Putting a bit of effort into getting a patch list to 200. Which will be first? Beaver Brook/Rock Meadow at 166, Charles at 162, or Cambridge Res at 166? The answer is Great Meadows at 195. However of those 3, it’s a tough call. I suspect the res, mostly because it has the largest number of common birds missing (2 sparrows, 6+ warblers, 2 thrushes, 2 swallows, 2-3 vireos, a couple flycatchers, a couple shorebirds, a few raptors) plus a decent number of somewhat expected rarities (mostly waterfowl and shorebirds). The Charles is about the same but with the cove cleaned up, the potential for shorebirds seems to have gone down. BBN just doesn’t have the habitat for waterbirds and I’ve seen most of the expected land birds.
That leads in to this week. If I wrote this last Monday, the Res list was 162. Two visits to Hobbs Brook (mostly hoping for Cliff and Bank Swallow) added 4 species. Three were somewhat expected: Blue-winged Warbler, Prairie Warbler, and Black-billed Cuckoo (all heard only unfortunately). The fourth was a bit better. Walking back to the car, a Hooded Warbler started singing! Lousy light and lots of trees made photos impossible though.