Tag: weekinreview

Wednesday 2/1: Duck ponds were fairly quiet, six hoodies were about it (although 2 Ring-billed Gulls on the ice were unusual for the spot).

Thursday 2/2: Morning stop at Hardy Pond: 4 Common Merganser. Nothing much at Prospect Hill at lunch, big flock of robins was about it. Eagle showed up at Hardy Pond, got a half second look on the way home but it took off before I was able to walk over. Did find 2 wigeon at least.

Friday 2/3: Nothing at Rock Meadow.

Saturday 2/4: Took a wander through Wayland. One Common Merganser at Horn Pond. Both kinglets were at the community gardens along with 5 bluebirds and good numbers of sparrows. At the Old Rt. 27 Bridge, I had 2 Bald Eagles and a harrier pass over in 5 minutes, probably should have sat around for a while to see what else came by. Wigeon continued on Hardy pond, GBBG up to 10.

Sunday 2/5: Dunback was quiet, did almost every bit anyway. Charles in the afternoon had one each of most of the expected ducks (few more hoodies) plus 3 herons. Just missed a kingfisher.

Monday 2/6: Supposed to be very mild, so took a long walk around the marsh at BBN and found absolutely nothing.

Tuesday 2/7: Duck ponds were quiet at lunch. Good stuff in the neighborhood early though, including a flicker, first of year Red-winged Blackbird, and a flyover Pine Siskin (3rd? yard record).

Wednesday 1/25: Forest Grove and Flowed Meadow: picked out the Lesser Black-back on the ice and there were a few coots around. Walking to the landfill and around was a waste though.

Thursday 1/26: Paine was quiet.

Friday 1/27: Rainy.

Saturday 1/28: Planned to go scan the Middlesex county portion of the Merrimack and then wander through Dunstable a bit. Had a hard time finding anywhere to scan the river (did get a Great Cormorant in Dracut) and Amos Kendall was a sheet of ice. Got into Arched Bridge and wandered around a bit, but nothing of note. Took a quick run through Great Meadows on the way home (1 coot, 3 goldeneye, 1 distant flock of interesting looking bunting-type things) and the Cambridge Res (nothing).

Sunday 1/29: Got lazy, so eventually just wandered to Moody St. Nothing much there. Quick check of Woerd Ave (9 swans, nothing else) and then on to the Cambridge Res where there were 2 Bald Eagles circling. One came in nice and close and then disappeared into thin air before I got the camera out.

Monday 1/30: River walk was pretty quiet. Two goldeneye, 1 bufflehead, no Ring-necks or Common Mergansers.

Tuesday 1/31: BBN was very quiet.

Wednesday 1/18: River walk had first of year Bufflehead and a female had joined the male goldeneye.

Thursday 1/19: Nothing at Beaver Brook.

Friday 1/20: Iceland Gull was almost a driveby at Moody St. Nothing else good among the gulls (although the Lesser was apparently around later). Two Ring-necks at the Woerd Ave boat ramp and no interesting gulls in that area.

Saturday 1/21: Stayed in with the snow. Song, White-throat, and goldfinches finally at the feeder.

Sunday 1/22: Interesting day.

Monday 1/23: Rock Meadow had very little, and about 70% of that was Mourning Doves.

Tuesday 1/24: Fairly quiet at Lot 1, also too muddy to check thoroughly.

Wednesday 1/11: Charles had all the usual stuff.

Thursday 1/12: Too rainy.

Friday 1/13: Too windy (and possibly rainy) at Purgatory Cove, couldn’t find anything good. Coots were just down from Norumbega, nothing at Charlesbank.

Saturday 1/14: Poked around the Charles a bit. Iceland Gull, 2 goldeneye, 3 Ring-necks were about it.

Sunday 1/15: Too cold.

Monday 1/16: Midafternoon buzz around Cambridge Res wasn’t worth it as it was totally frozen.

Tuesday 1/17: Duck ponds had nothing new.

Wednesday 1/4: Hardy Pond: few mergansers, swans, geese, gulls. Not much still open.

Thursday 1/5: Lot 1 had 6 waxwings and 19 turkeys.

Friday 1/6: Duck ponds were mostly frozen but had the usual Mallard, Black, and Hooded Merganser. Also 10 turkeys and a Winter Wren (#84 for the site).

Saturday 1/7: Walked from home to Rock Meadow. Highlights along the way: 1 Winter Wren and a Great Horned Owl at Lot 1, Swamp Sparrow at West Meadow, and a Rusty Blackbird at Met State. Couldn’t dig up any bluebirds or tree sparrows though and a single Red-tail was it for raptors.

Sunday 1/8: Drove around checking some ponds. Gadwall and 40 Hooded Mergansers at Cambridge Res, not much at Flint’s Pond, coots and a Bufflehead at Spy Pond, and more coots and some banded geese at Horn Pond. Also stopped to see if anything was among the pipits at the School St fields but the pipits were flying off as I arrived.

Monday 1/9: Moody St had another increase in gulls. The Iceland was still around and I eventually picked out the (presumably) returning Lesser Black-backed finally.

Tuesday 1/10: Nothing at BBN.

 

Wednesday 12/28: BBN: coyote, 7 Song Sparrows in one bush, lots of juncos, not much else.

Thursday 12/29: Paine, nothing exciting.

Friday 12/30: Purgatory Cove was frozen. The river was still somewhat open. Lots of mallards and black ducks, plus many gulls on the ice. Twelve or so coots visible (and a few more from Charlesbank, not sure how many overlapped).

Saturday 12/31: Chased stuff.

Sunday 1/1: BBC trip as usual (link soon). Almost 60 species including the continuing Cassin’s Kingbird and Barnacle Goose plus a Snowy Owl and other good stuff.

Monday 1/2: Cambridge Res had the coot flock (where’d they spend December?). Flint’s Pond had a few ducks, nothing exceptional. Lark Sparrow was up and about at Waltham St. Claypit Pond in Belmont had geese. Arlington Res had most of the continuing birds (no snipe) plus a Peregrine. Waldorf Pond had mallards and Hardy Pond had mergansers.

Tuesday 1/3: Charles: 3 Hoodies, 1 Common Merganser, 2 Common Goldeneye.

Wednesday 12/21: Hardy Pond had very little. Cambridge Res had a ton of Hoodies along with Wigeon, Ruddy, Black Duck, Mallard, and Common Mergansers. Squirrel came back for the first time in a few weeks.

Thursday 12/22: BBN had a flicker, 3 red-wings (should have walked that part Sunday I guess) and a ton of robins and juncos.

Friday 12/23: Lyman Pond: 75 geese, 5 swans, 12 mallard.

Saturday 12/24: Looked for the Snowy Owl in Everett without any luck.

Sunday 12/25: Didn’t go out.

Monday 12/26: Tracked down a Redhead in Framingham thanks to a tip from John Hines. Cruised past Heard Pond and Nine Acre Corner on the way back without seeing much. Also stopped at Lindentree Farm and found the bluebirds but nothing else. Afternoon walk along the Charles had 2 Ring-necks.

Tuesday 12/27: Moody St had the most gulls I’ve seen yet this season. About 110 Ring-billed, 16 Herring, 1 Great Black-backed, and the same Iceland. Not much else.

Wednesday 12/14: Moody St had lots of Ring-bills, geese, and mallards. Four Hoodies were about it for anything of interest.

Thursday 12/15: Hardy Pond. Wind was away from the pond, so able to scope fairly comfortably. Among the 34 Ruddies and 9 Common Mergansers was an apparent Red-breasted Merganser (would have liked a bit closer look to be really sure).

Friday 12/16: Paine. Too windy for much, but did find 2 Hermit Thrushes.

Saturday 12/17: Some CBC scouting. 8 Red-wings and a bluebird at BBN, Iceland Gull on the Charles. Quick check of the river at Purgatory Cove had 4 Gadwall (2 cormorants at the boat ramp) plus many coots and a grebe still at Charlesbank.

Sunday 12/18: CBC

Monday 12/19: Went to duck ponds but they looked frozen and it was windy and cold. Geese all over Concord Ave but didn’t stop to check them.

Tuesday 12/20: Hardy Pond on the way to work, pretty frozen but the ducks (mergansers, ruddies, wigeon, etc) all remained. Walked Concord Ave at lunch but couldn’t find any geese (and looped past Fernald and Warren field as well on the way back).

Wednesday 12/7: Hardy Pond in the rain, nothing exciting.

Thursday 12/8: Prospect Hill had nothing (and the flooded base was interesting walking). Feeder visitor was back for a good amount of time at night.

Friday 12/9: Didn’t get out.

Saturday 12/10: Drove around looking for things with snow in the name. Didn’t find any. Nice flock of turkeys near Nine Acre Corner and that was about it. Stopped at Waltham St. on the way back and found the Lark Sparrow singing!

Sunday 12/11: Started with Lot 1 and the West Meadow. Couple Hermit Thrushes and some waxwings at Lot 1 and 5 bluebirds and 2 Red-wings at West Meadow. Purgatory Cove was quiet (cormorant and Pied-billed Grebe about it, no owls). Charlesbank had another cormorant and 50ish coots. Hardy Pond had 4 wigeon among the regular stuff.

Monday 12/12: Charles had 2 Hoodies and 1 Common Merganser. Moderate number of gulls in the parking lot for a change, although all Ring-bills.

Tuesday 12/13: Duck ponds were pretty quiet. One hoodie was about it.

Wednesday 11/30: Started for Moody St, looked like the gull numbers were way lower today so hit the regular part of the river walk instead. Saw very little (more turtles than birds beyond the railroad bridge).

Thursday 12/1: Hardy Pond on the way to work: 1 Ruddy, 3 Common Mergansers. BBN (all around the marsh) at lunch didn’t have anything exciting.

Friday 12/2: Lyman Pond: a few hoodies, not much else.

Saturday 12/3: Started with BBN. Lots of activity along the parkway, although nothing overly exciting (3 red-wings the most interesting). Up the hill and then around to the West Meadow seeing nothing new. More red-wings in the meadow and a calling bluebird on the way out. Over to Fernald to count geese (95 Canada), then Cambridge Res (coots down to 175, 37 hoodies, and not much else) and Flint’s Pond (ring-necks, scaup, mergansers, bufflehead, goldeneye). Afternoon walk around Arlington Res had the usual for there (shoveler, gadwall, wigeon, snipe).

Sunday 12/4: Quick walk around Dunback had a Rusty Blackbird. On to Moody St, where I quickly picked up an Iceland Gull. Otherwise very little there. Only a couple Mallard, swan, and Wood Duck on Purgatory Cove and none of the interesting ducks on the river. But while scoping the river, a Common Raven flew over, an unexpected bird for the river (130 for me)! Decided to walk a bit and while near the landfill, the crows went ballistic along the road. Scanned through the pines on the way back, and with the help of a call, found a pair of Great Horned Owls. Quick stop at Charlesbank found 52 coot, 3 Pied-billed Grebe, and a Double-crested Cormorant.

Monday 12/5: Stopped at Gore on my way home from the doctor’s. Late afternoon and the light was awful (sun directly behind the trees), so not much of anything.

Tuesday 12/6: Paine started pretty quiet. Halfway through my usual loop a raven flew over and called. Continued on and didn’t see much (although the raven kept calling). Reached the big field and watched a Peregrine cruise over. Headed back and found 2 ravens sitting in the hemlocks. Pulled out the phone to try for a picture but the garbage truck picked that exact second to drive up and the birds took off. Definitely wasn’t expecting two new birds for the site list today (although looking it up, the last two additions were both on the same day as well).