WIR 11/16-11/22

Wednesday 11/16: Nothing on the ponds.

Thursday 11/17: Horned Larks over Lindentree were new for me in Lincoln but little else.

Friday 11/18: Late Pine Warbler at Purgatory.

Saturday 11/19: 4+ Fox Sparrows at Dunback, nothing at Waltham St, continuing yellowlegs at Arlington Res, nothing new at the res.

Sunday 11/20: Nasty at Great Meadows then drove around not seeing much.

Monday 11/21: Nothing new at Flint’s or Heard. Eagle and 55+ teal at the swamp.

Tuesday 11/22: Fox Sparrow and 4 more teal at Heard Farm.

WIR 11/9-11/15

Wednesday 11/9: Chased the Hammond’s. Uncountable view. Winter Wren the best of the rest.

Thursday 11/10: Nothing at Dunback.

Friday 11/11: Hammond’s, then windy at Fresh Pond and the res.

Saturday 11/12: Nothing much at Kaveski (missed a few things seen earlier), no geese around, Dickcissel and a meadowhawk still at Waltham St, no Brant late at Clay Pit.

Sunday 11/13: Started at West Meadow, which had a ton of waxwings. Deer walked out onto the path as I was heading back and refused to leave, so I went the long way, which meant I was more or less at the car when Marj called. Over to Dunback for county bird #2 for the weekend.

Monday 11/14: 3 Rusties at BBN.

Tuesday 11/15: 20+ Snow Buntings at School St.

WIR 11/2-11/8

Wednesday 11/2: Very quiet at BBN.

Thursday 11/3: One flock of larks at School St, nothing among the geese that were visible.

Friday 11/4: Very little at West Meadow. No luck with John’s RT Loon at Heard Pond at sunset (and no more after work birding for 4 months).

Saturday 11/5: BBC leader’s walk at World’s End had a redpoll and Baltimore Oriole. After the party, a few of us had Barred Owl and Winter Wren at Wompatuck.

Sunday 11/6: Started at McClennen for a change. Orange-crowned and a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets were about it. Went to Deer Island hoping for a wagtail after. Obviously luck with that and it was too windy for much else. A pair of Peregrines zooming around and harrassing gulls were nice plus a yellowthroat and RB Nuthatch. Back to the Sandy Beach, which was pretty dead, then Spy Pond, Flint’s, and the res all without anything exciting.

Monday 11/7: Quiet at Great Meadows beyond 2 meadowhawks.

Tuesday 11/8: RN Grebe among the ducks at Flint’s.

WIR 10/26-11/1

Wednesday 10/26: Forest Grove for a change. Late-ish Pine Warbler and Purple Finch about it.

Thursday 10/27: Twitch

Friday 10/28: Nothing at the res or Flint’s. Also nothing at Heard Pond, except as I started to pack up 3 otters decided to swim by. Rusty, teal, wigeon, etc at the marsh in a half second scan.

Saturday 10/29: Another twitch or two. Evening stop at the res had 40 wigeon among other ducks.

Sunday 10/30: Rock Meadow had a BT Green and a White-crowned. Wandered the marsh at BBN without anything exciting. Waltham St was also quiet. Dunback had a Nashville or two and an Orange-crowned but no interesting sparrows. A couple minutes on Old County had 70ish GW Teal and zero shorebirds.

Monday 10/31: College Pond had both Accipiters, a few Purple Finches, and the usual other stuff.

Tuesday 11/1: Red-shoulder at Meriam’s/Kaveski.

WIR 10/19-10/25

Wednesday 10/19: Lots of Purple Finches and grackles at West Meadow.

Thursday 10/20: Sun dog was the most interesting thing at Dunback.

Friday 10/21: Too foggy, eventually made it to School St where I could see most of the geese. Nothing terribly exciting, 4 Pecs overhead and a big flock of cowbirds.

Saturday 10/22: Res had the usual, first Ring-necks in a few weeks and a Greater Yellowlegs were about the best. Old County had 2 Common Mergansers but no shorebirds. Hobbs Brook looked flooded, so I just walked a few feet by the overpass to confirm and promptly found several ticks crawling up my pants.

