went to Winthrop Beach instead. About 20 Snow Buntings were in the grasses near the entrance, usual ducks otherwise. Went back to Belle Isle and did a loop, basically geese and gulls away from the feeders. Still early so stopped at the Mystic Lakes on the way home. Goldeneye was the most interesting duck but there was a decent variety at the river.

Monday 2/24: Two sapsuckers, a couple grackles, a few Red-wings, no warblers at Mt. Auburn. FOY Chipmunk too. Grackle over the yard first.

Tuesday 2/25: Weston Station Pond had a Killdeer fly over and a bunch of grackles plus the Peregrine perched on the way out.

Wednesday 2/12: No luck with the warblers again at Mt. Auburn but did have a sharpie and sapsucker along with a Coyote.

Thursday 2/13: Too slushy.

Friday 2/14: 30 minutes at School St had zero birds (did see some larks at Wetherbee driving by. Single merganser at Nine Acre, nothing at the res.

Saturday 2/15: Found no better option than the Swainson’s, so Good Harbor it was. Cold and windy and no bird for about an hour, so I bailed and went to Halibut. Horribly icy and didn’t look like much on the water. Lots of robins were about it on land. Got word that the hawk had returned so drove back. Looked the the waiting crowd had left and everyone there had arrived at the same time. Fortunately it flew through someone’s scope quickly and we followed it until it landed way out. Watched it preen a bit, then went to Jodrey for the usual (no interesting gulls).

Sunday 2/16: Too snowy/rainy/icy.

Monday 2/17: Too windy/icy.

Tuesday 2/18: Too icy.

Wednesday 2/5: Hermit Thrush was about it at Hanscom, but a Fox Sparrow at Gaining Ground on the way back was nice.

Thursday 2/6: Too snowy/wet.

Friday 2/7: Same stuff along the river plus the eagle was right by the footbridge and a Peregrine on Cronin’s.

Saturday 2/8: Did a bit of a coastal loop. Started at Nut Island where the King Eider was almost close. Wollaston didn’t have anything obvious, so on to Squantum Point Park. Nice group of sparrows down the Boston Scientific trail including a Fox and Swamp but little else. Castle Island next, spent 30 minutes staring at a bird on the mound at Logan that was probably a harrier. No shorebirds, no Barrow’s, maybe the northern Eider. On the way back, the Rough-leg hovered for a minute. Decided to make the run up to King’s Beach from there. Lesser Black-back was one of the first birds I got on and an Iceland came in later but no Kamchatka or anything else.

Sunday 2/9: Too snowy

Monday 2/10: Great Meadows parking wasn’t cleared, Meriam’s and Brooks weren’t cleared, so Hartwell it was. Nothing exciting as expected there but good to walk a bit.

Tuesday 2/11: Pintail but no shoveler at the Mystic Lakes. A few hoodies and not much else at the duck ponds.

Wednesday 1/29: Nothing much east of or by Watertown Square.

Thursday 1/30: Nothing much at Falzone or the West Meadow.

Friday 1/31: Riverwalk up to Prospect St was pretty quiet but had a Lesser Scaup and heard the Yellow-rump on the way back.

Saturday 2/1: Lazy

Sunday 2/2: Went to Horn Pond to complete the year for thrasher. Spent 30 minutes not seeing it before I realized it had moved to the gardens, at which point I had it within 5 minutes. Also a few waxwings, not too much else. Went to Earhart after (Draw Seven parking closed) and had nothing of note.

Monday 2/3: BBN had 3 Hoodies but was otherwise quiet.

Tuesday 2/4: Dunback was a skating rink. Bunch of bluebirds and a couple red-wings out along Bacon were nice. At least 2 Yellow-rumps were calling in the woods. On the way back, the White-crowned Sparrow that has been reported a couple times over the winter popped up. With a very bright bill, so likely a Gambel’s!