Tag: weekinreview

Wednesday 11/11: Pond loop found very little.

Thursday 11/12: Went to Horn Pond and turned up 50 species (and missed a few more) with some effort. Highlights included a catbird, raven, Fox Sparrow, finding a second Great Horned after Marj showed me where she had one earlier and then having a Barred Owl pop up. Stopped at Winter Pond after for the presumed Mallard x Pintail and then looped the res and Flint’s without anything.

Friday 11/13: Fox Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, and Gadwall at Forest Grove plus a meadowhawk before the real excitement.

Saturday 11/14: Started with a quick pass of the res then School St. No Franklin’s Gull there or at Great Meadows but a Pectoral Sandpiper and 6 pintail made the walk out in the wind worthwhile. Wasn’t sure what to do next so started towards the Earhart Dam. Checked email while stopped at a light and saw a gull report from Lynn, so headed that way. No gull but timed the Cave Swallow perfectly. Drove around a bit looking for the gull but too windy to get out and scan for the most part.

Sunday 11/15: Great Meadows was fairly quiet (and frozen), School St, Nagog, Norumbega, and Moody St were dull. The MacGillivray’s was barely cooperative at Arlington Res but a Bald Eagle was a new bird for me there and 11 Lesser Scaup were surprising. Gave Paul a ride to Waltham St with a quick stop at the Waldorf Pond, which had 11 Gadwall.

Monday 11/16: Headed down to the Cape for a couple days. Started by stopping at Millennium where the Red-headed Woodpecker barely cooperated. Continued to Plymouth where a pile of construction meant I only checked Nelson Park. A Common Merganser seemed a bit odd there but nothing else of interesting. Scusset Beach had tons of ducks. Got to Head of the Meadow for the last hour of daylight and had a nice movement of Great Shearwaters plus a few other things.

Tuesday 11/17: Started at Herring Cove Beach, which had a fair number of birds. Corn Hill was quiet, Fort Hill fairly quiet (a raven wasn’t bad), and Morris Island was quiet. Gave up on finding an open fish and chips place and went back to Head of the Meadow. Less around but got on the Little Gull (probably had it last night but was a bit too dark by then).

Wednesday 11/4: Late Nashville and lots of expected stuff at BBN.

Thursday 11/5: Lots of blackbirds and doves at Dunback.

Friday 11/6: Chased the MacGillivray’s at Arlington Res. Went for camera before views so mostly heard only.

Saturday 11/7: Looped the res quickly (yellowlegs still, not much else) then went back for the warbler. Decent views today. Continued to McClellen with Karsten which was a waste in the wind and then went for Sandy Beach for the Lark Sparrow and warblers.

Sunday 11/8: Joined the MBC walk at Dunback: Purple Finches, 1 Fox Sparrow, sapsucker, GH Owl. Waltham St and the res were dead (did have one sulphur flying around).

Monday 11/9: Great Meadows was quiet (female Ring-neck and a few meadowhawks were the only things of note) and driving around a bit didn’t find much else.

Tuesday 11/10: Merlin and a few other things at BBN and Rock Meadow, then Canvasback at Fresh Pond.

Wednesday 10/28: Nothing unusual at Dunback.

Thursday 10/29: PB Grebe at Cambridge Res, goldeneye at Flint’s about the most exciting stuff on a pond circuit.

Friday 10/30: 3 Pied-billed Grebes on the river at Purgatory Cove. Four turkeys, a Rusty Blackbird, and an overdue patch tick White-crowned Sparrow at the landfill plus a Winter Wren at the pumphouse.

Saturday 10/31: Started at Danehy, nothing terribly exciting there or at Alewife. Fresh Pond had no open spots along Huron and none at the duck ponds either(!). More or less the usual at the res, although a Killdeer and GB Heron fishing at the southern end were interesting. Lots of Common Mergansers and Ring-billed Gulls at Hobbs Brook. Nice Vesper Sparrow at Waltham St.

