weekinreview – Page 69 – brewster's linnet . com

WIR 11/2-11/8

Wednesday 11/2: Prospect Hill: 2 deer, very few birds.

Thursday 11/3: Duck ponds were having tree work so ended at Rock Meadow. Fourteen turkeys at the entrance to the gardens, a sapsucker and hermit thrush in them. Coot, Ruddies, and a Kingfisher on Hardy Pond in the afternoon.

Friday 11/4: Purgatory Cove had the usual ducks (mostly on the river) plus 5 Bufflehead. After work stop at the Cambridge Res got the coots in close. Took one picture with the phone, but Marj got better. More Bufflehead here, 35, which blows away my previous high count for the area.

Saturday 11/5: All day in Fairhaven with the BBC. Full details on the BBC trips blog but here are a couple photos:

Was coming home on Rt. 2 so decided to scan the north end of the Cambridge Res. No shorebirds but first Common Mergansers of the fall, plus 2 turkeys around the corner.

Sunday 11/6: Joined the MBC walk at Dunback. Was up early and it was bright, so headed to Waltham St first. Walked in and the Lark Sparrow was right there, a bit of a surprise after seeing negative reports all week. Also had first American Tree Sparrows of the fall and a couple Rusty Blackbirds. The group came back over and I managed to find the sparrow way up in one of the trees, allowing for decent scope looks. Back at Dunback we had 1 Fox Sparrow, a couple Hermit Thrushes, and my latest ever Blue-headed Vireo. Cambridge Res after had nothing new. Flint’s Pond had a few mergansers.

Monday 11/7: BBN was very quiet. Lots of juncos, a couple darners, 1 meadowhawk.

Tuesday 11/8: Lot 1 was pretty much like BBN yesterday, plus a Tree Sparrow, garter snake, and calling frogs.

WIR 10/26-11/1

Wednesday 10/26: River walk for a change, phoebe, few warblers, nothing but mallards on the water.

Thursday 10/27: Hardy Pond and Cambridge Res in the rain: Ruddies on both, huge raft of coots on the res.

Friday 10/28: BBN at lunch: Bunch of Hermit Thrushes, phoebe, lots of common sparrows and juncos. Ran over to Waltham St after work and found the Lark Sparrow Bob and Karsten discovered earlier. Also Field Sparrow and Palm Warbler. Presuming I saw the American Golden-Plover that was at the Arlington Res a few years ago from the Lexington side, this is #200 in Lexington.

Saturday 10/29: Started with a walk through Lot 1 and the West Meadow. Lots of Hermit Thrushes and 200+ Cedar Waxwings, plus fighting turkeys but not much else. Around the Cambridge Res next: 1 Black Scoter (3rd scoter and 150th bird in Waltham this year!), 1 Greater Scaup, 2 Pied-billed Grebe, a presumed Bald Eagle. Home for lunch and then a quick swing for geese trying to beat the rain. Did more or less beat the rain but it was too dark and the geese were way out so nothing good among them. Also nothing at Flint’s Pond.

Sunday 10/30: Birds in the snow

Monday 10/31: Gore Place for a change, nothing particularly exciting. One sulphur and one darner survived the snow at least.

Tuesday 11/1: BBN had lots of the usual. Huge flock of red-wings down the street in the morning.

WIR 10/19-10/25

Wednesday 10/19: Hardy Pond had 1 Ring-neck.

Thursday 10/20: Purgatory Cove: 7ish Green-winged Teal, 1 Blue-winged Teal, 1 Gadwall, 2 American Wigeon, 15ish Wood Duck, 4 Coot.

Friday 10/21: BBN was quiet.

Saturday 10/22: In Westport for the day but not birding. Did have a Peregrine, many Tree Swallows and a few other things driving around.

Sunday 10/23: All over. Started at Great Meadows where there were no good sparrows but did have a Sora and a few Rusty Blackbirds plus a snipe overhead. On to the School St fields and prison fields where the Cattle Egrets have moved on (guess I should have rushed over Saturday afternoon). Decided to check Meriam’s Corner for them too (thousands of grackles and not much else) and Nine Acre Corner. Cambridge Res on way home turned up a Surf Scoter, finally getting one for Waltham. Up the Charles after lunch with parents where we had 24 coots and 2 Pied-billed Grebe at Charlesbank and about the same ducks as Thursday at Purgatory Cove (new Gadwall though).

