It’s been an interesting 3+ months and since I’m telling other people they can start talking, I should have something up first. Much, much more in the next few days.
(Photos from 2/15)
WIR 3/22-3/28
Monday 3/22: Prospect Hill in the drizzle. Killdeer flying over turned out to be new for me at the site but otherwise very little.
Tuesday 3/23: Hardy Pond in the heavier rain. Scanned quickly as I pulled up and saw 2 Bufflehead and almost didn’t bother looking again after I ate. Good thing I did as I immediately rushed out of the car to get the scope on 3 Lesser Scaup. Otherwise about the same as the last week (wigeon were up to 4 but no new arrivals).
Wednesday 3/24: Woerd Ave at lunch. Too windy and wet to find much, but 8 ring-necks were in the cove.
Thursday 3/25: Took a long walk at Beaver Brook North but didn’t see much of anything.
Friday 3/26: Cold and didn’t go out.
Saturday 3/27: Dunback and Waltham St. in the morning. Red-shouldered Hawk was the big highlight, but several Wilson’s Snipe weren’t bad either. Arlington Res later was pretty quiet.
Sunday 3/28: Did some work on future trail locations at Lot 1 in the morning. Poked around a bit first without much of anything. Since the Sage Thrasher was back at Salisbury, I finally made the effort in the afternoon and watched it feed for about 40 minutes (pictures sooner or later, other things are more important right now).
WIR 3/15-3/21
Monday 3/15: Raining still.
Tuesday 3/16: Back side of Prospect Hill as it was likely the only place not under water or all mud. First Mourning Cloak of the year.
Wednesday 3/17: BBN without much of note.
Thursday 3/18: Had a Killdeer while running to another school today and then Wood Frogs at Paine (plus another cloak). Peepers were out at the end of the street after dark, probably should have been checking for the last few days.
Friday 3/19: Beaver Brook Ponds: no birds of note but the storm damage was impressive, a large part of the back trail was washed out and there were a couple big sink holes. Woodcock watching at night was limited by the water covering all the trails but we still heard 3 from Falzone Field. A bat was flying around as well.
Weekend 3/20-21: Posted separately. Hardy Pond had the same wigeon/bufflehead/hoodies.
Spring to Bird
The weather was good for a change this weekend and I didn’t have anything keeping me in (is that a hint for an upcoming post?) so an actual post about birding is required.
Saturday began with a walk around Rock Meadow. While checking the gardens, I found my first Tree Swallow of the year way off in the distance. Working that way, there were bluebirds checking the boxes and another swallow in closer. I checked the marsh area without finding much and then the back side (wettest spot of the day and nothing of interest).
I proceeded into Beaver Brook North and headed towards the Great Horned spot. On the way, the vernal pool had flooded the trail but there happened to be side trails that went around the one spot almost exactly at each end. The pool also hosted 5 Wood Ducks. No luck with any Great Horned, so I continued to the West Meadow.
Passing below the apartments, I found my first Comma of the year and followed that with my first Eastern Phoebe (heard only however). The marsh was as wet as expected but the boardwalk was above it. Unfortunately all that I found in the water were a few geese and Mallards. A Sharpie passing overhead was nice.
Back at the Met State side, I finished the loop back to Rock Meadow without finding much of anything. There were several more Tree Swallows at Rock Meadow and I ran into my friend Jon and met his son Ben. While talking to them, two hawks flew over. Expecting a pair of Red-tails, I was surprised to see one was a Cooper’s and was taking swipes at the Red-tails.
Finishing that walk, I decided to head to Dunback to look for Fox Sparrows and then check for snipe at the Waltham St. Fields. Dunback turned out to be a waste as I walked from the tennis courts to the birches and saw almost nothing but grackles and Song Sparrows. Although I didn’t find any snipe at Waltham St., I did have 2 Killdeer, a Green-winged Teal, and 2 Savannah Sparrows.
After a stop at home for lunch, I headed to the Charles with my parents to see how the storm affected things. The water was way up (I think the waterfall dropped 6 inches at most) and the paths were as clean as I’ve seen them. Unfortunately, there were very few birds. Highlights included a single Fish Crow and this Sharp-shinned Hawk:
On Sunday, I joined the Menotomy walk to some of the Boston Harbor sites. I ended up carpooling with Karsten (the leader) and after picking up his friend Niclas, we went to do a bit of scouting. The couple landbird stops we made were pretty dull (Red-tails were about the most exciting thing). We walked the back trail at Belle Isle without finding much, but at the tower we had a few shovelers and 2 Green-winged Teal. We then passed the group, made a quick coffee stop and a quick scan for any early arriving plovers.
