Category: nature

Wednesday 9/13: Red-shoulder, Least Flycatcher, and a Savannah or two at Kaveski. Surprisingly, the Least was new for Concord.

Thursday 9/14: Worked BBN for Ryan Doherty’s Golden-wing with Marshall and Ryan S. No luck with that but plenty of other warblers and a Philadelphia Vireo.

Friday 9/15: Tried BBN again. Did the parkway first, first Lincoln’s Sparrow of the fall among lots of Chipping. Little less activity elsewhere, warblers were probably close to screech-owled out but did have a BT Blue that we didn’t have yesterday.

Saturday 9/16: Started working Cambridge and Arlington. Danehy fairly dead but a Bobolink and pewee were Cambridge additions. Alewife was also fairly quiet, couple Parula and another pewee. Spy Pond was dead. Tried Mt. Pleasant/Meadowbrook. Only did the area around the stream and added 2 birds to the site ebird list: Canada Warbler and Solitary Sandpiper. Also had a Prairie for Arlington. Continued to McClellen, which had Wood Duck, Green Heron, and another Solitary. Very little at Hobbs Brook (10 Killdeer, 2 Least, 1 kayaker). Waltham St. was quiet, eventually did turn up the expected Dickcissel. Catbird in the yard was the first in a while.

Sunday 9/17: Led the MBC walk at BBN. Fog never really cleared and the scold tape attracted nothing but chickadees. Did have a few uncooperative Nashvilles, a Blackpoll, a couple grosbeaks, and an oriole. Renee and I continued to Dunback to look for Marj’s MacGillivray’s. Nothing doing with that or the Connecticut further down. Did have 2 Broad-wings on the way out. Checked Hobbs Brook again, Solitary and Lesser Yellowlegs plus a bunch of teal (all Green-winged I think).

Monday 9/18: Went back to Dunback. Two Merlins but little else around the MacGillivray’s spot. Was told that Chris Floyd had the Golden-winged on the way out, so doubled back for 30 seconds without any luck.

Tuesday 9/19: Early oil change meant I had time to scan the 2 cormorants and 7 geese at the res. Buzzed Heard Pond on the way home and added 5 more cormorants.

Wednesday 9/6: Fairly quiet at College Pond, few redstarts, a Black-and-white, etc.

Thursday 9/7: Too much traffic to get to Wayland, so stopped at Lindentree. Pretty quiet, Merlin probably a good part of the reason why.

Friday 9/8: Magnolia, raven, not a lot else at Heard Farm.

Saturday 9/9: Made another Suffolk county run. Deer Island was a disappointment, one redstart the extent of the land birding and nothing much on the water. Flythrough Sanderling was technically a county bird. Continued to Fisherman’s Bend Park where it took an hour for one of the Marbled Godwits to come out. Good number of Black-bellied Plovers, SB Dowitchers, oystercatchers, and turnstones too. On to Winthrop Beach. Not a ton of variety but more (or the same) oystercatchers and a Western Sandpiper were nice.

Sunday 9/10: Parula and 5 Field Sparrows about it at the Massport trails. Eagle and nothing at Great Meadows. Little bit of mud at Hobbs Brook, both yellowlegs, a Least, and first of fall wigeon. First of fall White-throat at Waltham St.

Monday 9/11: Bay-breasted, Parula, bunch of redstarts and Black-and-whites at BBN. Then went running. Unfortunately not for a Common Ringed Plover but for 2 Mute Swans going over.

Tuesday 9/12: Red-shoulder at Forest Grove, between the landscapers, the water chestnut machine, and everything else, it was a bit too noisy otherwise.

Wednesday 8/30: Quiet at Great Meadows other than one large plover that called a couple times.

Thursday 8/31: Olive-sided at Nobscot.

Friday 9/1: After struggling for any migrant warblers beyond Redstart and Black-and-white all August, there was a big flock at BBN this morning included 2 Parula, 1 Blackburnian, 1 BT Green, 1-2 Magnolia, and a Chestnut-sided plus 3 redstart, a Black-and-white, a yellowthroat, 3 gnatcatchers, and a flyover Osprey. Five BW Teal at Flint’s on the way home.

Saturday 9/2: A few warblers at Dunback in the morning. Afternoon walk around Otis State Forest had 10 including Cape May, 2 Tennessee, and a Bay-breasted.

Sunday 9/3: Got stir-crazy and made a quick trip to Colebrook River Lake. Connecticut side was moderately birdy with a Great Egret and Bald Eagle on the lake and Blackburnian among the warblers on the road. Nothing on the MA side though. Too rainy after that.

Monday 9/4: Horn Pond had a few yellowlegs, a BW Teal, and a Wilson’s Warbler. Nothing exciting at Mary Cummings and nothing at Mill Pond. Went back out in the afternoon to look for the Golden-wing at Nahanton. Nothing much there, but a bunch of shorebirds, some nighthawks, and an eagle at Millennium were nice.

Tuesday 9/5: Prospect Hill gate was closed so had to hike up. Multiple BT Greens, a few redstarts, and not much else.

Wednesday 8/23: GW Teal at Forest Grove, little else.

Thursday 8/24: Surprisingly little at BBN, 3 Solitaries in the marsh finally.

Friday 8/25: Greater Yellowlegs was the highlight at Heard Farm.

Saturday 8/26: Went out to Townsend. Seven warblers in the state forest, although all but redstart were ones I have had in summer before. Flushed Ruffed Grouse was easily bird of the day. Side trip to NH without finding any quick sites worth checking, so back to Townsend Hill WMA. The woods were fenced off but an eagle over as I walked in was nice.

Sunday 8/27: Joined the MBC walk at Horn Pond. Ten Woburn year birds and first Common Nighthawk overall but fairly quiet. There were a few sandpipers by the gardens. Continued to Earhart where there were a ton of Semipalmated Sandpipers but not much else. On to Winthrop Beach, tide was totally wrong so other than a couple Laughing Gulls and one Spotted Sandpiper there was nothing of interest. Belle Isle was equally dead, so I went down to Squantum where there had been a Wilson’s Phalarope. Found that pretty quickly, worked down to the end of the marshes and did a quick email check. Caspian Terns on the spit opposite some street. There’s a spit, and there’s a Caspian Tern. And an oystercatcher. And among the other things I checked, a Red-necked Phalarope was also at the pans earlier (what was the one that dropped towards the back just before the Wilson’s came in?). Walked back and found Linda, and then Vin and company. Added 2 White-rumps and 2 Westerns but no Red-neck.

Monday 8/28: Kicked myself for not checking ebird alerts yesterday afternoon, so no phalarope at Forest Grove. Osprey over Comm Ave at least.

Tuesday 8/29: Rock Meadow was on the quiet side. Lots of Song Sparrows and finches, a few vireos, a couple redstarts, and a flyover kingfisher. Quick run around the duck ponds had a Solitary and a waterthrush.

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.