WIR 3/21-3/27

Wednesday 3/21: Pine Warblers were in at Paine (and presumably had been). Also first Six-spotted Tiger Beetle and Cabbage Whites of the year.

Thursday 3/22: Prospect Hill: 2 phoebes, a sulphur, 4 Mourning Cloaks.

Friday 3/23: Purgatory Cove had nesting swans and there were 5 Wood Ducks split between there and the river.

Saturday 3/24: Walked Lot 1 to Met State. Ten turkeys and a singing Winter Wren at Lot 1, 3 phoebes and a Tree Swallow at Met State, not much at the West Meadow.

Sunday 3/25: Nothing on the Cambridge Res. Usual ducks (ruddy, mergansers, ring-necks) on Flint’s Pond. Nothing at School St or the prison fields. Hundreds of Tree Swallows at Great Meadows but nothing else new. Calling muskrats were interesting, not sure I’ve heard them before.

Monday 3/26: Nothing exciting in the wind at the duck ponds.

Tuesday 3/27: Eagle over Hardy Pond (and the house) in the morning (plus 2 Bufflehead, 1 Ruddy, 12 Common Mergansers, etc). Minimum of 5 Pine Warblers at Paine at lunch but not much else.

WIR 3/14-3/20

Wednesday 3/14: Pair of Wood Ducks at the duck ponds.

Thursday 3/15: Blackbirds, blackbirds, and blackbirds at Rock Meadow.

Friday 3/16: Wood Ducks at Paine.

Saturday 3/17: Joined the MBC walk at Horn Pond. Singing Fox Sparrow was the highlight. Stopped after for mm and mmm.

Sunday 3/18: Started at Waltham St. (snipe) and Dunback (singing creeper, phoebe, Mourning Cloak, missed 2 Fox Sparrows). Midmorning walk at Great Meadows had a shoveler, lots of ring-necks, coots, and pied-billed grebes but no Barrow’s. After lunch a quick trip out to the Rt. 20 bridge failed to find a second Barrow’s but did get first Tree Swallows of the year. Not much at Heard Pond or Cambridge Res. Only a handful of woodcock at Lot 1 in the evening but a bat was very nice.

Creeper

Monday 3/19: BBN was fairly quiet. Phoebe and Mourning Cloak were about it. Missed an eagle at home.

Tuesday 3/20: Rock Meadow had Tree Swallows and people.

WIR 2/29-3/6

Wednesday 2/29: Nothing at Paine. Luckily, I stopped at the field station on the way and got 4 Killdeer without even having to stop the car. Needed the extra day, but that’s 70 for the winter list.

Thursday 3/1: Snow had changed to rain at lunch so ran to Purgatory Cove. One ring-neck on the cove, 14 more near Edgewater (and easier to see from there). While driving over, quick scan from Charlesbank had another Ring-neck plus about 50 coots. Not surprisingly with the snow, White-throat and Song Sparrow back in the yard.

Friday 3/2: River walk was as dead as I’ve ever seen it. Heard a Killdeer and there was a grackle in the big sycamore but otherwise nothing.

Saturday 3/3: Indoors at the Birder’s Meeting all day.

Sunday 3/4: Wandered BBN a bit. Started on Concord Ave, where there were Red-wings all over, plus a few Hoodies on the golf course. Two flyover Common Mergansers were a patch tick. Found a (or the) Swamp Sparrow at the West Meadow. A creeper and 2 possible Winter Wrens were about it at Met State, but 2 bluebirds were flying around Concord Ave getting back to the car. A quick stop at the duck ponds had very little.

Monday 3/5: Forest Grove: Killdeer, blackbirds, Common Mergansers. Turkey Vulture over downtown.

Tuesday 3/6: Prospect Hill was rather icy so just hung around the base watching mostly robins. Skunk cabbage coming up.

WIR 2/22-2/28

Wednesday 2/22: Shocking little around the marsh at BBN.

Thursday 2/23: Hardy Pond, 2 Ruddies were new and otherwise the same. Mergansers on the res.

Friday 2/24: Purgatory Cove: first Wood Duck of the year, plus a few Ring-necks and mergansers. Flicker and point-blank Golden-crowned Kinglets too. (Forgot this last week, but interesting news for the cove)

Saturday 2/25: Plum with MBC. Wind, wind, wind, and wind. Plus 2-3 Snowy Owls and a few other things.

Snowy

Sunday 2/26: Arlington Res in the afternoon: 2 wigeon, 1 Gadwall, 4 Green-winged Teal, 3 Killdeer, etc.

Monday 2/27: Prospect Hill was very quiet. A certain squirrel reappeared late at night.

Tuesday 2/28: BBN was still very quiet. Blackbirds galore at home.

WIR 2/15-2/21

Wednesday 2/15: Duck ponds had lots of the usual.

Thursday 2/16: Woodpeckers, robins, and juncos at BBN.

Friday 2/17: Purgatory Cove: a few Ring-necks were joined by a Greater Scaup (Charles #131), plus various mergansers. No good gulls though.

Saturday 2/18: Towhee, also the usual Cape Ann stuff.

Sunday 2/19: Walked BBN. Nothing much at Lot 1 (except first of year for the patch Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls). Grackle flew over the boardwalk. Not much more at the Met State side. No wigeon on Hardy Pond late in the afternoon. Making this a nature post and not a birding one, first chipmunk of the year.

Monday 2/20: Cold and windy. Nothing at Hardy Pond or Waltham St.

Tuesday 2/21: Duck ponds were very quiet.

WIR 2/8-2/14

Wednesday 2/8: Ended up at Lone Tree Hill in Belmont, nothing interesting.

Thursday 2/9: Purgatory Cove: 14 swans, 3 coot, the Lesser Black-back.

Friday 2/10: West Meadow had lots of robins, white-throats, and woodpeckers.

Saturday 2/11: MBC trip to Horn Pond was pretty quiet. Stopped for the Red-throated Loon on the Mystic Lakes on the way home. Nothing at Spy Pond or the Cambridge Res.

Sunday 2/12: Cold and windy, stayed in.

Monday 2/13: Lyman Pond was frozen (50 geese, assorted feeder birds). Had a few minutes, so ran over to Hardy Pond and immediately had an eagle flying around (in  a spot that was visible from the house). Looked again in the afternoon with no luck, but 3 wigeon were around.

Eagle

(Click to watch)

Tuesday 2/14: River walk had the usual. One (four) Fish Crows finally though.

WIR 2/1-2/7

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).

WIR 1/25-1/31

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.

WIR 1/18-1/24

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.