Category: nature

WIR 3/1-3/7

Monday 3/1: Busy with family things but took a quick walk over to Hardy Pond. Almost totally frozen still but a few gulls, geese, mallards, and swans in the little open water.

Tuesday 3/2: BBN, nothing of note (other than what appeared to be the remains of a deer carcass).

Wednesday 3/3: Charles was very windy but 3 Great Cormorants were very nice (two adults with spectacular color). Also 5 ring-necks and 2 goldeneye.

Thursday 3/4: Checked more of the Charles (Woerd Ave and Charlesbank) with absolutely nothing (snowing and strong wind though). Lots of song in the yard though.

Friday 3/5: Beaver Brook ponds, nothing much. Got out of work a little early and tried to take a quick run to Nine Acre Corner and Water Row. NAC was too trafficy and no teal were obvious. Water Row (and River Rd) were flooded and closed and by the time I detoured around and got to the Old 27 Bridge it was getting too dark. And there were no ducks (a few red-wings and muskrats were about it).

Saturday 3/6: At the Birder’s Meeting most of the day. Skipped the last session and poked around a bit but nothing of any note.

Sunday 3/7: Caught up with the Menotomy walk at Dunback in time for 4 Turkey Vultures. Wandered over to Great Meadows and the to Heard Pond after. Great Meadows was flooded but scanning from the tower for 30 minutes revealed a few ducks and one Bald Eagle flying by. Nine Acre Corner had a few Green-winged Teal but no luck with the Eurasian. Water Row had a few ducks way out but nothing I could make into anything Heard Pond was frozen. Cambridge Res on the way home had 2 Ring-necks and 9 Common Mergansers.

WIR 2/22-2/28

Monday 2/22: Beaver Brook Ponds, few Hoodies, many robins, 1 grackle, etc. Red-wings singing at work and at the end of the street.

Tuesday 2/23: Checked Woerd Ave and some South St. Charles sites without anything of note.

Wednesday 2/24: Decided to be crazy and check the Charles in the rain. Four goldeneye, 2 ring-necks and not much else.

Thursday 2/25: Wasn’t quite so rainy so hit Lyman Pond. Just short of nothing there but a calling Hairy Woodpecker was a new bird for the site for me (or not, had one on the CBC and didn’t update my spreadsheet).

Friday 2/26: Paine at lunch. Dodged mud and ice to find a big flock of robins and red-wings by the big vernal pool.

Saturday 2/27: Stayed in, nothing of interest.

Sunday 2/28: Mystic Lakes: 5 Great Cormorants, a few ducks. Two pairs of red-tails but no eagles.

WIR 2/15-2/21

There’s a gap from Texas.

Monday 2/15: Important guests for breakfast then finally caught up with the easy Saw-whet in Burlington that all my friends have seen already. In the afternoon, got the Tufted Duck on the Wayland/Sudbury line, very glad that he hung around until I got back.

Tuesday 2/16: Went to the duck ponds at lunch but the sleet and snow picked up, so didn’t get out of the car and didn’t find anything driving around a bit.

Wednesday 2/17: Charles at lunch. Scaup still around with 15 ring-necks spread out. Two Common Mergansers. First Wood Ducks of the year hiding on the other side. Both Sharpie and Cooper’s in the yard.

Thursday 2/18: Moody St at lunch, nothing of note. Sharpie over Kingston and the same Cooper’s in the yard again.

Friday 2/19: Lot 1 at lunch. A total of 5 individual birds but one was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet so I was fairly happy.

Saturday 2/20: Looking for the Tufted Duck found on the Charles yesterday (why didn’t I go at lunch). No luck with that, but Turkey Vulture, 3 Bufflehead, 2 Grackles, and many Red-winged Blackbirds weren’t bad.

Sunday 2/21: Checked the Charles again without much of anything.

Consecutive Photos

Back from a fantastic trip to Texas. Much more coming soon, but after last year’s Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl/Ivory Gull back to back

2009

I got another odd combo. Probably actually a bit more likely as the two birds were close together and many others made the drive from one to the next:

2010

Unfortunately the first shot of the second bird wasn’t the best (it’s the dark blob facing away to the right of the coot), so I’ll include a later one that’s just a bit better.

Jacana

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.