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.