WIR 8/19-8/25

Wednesday 8/19: Falzone and West Meadow were fairly quiet. Hummingbird around the yard in the evening.

Thursday 8/20: More or less the usual at Hobbs Brook, Prairie, 3 Hoodies among the most interesting. Red-spotted Purple in the yard was new for the yard.

Friday 8/21: Quiet at Watertown Square, 5 minutes at the duck ponds had the usual sandpipers.

Saturday 8/22: Attempted a south shore loop. Squantum marshes had lots of peep but all in the sun. Too many cars at Squaw Rock. Went to Scituate Reservoir but looked like parking was all roadside and busy traffic, so gave up. Great Pond still had high water. Grebe was still at the res, Peregrine at Hobbs Brook (but no night-heron).

Sunday 8/23: Quick check of Nobscot had not much. Hager Land and Have Not Pond in Boxborough had the usual birds, got a decent number for the town list. Drive by off Hobbs Brook had a couple Lesser Yellowlegs.

Monday 8/24: Construction meant Hobbs Brook was the easiest place to hit. Egret and one night-heron at the Mill St marsh, couple Semipalmated Sandpipers among the Leasts, and a flyover Pileated.

Tuesday 8/25: Zabulon Skipper and lots of kingbirds at Dunback. Five nighthawks over the house later.

WIR 8/12-8/18

Wednesday 8/12: Broad-wing at Rock Meadow, couple Least, 5 Solitary, a Black-and-white, and a waterthrush at the Duck Ponds.

Thursday 8/13: Least, Solitary, Spotted, lots of Killdeer plus an egret and patch tick Pileated finally at Hobbs Brook. Nothing at the res.

Friday 8/14: Usual at College Pond.

Saturday 8/15: Not much at Pelham Island Rd or Nobscot. No terns, the interesting small gulls at Wachusett were too far out. Marsh Wren and Lesser Yellowlegs were Worcester county birds at Sterling Peat. Too cloudy along the Nashua for odes. Semipalmated Plovers at Hobbs Brook.

Sunday 8/16: Nothing of note but lots of birds at Sandy Beach. Pretty quiet at Earhart, a small flock of peep got away. Afternoon wander of Merrill’s neighborhood in Magnolia had a Bank Swallow among other things.

Monday 8/17: Virginia Rail, Bobolink, not too much else at Great Meadows.

Tuesday 8/18: Pair of Red-shoulders, Redstart, usual at BBN.

WIR 8/5-8/11

Wednesday 8/5: Quick check of the res and Flint’s had nothing, so rushed out to Wachusett. Also Worcester county Snowy Egret and Bonaparte’s Gull.

Thursday 8/6: Prospect Hill was very quiet but a Red-shoulder was apparently new for the park list. Didn’t see any Red-bellied Tiger Beetles in a quick check.

Friday 8/7: Young eagle and a Vesper Bluet about it at Forest Grove.

Saturday 8/8: Nothing much at Nahanton. Bunch of Semipalmated Plovers the best at Millennium. No parking at Ponkapoag which is where I actually was trying to go, so eventually ended up at the Charles River Peninsula which was quiet.

Sunday 8/9: Hobbs Brook was fairly quiet but a bit of mud is starting to show up. Nothing too exciting at Hanscom either. Cranberry Bog was quite slow, good tiger beetle show but little else.

Monday 8/10: Nothing exciting at BBN.

Tuesday 8/11: Gnatcatcher was a migrant at Dunback and Bobolink was a Cambridge Region pre-work year bird.

386

Glad at least one pelagic came close enough and stuck around.

Sooty Tern

Also “commute” #230 (and Bonaparte’s Gull was #231)!

WIR 7/29-8/4

Wednesday 7/29: Had to stop by Habitat so walked around a bit. RB Nuthatch along the road and the goats were about it. Solitary at the duck ponds after.

Thursday 7/30: White-throat was a real surprise at Dunback, my first in July.

Friday 7/31: Nothing at Falzone, which left enough time to check Hardy (nothing) and the res (PB Grebe was back, which means 140 up for the Cambridge region pre-work list).

Saturday 8/1: Quick check of the parkway marsh at BBN had a few sandpipers. Draw Seven was quiet. Debated skipping Earhart but decided it was right there, so pulled in. Headed towards the casino side and noticed a whiter-looking gull where the mud would be if it wasn’t high tide. Worked around to get a better angle and it looked pretty good for a white-winger and Glaucous on size. Eventually flew over the dam (more or less got flight shots). Doubled back pretty quickly and got some much better views. First “inland” summer record for the state as far as I can tell (and there’s only one other nationally with a quick eyeball of the ebird map). Continued to Belle Isle, which was a waste (less so than looping Winthrop and Revere Beaches and finding no parking first).