Sunday 11/1: Lots of ducks at the res but too far out. Eagle scared the mergansers at Hobbs Brook. Rusty Blackbirds and little else at Great Meadows. Ruddies at Flint’s and found the yellowlegs along Old County Rd on a second pass. Usual ducks at Arlington Res, work going on a Busa so I didn’t spend much time there. Vesper still at Waltham St with a ton of blackbirds. Great Horned Owl and Winter Wren about it at Dunback.

Monday 11/2: Nothing much at Rock Meadow and nothing at all at the duck ponds.

Tuesday 11/3: Cat Rock Park for a change, wasn’t exciting.

Wednesday 10/21: Great Meadows again. Got out to the platform and eventually noticed a couple shorebirds on the mud. One Dunlin (presumably a continuing bird) and 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers were barely visible and I finally realized there was a Greater Yellowlegs just off the edge. Two coots and a Green-winged Teal walked through. In the middle of a bit of rain, I picked up another shorebird call and eventually picked up an American Golden-Plover going over. Ran out of time after that but a nice hunting Cooper’s and a Kestrel on the way out. And others had Black-bellied Plovers and a White-rumped Sandpiper so my feeling that I was missing stuff was valid.

Thursday 10/22: Started at Hobbs Brook, which was dead (other than Hoodies joining the duck flock), so ran over to Lindentree, which wasn’t that much more exciting.

Friday 10/23: Mostly too windy at Dunback but a big corvid flock going over appeared to be mostly ravens (up to 25!).

Saturday 10/24: 13 species of ducks and 4 shorebirds between Cambridge Res and Hobbs Brook including 250 Ring-necks, both scaup, Common Mergansers, Gadwall, close to 50 wigeon, 10 Pectoral Sandpipers, and 2 Semipalmated Plovers. Nothing much at Flint’s, geese too far out at School St. Besides the longspur, a snipe and Snow Bunting at Great Meadows.

Sunday 10/25: More or less repeated yesterday’s loop. Eight yellowlegs and nothing else at the res, no Ruddies on Flint’s. No longspur at Great Meadows but got better views of the Snow Bunting plus flyover snipe and yellowlegs, a Peregrine, Bald Eagle, and 3 Gadwall. Spent some time on the geese at School St and got the 3 Cackling without too much effort. No shorebirds at Hobbs Brook in a quick scan.

Monday 10/26: 2 Field Sparrows were about it at the Wayland Community Gardens. Just enough light for a quick scan of the res on the way home. Good idea as there were 7 Long-tailed Ducks, which appears to be the high count for the county, along with 2 eagles and a few other things.

Tuesday 10/27: Nothing of note at West Meadow.

Wednesday 10/7: Nothing much at BBN.

Thursday 10/8: Tons of Swamps at Sudbury community gardens but little else. About 70 Ring-necks on the res on the way home, some wigeon and stuff with them but too far out to count.

Friday 10/9: Eagle, interesting warbler, usual stuff at Purgatory and Forest Grove.

Saturday 10/10: Great Meadows was fairly quiet early (egret, harrier, 2 coots, Pec). Kaveski had a White-crowned Sparrow, a few Palms, another harrier, and lots of Accipiters. Ten Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser, 2 Semipalmated Plovers, and an eagle at Hobbs Brook. Dickcissel at Waltham St. Cambridge Res had 195 Ring-necks.

Sunday 10/11: Merlin, 2 Nashvilles, 1-3 White-crowns, few other things at Danehy. Yellow-rumps, more yellow-rump, more yellow-rumps, and about the same number of White-throats at Dunback. Nothing much at Waltham St or the res.

Monday 10/12: Started at West Meadow, which was fairly quiet. BT Green, Sharpie, nothing much else. Checked around the basketball court at BBN walking back to the car and ended up with 8 sparrows including Field, Lincoln’s, and White-crowned. Continued to Rock Meadow, which was dead, and then the duck ponds. The water was back up, so no shorebirds or Rusties, but 2 Green-winged Teal were only my second for the patch. Also at least 2 BT Blues around the back and what was almost certainly a Parula. On to Arlington Res, still too much water there and some work being done at the solar panels so I skipped Busa. Another BT Blue, 2 Shovelers, 2 Gadwall, 5 Wigeon. Quick check of Hobbs Brook had 7 yellowlegs and 2 egrets. Osprey over the house early evening.

