Wednesday 4/2: Pileated, Barred Owl, Pine Warbler, towhee, etc at Hanscom.
Thursday 4/3: No gull flight here but 2 LT Ducks on Cambridge Res. Flint’s, Nine Acre, School St, Hardy all without much. Afternoon pass of Hardy and the res had nothing.
Friday 4/4: Nothing on the res. Warblers were in at BBN including a few Palm and a Pine (and Cliff had Yellow-rumps too). Swans were on the pond and a meadowlark was a surprise flyby on the way out. Drove through Potter Pond for turkeys and then followed one of the swans down Trapelo.
Saturday 4/5: Started at Horn Pond. Fox Sparrow, FOY Osprey, Peregrine (new for me here somehow), Bald Eagle, Pine Warbler, cooperative Winter Wren, etc but not the main target. Decided to work on my Wilmington list next. Silver Lake had 2 Ring-billed Gulls and 2 Hooded Mergansers, so that was a short stop. Decided to walk the area around the dog park and found it had a nice look at some wetlands. Bunch of swallows, a few ducks, lots of Pines and a Yellow-rump, a Rusty Blackbird, and a few other things. Bumped my list from 31 to 49 (sigh). Quick check of the res on the way home only had turkeys of note.
Sunday 4/6: Left in a downpour that wasn’t happening 2 minutes earlier as I was getting ready. Stopped at the res and didn’t see much before heading to Farm Pond. First scan had nothing but the pile of swans but walking out the causeway a flock of gulls came in: Bonaparte’s! They only spent about 10 minutes before drifting up and out. A couple Savannahs on the ground and a few mergansers were about it for birds, but an otter was a nice surprise.
Headed west from here to Sudbury Res. Pulled over on White Bagley and immediately had another block of Bonaparte’s. Decided to drive around and walk the rail bed. Gulls hung out but were far out and not too much else around. Decided from here that I should go to Great Meadows instead of heading to Westborough like originally planned. Paused at Heard and Nine Acre on the way and had nothing. Only gulls at Great Meadows were Great Black-backed. Also a snipe, a ton of swallows, a PB Grebe, and that was about it (plus the fighter jets from Friday’s Fenway flyover finally leaving). Rain eventually picked up and there didn’t seem to be anything coming in, so I moved.
Flint’s had some interesting shapes which quickly proved to be more Bonaparte’s. Sent Norm a text and got an immediate reply that he was (already) en route, so I waited. We walked over to the water department and got better views. Usual ducks otherwise and then the rain picked up again. Bunch of scaup were on the res passing by, nothing at Hardy.
Monday 4/7: Pond loop. Nothing at the res. Kingfisher at Flint’s but less ducks and no gulls. Nothing at Spy. Eagle in the tree at the Mystic Lakes. Loon at Fresh Pond. Nothing at Hardy.
Tuesday 4/8: Arlington Res had a couple Palms but otherwise was about the same as it’s been. Fought through traffic and had just enough time at Cambridge Res to scope a flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls.