WIR 10/23-10/29

Wednesday 10/23: Pond check turned up 4 Wood Ducks at the res and basically nothing else.

Thursday 10/24: No Grasshopper Sparrow at Kaveski, BH Vireo, 4 species of blackbirds the highlights.

Friday 10/25: Timing of the plumber meant I had to get ready early so went to Westborough. Nothing unusual, lots of common sparrows.

Saturday 10/26: Decided not to run out to Hadley. McClennen had nothing exciting. Late Solitary, Semipalmated Plover, and Nashville at Arlington Res plus a pipit. Late BT Green at Arlington Great Meadows. Very little at Waltham St and Hobbs Brook.

Sunday 10/27: Wasn’t raining early so hit Danehy for a bit. Marsh Wren was about the only thing of interest. Spy Pond in the rain had 150+ cormorants, Mystic Lakes had a flock of Hoodies.

Monday 10/28: Finally got to Farm Pond, which I’d been saying I should do all fall. Started out the causeway and pretty quickly flushed a very pale sparrow that looks good for Ipswich. My first in the county but the second one to be seen here. That took quite a bit of time, so I didn’t get to the north end. Did have a Bufflehead, 2 coots, and a pipit.

Tuesday 10/29: Nothing of note at Great Meadows.

WIR 10/16-10/22

Wednesday 10/16: Lots of the usual sparrows and Yellow-rumps at BBN but little else.

Thursday 10/17: Pond check had nothing but a few gulls at the res. Fortunately they lingered.

Friday 10/18: 3 geese at the res was it. Very late tanager, lots of Yellow-rumps, not a ton else at Forest Grove.

Saturday 10/19: Did a Plymouth county run which wasn’t the best. Elllisville Harbor was fairly good, at least along the marsh and beach. Marsh Wren, Forster’s Tern, tons of gannets, White-rumped Sandpiper, and more. The fields were quiet. Quick stop at Manomet Point had nothing, so went to Tidmarsh. Long walk around had White-crowned and Field Sparrows but still couldn’t get a Savannah. Manomet Point again was even slower, so tried Nelson Field, which also looked quiet. Checked hotspots towards home and tried the Duxbury Bogs. A bunch of Rusties and a few ducks and shorebirds but no sparrows. Buzzed the res on the way home and wasn’t surprised by 2 Black Scoters given the numbers elsewhere today.

Also lots of meadowhawks all over including an immature looking one, plus a late Bronzed(?) Tiger Beetle.

Sunday 10/20: Slight change in plans, instead of West Meadow then Rock Meadow I went straight to Rock Meadow. Also sapsucker and first local juncos of the fall. Then on to Milton. Fowl Meadow had a BT Blue, a really cooperative Red-shoulder, and lots of Yellow-rumps. Quick check of the res had a PB Grebe, Ruddy, and 4 Ring-necks.

Monday 10/21: Towhee was the best thing at Kaveski.

Tuesday 10/22: Nothing exciting at West Meadow, which left enough time to get the kingbird as commute #227.

220!

Can’t believe I didn’t wait for better sun this morning, but they didn’t go anywhere thankfully.

Laughing Gulls

Also res #175 (surprisingly not on my expected list in hindsight), commute #226.

WIR 10/9-10/15

Wednesday 10/9: Nor’easter didn’t quite materialize (at least the rain) but did a pond check anyway. Nothing on the res, absolutely nothing on Flint’s. Nothing at the bridge on Pelham Island Rd. Started with nothing but cormorants at Heard but eventually picked up a distant Ruddy. Pulled in at the other end to see if it was closer and had about 18 Rough-wings flying around. GW Teal back at the swamp.

Thursday 10/10: Thought it was supposed to be worse out so did a pond loop. Ruddy and a few Rough-wings at Heard the only birds of note (and almost the only birds).

Friday 10/11: Still a drop too nice, Great Meadows was very quiet.

Saturday 10/12: Started at Deer Island hoping for storm birds. Bit foggy/spraying for that but did have a Tree Swallow, 150+ Laughing Gulls, a few Bonaparte’s, a White-crowned Sparrow and see from ebird reports that I didn’t miss that much. Tried Nut Island next. Better visiblity but only a couple Peregrines as anything to note. Pulled in along Wollaston Beach on the way out and found one skimmer remaining. Earhart had police activity and 130+ cormorants lined up. Nothing at Spy Pond, Hobbs Brook, or the res in a quick drive around.

Sunday 10/13: Rusty Blackbird, PB Grebe, Ring-neck about it at Sandy Beach. Nothing exciting at the rest of the lakes or at Meadowbrook. Fresh Pond was quiet but had a decent number of Syrphids, although apparently all ones I’ve had this year. Quick scope of Arlington Res had nothing new and nothing in the open at Hobbs Brook (actually started the day at the res but the sun was too bad).

Monday 10/14: Nothing exciting at a brief stop along the Charles in Watertown and at Waltham St.

Tuesday 10/15: Tennessee or two, Purple Finch, 3+ Field Sparrows at the Wayland Community Gardens.

WIR 10/2-10/8

Wednesday 10/2: Fairly quiet at Great Meadows, wasn’t quite nice or lousy enough. Did have a close Pileated and a flyover Rusty plus a couple Bronze Coppers.