Tuesday 10/13: Too rainy/foggy in the morning and a drop too dark at the res in the evening.

Wednesday 9/30: Too wet in the morning. Quick check of Heard Pond on the way home had nothing, then a brief stop that was mostly at chat at the bridge had about 20 Rough-winged Swallows.

Thursday 10/1: Nothing at Cambridge Res. Hobbs Brook had 2 Osprey, a Palm Warbler, a Great Egret, and the typical shorebirds.

Friday 10/2: Took a detour to Clinton/Sterling on the way to work. Cambridge Res on the way home had a loon, PB Grebe, eagle, and 8 Ring-necks. GH Owl calling around the house at night.

Saturday 10/3: Cambridge Res had the loon, a few ducks mostly too far out, and little else. Four Great Egrets and 12 yellowlegs at Hobbs Brook. Nothing at Flint’s. Marj’s Surf Scoter at Upper Mystic Lake. Nothing at the Earhart Dam or Hardy and nothing different on a second pass of the res.

Sunday 10/4: Joined the MBC walk at Waltham St, which was moderately quiet (2 Lincoln’s, etc). Marj and I did Dunback after, with a sapsucker, towhee, and Merlin highlights there. Very quick check of West Meadow had nothing.

Monday 10/5: Rock Meadow had lots of sparrows but couldn’t find anything interesting. On the way over, I noticed the duck ponds were drained, so made a quick stop. Only 1 Solitary Sandpiper for shorebirds but 4 Rusty Blackbirds were quite nice.

Tuesday 10/6: 2 Sapsuckers, a Winter Wren, and a Blue-headed Vireo at College Pond.

Wednesday 9/23: Merlin over the yard.

Thursday 9/24: The nice brush pile at Farm Meadow is gone, so ran to Lindentree, which had the usual.

Friday 9/25: Got the gallinule at Great Meadows plus first of fall Savannah Sparrow and first local Yellow-rumps.

Saturday 9/26: Yellow-rump and 120 cormorants over Danehy, Rusty Blackbird and 15 Wood Duck at Alewife, Blackpolls and wigeon at Arlington Res, nothing at Hobbs Brook, and nothing at Waltham St.

Sunday 9/27: Started at Great Meadows. Virginia Rail on the path, pipit overhead, a few shorebirds and ducks, 3 coots, etc. Nothing at all in the trees though. Kaveski was quiet around noon and a quick stop at Hobbs Brook added a couple more pipits and not much else.

Monday 9/28: Two Blue-headed Vireos and not much else at BBN.

Tuesday 9/29: Only had time for a quick stop at Round Hill. Lincoln’s Sparrow in the gardens and a flyover Pileated were about it.9/

Wednesday 9/16: Rock Meadow was fairly quiet. Parula, Wilson’s, Redstart, Blackpoll, Empid, Monarch.

Thursday 9/17: Moderate selection of warblers at Forest Grove included a Pine, 2+ BT Green, 2 Parula, a Black-and-white, a Chestnut-sided, and a redstart.

Friday 9/18: Sharpie, Parula, very little else at Hayden Woods.

Saturday 9/19: Zip at Dunback and Waltham St. Black-bellied still at Hobbs Brook, which was a surprise as I hadn’t seen any reports all week.

Sunday 9/20: MBC walk to BBN and Rock Meadow. Three redstarts, 2 Red-eyed Vireos, 2 Cooper’s was about it for birds. Monarch and a mantis for insects.

Monday 9/21: Junco, Catharus sp, 2 ravens, and absolutely nothing else at Prospect Hill.

Tuesday 9/22: Black-and-white and the usual at College Pond (probably more if there wasn’t a crew working at the stump dump).