Meeting up with the rest of the group, we headed into Winthrop. Our first stop was Small Park, where we had good numbers of grebes, eiders, scoters, a couple loons, and some seals. Considering the wind was supposed to be pretty bad onshore, it was very mild (much more so than previous times I’ve been here).
The next stop was Deer Island. We didn’t venture too far from the parking lot but I was impressed and will have to make a point of doing the whole loop at some point. From opposite the parking lot, we had many Long-tailed Ducks, a few scoter, some goldeneye, Greater Scaup, Brant, and a few loons and grebes. We started around to the other side when Niklas found a pipit. We doubled back slightly and the bird took off onto the beach. It disappeared even as we all scoped the general area where it landed. Eventually we gave up and went back to checking the water. There were many Surf Scoters but not much else different.
We then moved on to Snake Island. Oystercatchers had arrived earlier in the week and we quickly found two. The sun wasn’t great but everyone got fairly good looks. We moved on to the beach, which was quiet. At the far end, the Red-necked Grebes were staging and we counted close to 100.
The trip officially ended here, but we continued on and rechecked the far end of Revere Beach for plovers. On the way back, we stopped briefly along the Mystic Lakes. A Great Cormorant flew by at Sandy Beach but it was quiet otherwise. We made a brief stop at the Arlington Res where a scan produced 2 Ruddy, 1 Bufflehead, 2 Gadwall, and a Pied-billed Grebe.
An excellent weekend, very nice to be out and about again.
Green-wing Flyby
One of the highlights from this weekend was a Green-winged Teal that flushed and proceeded to fly circles around me for an extended period of time. Eventually it occurred to me to that when it made a close pass it was possible to get a photo. Surprisingly, a few came out.
WIR 3/8-3/14
Monday 3/8: Prospect Hill, nice walk but nothing of note.
Tuesday 3/9: Met State, see yesterday. Grackles have fully arrived in the neighborhood.
Wednesday 3/1: Paine, see yesterday.
Thursday 3/11: Beaver Brook ponds. Bob’s Ring-necks had departed and not much else was around. Nothing good among the geese at Fernald either.
Friday 3/12: Hardy Pond had lots of ducks including 25+ Common Mergansers, 5 Hoodies, 1 Ruddy, 3 Ring-necks, 3 Bufflehead, and a Wigeon.
Saturday 3/13: Stayed in, good bit at the feeders but nothing different (other than a passing falcon that I barely got on).
Sunday 3/14: Heavy rain all day.
TX 2010: Day 5
Feb 11
Today, we headed to Laguna Atascosa. It was drizzly to rainy when we arrived and the staff were almost surprised that anyone showed up. Luckily it stopped enough to walk the trails near the visitor’s center for a few minutes. We didn’t see too much (unfortunately the Blue Bunting didn’t show up until a day or two later).
Starting around the auto loop, we had many thrashers and a few ducks. Unfortunately the fog rolled in, so viewing the water was not easy, especially along the bay. We were able to pick out a few of the sandpipers and egrets but most were getting lost. One good bird on the way was a Grasshopper Sparrow that was sitting in the road. I was able to roll the car right up to it and snap a few shots:
Continuing around, we were passed by a couple cars and seeing more of the same. Eventually I saw something small pop up off the road. I pulled over and surprisingly was able to find it in the vegetation. It looked pipitish, so I pulled out the scope. It flew again but I again managed to refind it and confirm the blank face of a Sprague’s Pipit. This was one bird that I was hoping for but not anticipating finding. The area also had a few Gull-billed Terns flying around, of which I managed a couple marginal (for a marginal definition of marginal) photos.
Completing the loop, we drove to the observation platform and trail. It started raining a bit, but we walked down the trail to the pond. The water there was almost over the platform and the only bird on the water was a Least Grebe. Getting back turned out to be a muddy mess.
From here, we began the long drive to Rockport. Before really getting going, we did get a fairly decent look at a perched White-tailed Hawk. The drive was fairly quiet (and rainy off and on). A stop at the Sarita rest stop had more than a couple Brewer’s Blackbirds, another overdue lifer. Instead of taking the camera, I decided to drive up to the flock and get some pictures on the way out. Of course, the birds took off in by the time we did so.
Other than a big traffic jam near Corpus Christi (which was stop and go for probably 40 minutes, note this for later), we didn’t have any major issues and reached Rockport (or Fulton), where we got a room at the Best Western for the next two nights. Dinner was at Charlotte Plummer’s (which took a bit of work to find with the road being dug up). The food was excellent, especially the shrimp gumbo (thanks for the recommendation Paul).
Tomorrow: Aransas NWR and vicninity
WIR 3/1-3/7
Monday 3/1: Busy with family things but took a quick walk over to Hardy Pond. Almost totally frozen still but a few gulls, geese, mallards, and swans in the little open water.