Thursday 10/3: 2 Solitary, RE Vireo, BT Green, 40+ waxwings about it at BBN.

Friday 10/4: Green Heron at Pelham Island Rd bridge, then a very early Common Merganser at Heard Farm. Thought that would be a good day, but got an interesting text at work.

Saturday 10/5: Not much at Danehy (FOF White-crown), tanager at Thorndike Field. Had been debating Oxbow and Fitch’s Bridge Rd but went to Arlington Res instead. Got the Pec plus a Gadwall and a few other things. Continued to Ricci Fields which had a coyote, a few butterflies, a couple Palms, and that was about it. Stopped at Hobbs Brook on the way home, 5 deer were trying to get through a panicking flock of ducks which included a Ring-necked and a Hooded Merganser was further out. Water level was down enough to check the other section, just Killdeer and an Osprey.

Sunday 10/6: Led the MBC walk at Waltham St. Really tough getting cooperative birds, but I think most people got on the Field Sparrow and White-crowned and eventually one of the Dickcissels. Most of us continued to Beaver Brook where the godwit was still being cooperative. It eventually flew to the other pond (crossing into Waltham airspace, #219!) and then back. I moved on to Kaveski which was pretty quiet and then the res which had an eagle and nothing else.

Monday 10/7: Vesper Sparrow at Rock Meadow, godwit became #225 on the commute list (in exactly 5 years on the job).

Tuesday 10/8: Weather cleared just enough and wind didn’t pick up any, so went to BBN. Nothing on the marsh, so I decided to run to the West Meadow. Usual stuff there. Did have 3 Chimney Swifts circle over when I got back to the car. Two Ring-necks on the res on the way home.

Hudsonian!

Phone dinged while I was on a checkin call this morning. Cliff: “if you’re out birding, hudsonian godwit at lower mill st pond at beaver brook”. “!!!” Realized I had a couple hours before anything urgent, so I sent a quick message saying I’ll be back in an hour and ran out.

Twenty five minutes later:

GodwitYes, on the heavily vegetated side and not the drained pond.

 

County 302, patch 180!

WIR 9/25-10/1

Wednesday 9/25: Finally had a decent flock of warblers at BBN including several Parula, BT Green, B+W, Nashville, Prairie, and Blackpoll (plus a few more BT Green elsewhere). Didn’t have time to check the upper parkway or sort through other flocks unfortunately.

Thursday 9/26: First White-throat of the fall at Rock Meadow but little else there and at the duck ponds.

Friday 9/27: Ton of Monarchs, a Tennessee, etc at Heard Farm. Lesser Yellowlegs at the Pelham Island Rd bridge.

Saturday 9/28: Suffolk run. Started at Deer Island, where I had a Tennessee Warbler, BT Green, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and not a ton else. Monarchs and ladies everywhere. Winthrop Beach next, a dog ran through the flocks before I got to them so not too much. Fisherman’s Bend had the American Golden-Plover but it was too windy (and the tide too high and too sunny) for much else. Drove along Revere Beach without much then stopped at Earhart (one Snowy Egret) on the way home.

Sunday 9/29: Joined Marj’s MBC walk that ended up at Dunback. Slowish start, eventually had a pocket with towhee, BT Green, Parula, and Black-and-white. At the bridge we had a slightly cooperative Connecticut (slightly as in 3 of us had brief views and a couple others saw and heard it fly). Back at the clearing, we had a few more warblers including Magnolia and Pine plus BH and RE Vireos, oriole, RB Grosbeak.

I continued to Hobbs Brook, which was very slightly down finally and had a Greater Yellowlegs then Arlington Res which had good numbers of the usual shorebirds plus a Pied-billed Grebe.

Monday 9/30: Went to Forest Grove. Got to the bridge, started to spish and a Blue-winged Warbler came right in. Fairly quiet the rest of the way around, so I had time to go back and try for better photos. No Blue-winged but a Nashville was nice.

Tuesday 10/1: Got out to Westborough again finally. No CT (but Tim didn’t have any after I left either). Did finally get a Lincoln’s for Worcester county plus sapsucker, 3 Indigos, etc.

WIR 9/18-9/24

Wednesday 9/18: Dunback was fairly quiet although I shouldn’t have listened to Marj and gone into the woods instead of down Bacon… Had a work function in Needham, ducked over to Millennium after, nothing really noteworthy.

Thursday 9/19: Sedge Meadow was fairly quiet, redstart, B+W, not much else.

Friday 9/20: First of fall pipits and Palm Warbler at Barrett’s Mill Farm.

Saturday 9/21: Started at Danehy. No Lark Sparrow but a nice Philadelphia Vireo. Earhart had 7 Semipalmated Plovers and 3 Snowy Egrets. Nothing at Waltham St.

Sunday 9/22: Walked to BBN. Did manage 10 warblers although none terribly exciting, a perched Broad-wing, and fairly quiet otherwise.

Monday 9/23: Dunback was totally dead, a Syrphid the only thing of any interest.

Tuesday 9/24: Got an oil change so only had a few minutes on Pelham Island Rd. Indigo Bunting, 2 Solitary, 1 Spotted Sandpiper about it.