Sunday 8/2: Finally got the central-ish MA swing in. Whitehall Res had one loon but no chicks visible. Hummingbird and eagle the other birds of note. Next was the Cedar Swamp in Holliston. Trail cleared a bit since I was last here. Too cloudy for odes unfortunately, Lilypad Forktail the most interesting (so not very). A few birds, nothing much there either. Looked for a spot in Ashland to stop but didn’t find anything worthwhile, so continued to Pelham Island Rd. Single Spotted and Solitary on the river was about it.

Monday 8/3: Quick check of Watertown Square was extremely quiet.

Tuesday 8/4: Regular shorebirds at BBN, nothing much else. All the Sooty Tern reports came in just as I finished work for the day so ran over to Cambridge Res. No terns but 3 yellowlegs and 3 dowitchers were nice (dowitchers especially since they were res #178 and Waltham #221).

Dowitchers

WIR 7/22-7/28

Wednesday 7/22: 14 Ibis over Great Meadows.

Thursday 7/23: Too humid, family of Cooper’s at West Meadow, nothing at the duck ponds.

Friday 7/24: College Pond had a Winter Wren.

Saturday 7/25: Usual at Horn Pond, still just one Solitary at BBN. Monarch up in Gloucester.

Sunday 7/26: Heard Farm had a flyover ibis among other things plus a few Monarchs. Nothing new at the bridge. Blair Pond looked like the water level was up. Nothing at the res.

Monday 7/27: No crossbills at Mt. Misery.

Tuesday 7/28: A few more of the common shorebirds at BBN plus a hairstreak.

WIR 7/15-7/21

Wednesday 7/15: Fairly quiet at Great Meadows, although a few GW Teal were my earliest fall arrival.

Thursday 7/16: Broad-wing at BBN.

Friday 7/17: Errands and rain. Quick run along the Charles in Watertown had nothing. Very quick stop at the duck ponds had a high Osprey.

Saturday 7/18: Should have gone inland today but made a Squantum run. Stilt Sandpiper was almost the closest bird in the pans and an ibis flew over. Fairly quiet otherwise. Nut Island was dead. Quick scan of Wollaston didn’t have the Piping Plovers but I wasn’t going to search if they’ve left the enclosure. Fish kill by Earhart meant 600+ gulls, nothing interesting among them.

Sunday 7/19: Hop Brook and the Desert didn’t have much for interesting bugs. Stopped at Pelham Island Rd on the way home and had a singing marsh Wren. Mud flat at the river looked good but nothing beyond a Killdeer on it. Pied-billed Grebe at the res was interesting too.

Monday 7/20: Too steamy at Dunback, basically nothing but robins.

Tuesday 7/21: Solitary at BBN was about the only new thing.

WIR 7/8-7/14

Wednesday 7/8: Usual at BBN.

Thursday 7/9: Usual at Forest Grove, still lots of tree damage from last Thursday so didn’t do the Flowed Meadow loop.

Friday 7/10: Usual at Hobbs Brook, both orioles together were nice.

Saturday 7/11: Quiet at Mary Cummings Park. Nothing in a brief stop at Parker Meadow. Not much better luck with Comet Darner photos at Healthpoint but did have good views and an ovipositing Unicorn Clubtail.

Sunday 7/12: Concord Butterfly count. Did Acton as usual. Awful butterfly numbers but some other interesting insects including a Martha’s Pennant.

Monday 7/13: Indigo Bunting was about it at Rock Meadow, Green Heron at the duck ponds.

Tuesday 7/14: Finally checked out the Weston Station Pond area. Couple Orchard Orioles and a Broad-wing plus another weasel.

WIR 7/1-7/7

Wednesday 7/1: Usual at Falzone and West Meadow.

Thursday 7/2: No odd kingbird along the Charles in Watertown.

Friday 7/3: Eagle but no Cliff Swallows at Nine Acre. Nothing at Gore or along the Charles in Watertown.

Saturday 7/4: Started at Draw Seven. Really good tern show and finally got Big Bluet on that side of the river. Earhart side was more of the same. Sun came out, so went to Arlington Great Meadows. Black-and-white Warbler was a nice surprise to start and then had a half dozen or more different robber flies plus a few butterflies, etc.

Sunday 7/5: Out to Ashby for the first time in a little while. Blood Hill didn’t have juncos or any less expected warblers but Red Crossbills were flying over and a sapsucker was also a month bird. Met up with Alan at Willard Brook, which had jewelwings, Least Clubtails, and little else. Townsend State Forest had most of the usual odes plus a Golden-winged Skimmer.

Monday 7/6: Kaveski/Meriam’s loop had the usual.

Tuesday 7/7: Eagle, close raven, and expected stuff at Farm Meadow.