Nothing exciting in the yard all week and I didn’t get anywhere else.
WIR 2/4-2/10
Wednesday 2/4: Tree Sparrow in the yard finally.
Thursday 2/5: Eh
Friday 2/6: Got out of work early so made the quick stop at the Wayland Town Building that I’ve been skipping because of traffic. Couple hoodies, lots of blacks/mallards, and a few geese were it.
Saturday 2/7: Went looking for Redhead along the river. No luck with that but Lesser Scaup and Green-winged Teal were nice. Continued to Moody St, which was frozen but decided to walk anyway (redpoll or Bohemian in mind). Creeper was a nice surprise halfway down, but something was better at the other end. Nothing new on the way back and a very quick check of the Watertown end was totally frozen.
Sunday 2/8: Eh
Monday 2/9: Eh
Tuesday 2/10: Sigh
208
Prospect St bridge this morning.
WIR 1/28-2/3
Wednesday 1/28: Flicker across the street and Cooper’s were about it for additions to yesterday’s list.
Thursday 1/29: Nothing.
Friday 1/30: Nothing.
Saturday 1/31: Too windy.
Sunday 2/1: River walk about the same. Watertown end mostly frozen but about the same. Great Cormorants at Mystic Lakes. Hermit Thrush but little else at Dunback. Hairy in the yard.
Monday 2/2: More snow, nothing good at the feeders.
Tuesday 2/3: Cold/snow.
WIR 1/21-1/27
Wednesday 1/21: Flyover redpoll and distant calling Fish Crow at Dunback.
Thursday 1/22: Nothing new along the riverwalk.
Friday 1/23: Sharpie at Lindentree, which probably kept everything else down.
Saturday 1/24: Too snowy but Carolina Wren in the yard for the first time in several months.
Sunday 1/25: Redpolls, bluebirds, and Purple Finches at Dunback. Nothing exciting at Lot 1.
Monday 1/26: Few Ring-necks on the river on Pelham Island Rd plus an eagle further up 27.
Tuesday 1/27: Tons of the usual but nothing good at the feeders.
WIR 1/14-1/20
Wednesday 1/14: Did the river a bit. Eagle, same ducks, probable flock of redpolls.
Thursday 1/15: Only had time for a 2 minute scan of Pelham Island Rd, where a bluebird was the only thing of any interest.
Friday 1/16: Red-wings and bluebirds at Heard Farm.
Saturday 1/17: Too cold for me.
Sunday 1/18: Long walk around BBN and Rock Meadow. Sapsucker at RM, 2 Winter Wrens at BBN were most of it. Except for one of those 5 minutes of magic: 1-3 Yellow-rumps, 2 Ravens, and a Pintail all at Mackerel Hill.
Monday 1/19: Two eagles (1 banded!) at Forest Grove, nothing else exciting.
Tuesday 1/20: Absolutely nothing at College Pond.
WIR 1/7-1/13
Wednesday 1/7: Still too cold.
Thursday 1/8: Even colder but took the car out to let it run a bit. Geese, Mallards, Black Ducks, Ring-necks, and swans on the res.
Friday 1/9: Woodpecker
Saturday 1/10: River: 1-2 pintails (Newton and Prospect St), Iceland Gull, most of the expected wintering ducks. Twelve coots at the res.
Sunday 1/11: Dunback: no redpolls still but the Barred Owl was around again and a Purple Finch and Swamp Sparrow were new for the year.
Monday 1/12: Rather nasty out, wasn’t it?
Tuesday 1/13: Looped School St to Nine Acre without much (good number of larks, too windy to scope anything good among them). Coots and an eagle at the res.
364
Sandwiched between Brown Creeper and Gadwall on my Suffolk county list:
WIR 12/31-1/6
Wednesday 12/31: Looking for one last year bird in Waltham. Winter Wren at BBN, Savannah Sparrow at the field station, lots of ducks on the res but nothing new.
Thursday 1/1: Surprisingly little on the BBC trip, but one bird was enough.
Friday 1/2: Dunback had a Barred Owl, sapsucker, 2 ravens, a towhee, and 19 Red-wings. Cackling Geese were still at Clay Pit. Nothing exciting along the river.
Saturday 1/3: 55+ Tree Sparrows at BBN, 20 more at the field station.
Sunday 1/4: Quick check of the res was pretty much the same as the 1st: 1 eagle, 25 wigeon, 10 scaup, 90 Ring-necks, 100 Hoodies, etc.
Monday 1/5: Too windy to do much, but cruised a few of the ponds. Shovelers at Arlington Res and an eagle at Mystic Lakes were about it.
Tuesday 1/6: Too cold and snow started before I got energy to go out.
2014
January:
February:
March:
April:
May:
June:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
No travel, which needs to change. Only 1 lifer (Ruff), but 8 county birds (Glaucous Gull, Caspian Tern, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Rufous Hummingbird, Whimbrel, Long-billed Dowitcher, Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Lapland Longspur), and the tern and hummer were state birds as well (plus the Ruff obviously). Only 1 new bird for the Beaver Brook/Rock Meadow patch (Lesser Yellowlegs), but 7 for the Charles (Red-shouldered Hawk, Fox Sparrow, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Ovenbird, Yellow-breasted Chat, Scarlet Tanager, and Tennessee Warbler). Caspian Tern was the only Waltham addition. Five for the yard (GH Owl, YB Cuckoo, Raven, Peregrine, BG Gnatcatcher).
Insectwise, White Corporal, Golden-winged Skimmer, and Brush-tipped Emerald were new odes in the county. Bog Copper and Silver-bordered Fritillary were state and county butterflies.
As for my county tick project, I broke 100 in 16 cities and am pushing towards 3000 town ticks.
Goals for next year: county ode list to 100 (9 away), county list to 295 (4 away), life list to 600 (40+ away), catch up with a few of the overdue state birds. And get the rest of the 2-town area over 100 (Burlington and Weston easy, Winchester, Arlington, and Bedford maybe).