Sunday 10/23: A few new arrivals at the res included 4 Greater Scaup and 3 Gadwall. Checked Old County again and found a bunch of shorebirds, one of which was a Long-billed Dowitcher. Also a few Pecs, and late Semipalmated Plover and Least Sandpiper. Sharpie at Hobbs Brook was surprisingly the second new bird for the res today. Gave a few other ponds a quick check then went to the greenhouse side of Waltham St. Circled around without much but dug through the House Sparrows before leaving and found a Dickcissel.

Monday 10/24: Blackbirds, bluebirds, and sparrows all over Great Meadows plus a flyover Snow Bunting.

Tuesday 10/25: Orange-crowned and BT Green at West Meadow.

WIR 10/12-10/18

Wednesday 10/12: Home all day, very little in the yard.

Thursday 10/13: West Meadow had a nice male Purple Finch, a slightly odd Red-tail, and the usual sparrows. Still don’t understand why the abandoned area by the parking lot is better, but practically the first bird out of the car was a Vesper Sparrow, Waltham #213!

Vesper

Friday 10/14: Field and 2 White-crowns at Great Meadows but no Nelson’s.

Saturday 10/15: Led the MBC walk at Waltham St. Sparrows generally didn’t cooperate for the group but we had most of the regulars plus a few Rusties. Arlington Res after had a late Green Heron and Hobbs Brook had lingering Leasts and Semipalmated Plovers plus another Rusty (my first for the res!).

Sunday 10/16: Tried heading a bit south for a change. Nahanton was pretty dead, couldn’t find any sparrows beyond Song and White-throat (and junco, keeping the warbler count from topping the sparrow count). Only thing of interest at Millennium was a DeKay’s Brownsnake. Well, that and a call from Norm about a Black-bellied Plover at Flint’s. Plover was apparently gone by the time I got there, but an early Common Merganser was nice.

DeKay's

Monday 10/17: Rock Meadow was quiet for most of the time, but Field and Lincoln’s Sparrows in quick succession were quite nice. Since they were mowing or something, I only checked the gardens and then ran over to the duck ponds. Nice little pocket at the bridge included 2 BH and a Red-eyed Vireo, a Blackpoll, and a few Yellow-rumps.

Tuesday 10/18: Little tough getting around. Nothing new at Hardy, Pileated and both kinglets at Flint’s, Ruddies at Heard.

WIR 10/5-10/11

Wednesday 10/5: First of fall Ruby-crowned Kinglets and the usual at BBN. Quick scan of the res on the way home had 50ish GW Teal.

Thursday 10/6: Kaveski had a harrier, a late oriole, lots of Red-wings, and lots of the normal sparrows.

Friday 10/7: 50+ GW Teal and the usual at Lindentree.

Saturday 10/8: Started with 400+ grackles flying through the yard. First actual stop was at Waltham St with a White-crowned, Lincoln’s, and couple of Rusties. Other end had a late tanager and BH Vireo. On to Dunback, which had a Winter Wren, another Lincoln’s, and a few other things of mild interest. Hobbs Brook had 1 Semi, 4 Leasts, and 4 Pectorals. Peregrine and the usual at the res, and nothing on Old County.

Sunday 10/9: Thought the rain wasn’t going to be so bad so went to Great Meadows. Nothing there and getting soaked, so a quick drive out to School St (400 geese, 100 cowbirds), then a loop of some of the ponds without anything.

Monday 10/10: Started at Danehy. Bit windy, but a Rose-breasted Grosbeak was calling. Seemed to be little else around but Karsten and I turned up a towhee and a raven, so not a bad trip. Spy Pond was quiet. Hanscom Trails were fairly quiet, flyover Rusty was good. Fawn Lake was also quiet and there was nothing at Flint’s. Afternoon loop of the res had 4 Pecs and a late Semipalmated Plover, which surprisingly turned out to be new for Waltham (212).

Tuesday 10/11: Wayland Community Gardens had the usual, 1-5 Rusties being the highlight.