Tuesday 3/2: BBN, nothing of note (other than what appeared to be the remains of a deer carcass).
Wednesday 3/3: Charles was very windy but 3 Great Cormorants were very nice (two adults with spectacular color). Also 5 ring-necks and 2 goldeneye.
Thursday 3/4: Checked more of the Charles (Woerd Ave and Charlesbank) with absolutely nothing (snowing and strong wind though). Lots of song in the yard though.
Friday 3/5: Beaver Brook ponds, nothing much. Got out of work a little early and tried to take a quick run to Nine Acre Corner and Water Row. NAC was too trafficy and no teal were obvious. Water Row (and River Rd) were flooded and closed and by the time I detoured around and got to the Old 27 Bridge it was getting too dark. And there were no ducks (a few red-wings and muskrats were about it).
Saturday 3/6: At the Birder’s Meeting most of the day. Skipped the last session and poked around a bit but nothing of any note.
Sunday 3/7: Caught up with the Menotomy walk at Dunback in time for 4 Turkey Vultures. Wandered over to Great Meadows and the to Heard Pond after. Great Meadows was flooded but scanning from the tower for 30 minutes revealed a few ducks and one Bald Eagle flying by. Nine Acre Corner had a few Green-winged Teal but no luck with the Eurasian. Water Row had a few ducks way out but nothing I could make into anything Heard Pond was frozen. Cambridge Res on the way home had 2 Ring-necks and 9 Common Mergansers.
TX 2010: Day 4
Feb 10
We started today at Estero Llano Grande. There’s a Wednesday bird walk and we arrived just in time to join. It was rather cold and windy, which presumably kept crowds down. In fact, there were only 2 others on the walk and five park staff/volunteers.
Lots of good stuff from the deck included all 3 teal, some Mottled Ducks, and many Black-necked Stilts. We started down the trails and spent some time waiting for some scaup to stop sleeping (which they did, proving to be Lesser).
The cold got to me (and my father) and we ended up running back to the car for jackets. Passing the feeding station, I found a Ruby-throated Hummingbird and then a big flock of Cedar Waxwings dropped in. The host was quite excited when I mentioned them once I rejoined the group, apparently they’re not very regular down in the valley.
We rejoined the group at the Pauraque stakeout, with one very obvious bird. At Alligator Lake we had a variety of herons including Black-crowned Night-, Little Blue, and Tricolored. There were a few Anhinga around and a single Nutria.
We moved on to the uphill portion of the park. After being warned that the wind would be bad, it turned out to be no worse. The White-tailed Kites sitting nearby and the huge flock of pelicans coming in helped. As did the stilts and avocets and huge number of shovelers.
Once back downhill, the other people had to leave, which left us with a personal tour. We continued around the pond, finding a (presumed) Tropical Kingbird among other things.
I spotted a whitish bird coming over the wooded area and after getting bins on it, the crazy bill revealed it to be a Roseate Spoonbill. Not quite the view I hoped for, but (pending a couple others) this was #500! Finally.
We worked our way back to the visitor’s center and then decided to head out after spending a few minutes at the feeders. The next stop was Frontera Audubon, which was only a few minutes away.
After checking in, we headed down the trail and found the feeding area. Settling in, we enjoyed the large number of Inca Doves and an Ovenbird. Eventually, a large group came in and we got ready to move on. Luckily, right before we did the Tropical Parula put in a very quick appearance.
We walked the rest of the trails, getting lost a couple times. It was fairly quiet, with the main highlights being a large number of perched Turkey Vultures and a Green Kingfisher. We ran into the large group again, who were as lost as we were but eventually we made our way back out.
Next stop was the Wendy’s up the street for lunch and then we began the ride to the coast and South Padre Island. On the way, we got minimal views of White-tailed Hawk but not a whole lot else.
At South Padre, we went straight to the boardwalk. I probably should have dragged the scope but there was enough close stuff to not care too much. Highlights included an active Reddish Egret, a couple Long-billed Curlews, a nice close Spoonbill, many Black Skimmers, and several Caspian Terns (a very overdue lifer). A presumed Couch’s Kingbird was nice as well.
On our way out, we asked the person behind the desk and the cashier about places nearby for food. They gave us several recommendations but when we said we were from Massachusetts, the cashier started telling us how much she loved our new senator. The other staffer tried to get her to move on but she didn’t take the hint. I have no idea why anyone dealing with tourists would think politics was a reasonable subject for conversation.
We ended up staying down the street at a Days Inn, which was perfectly acceptable (other than the supermarket donuts for breakfast). We walked to Blackbeards’ for dinner (apparently named after multiple people), which was quite good.
Tomorrow: Laguna Atascosa
Not a House Wren
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