Monday 10/24: Rock Meadow. Was hoping to find a good sparrow but Anna Piccolo beat me and had already found 2 Clay-coloreds. Good views and I think the first time I’ve heard one.

Tuesday 10/25: Back side of Prospect Hill. One busy flock of chickadees and stuff included a Hermit Thrush and some Golden-crowned Kinglets but not much else around.

WIR 10/12-10/18

Wednesday 10/12: Purgatory Cove: 9 Wigeon (5 cove, 4 river), Hooded Merganser, 3 Green-winged Teal

Thursday 10/13: Hardy Pond: First of fall Ruddy.

Friday 10/14: Duck Ponds: lots of grackles, robins, yellow-rumps.

Saturday 10/15: Led MBC walk to Waltham St. Fields and Dunback. Not a whole lot of birds at either. Best with the group was a Bobolink at Dunback, but I had a Dickcissel walking out by myself. Afternoon walk around Arlington Res got the Great Cormorant sharing a rock with the Double-crested plus 2 shoveler, 2 Wood Duck, 3 Green-winged Teal, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 2 Solitary Sandpiper.

Sunday 10/16: Rock Meadow early. Not a whole lot, highlights: 1 bluebird, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 1 White-crowned Sparrow, 1 Lincoln’s Sparrow, 1 towhee. Eight Ruddies on Hardy Pond in the afternoon.

Monday 10/17: Paine was very quiet. Managed to phone-bin a Shadow Darner but that was about it.

Tuesday 10/18: Prospect Hill: Golden-crowned Kinglet, 2 Hermit Thrush, Red Admiral.

WIR 10/5-10/11

Wednesday 10/5: Purgatory Cove: bunch of Green-winged Teal, first of fall juncos.

Thursday 10/6: Prospect Hill before work: lots of White-throats, Black-and-white, many flyover Yellow-rumps and Blackpolls. Beaver Brook at lunch: Blue-headed Vireo, more Yellow-rumps and a Palm were about it.

Friday 10/7: Prospect Hill again, zip.

Saturday 10/8: More or less stayed in for Yom Kippur. Did walk down to the store for get food for Sunday and found a Red-tail maybe 10 feet off the ground (unfortunately had the phone off and it flew by the time it turned on).

Sunday 10/9 and Monday 10/10: Big Sit and some local stuff

Tuesday 10/11: BBN had a BT Blue, a few Blackpolls, and enough Yellow-rumps that I needed another couple hours to sort through them all.

WIR 9/28-10/4

Wednesday 9/28: Prospect Hill was very quiet.

Thursday 9/29: Saw something. Nothing at the Cambridge Res later.

Friday 9/30: Duck ponds were pretty quiet. Finally able to crawl through the fallen trees though and do a full loop.

Saturday 10/1: Joined the Menotomy trip to Dunback: Chat, few other warblers, exotic finch, heard-only Dickcissel. Arlington Res after: 3 Blue-winged Teal, White-crowned Sparrow.

Sunday 10/2: Planned on being lazy but the sun came out so ran to Rock Meadow. Clouded up, but spent over two hours in the gardens, mostly with Karsten and Jeff. Karsten eventually picked up one of the Dickcissels which cooperated for a few photos (somewhat). Also a couple Nashvilles, an Osprey, and a flyover loon (Karsten called it Red-throated, I didn’t actually look carefully and am kicking myself quite a bit). Circled Cambridge Res after and found 9 swans and 5 wigeon.

Monday 10/3: BBN was pretty quiet, few sparrows, few blackpolls. Afternoon elsewhere was better:

Tuesday 10/4: BBN again: Lance-tipped Darner, Buckeye, etc.

About time I found one for the patch.

WIR 9/21-9/27

Wednesday 9/21: BBN had one good flock of warblers including 3+ Blackpolls, a BT Green, a Parula, and a Nashville.

Thursday 9/22: Cambridge Res at lunch: 5 yellowlegs, both Greater and Lesser. Not a whole lot else, Spotted Sandpipers, Solitary Sandpiper, Killdeer, herons. Blackpoll from the yard.

Friday 9/23: Purgatory Cove: 6 GW Teal, 1 BW Teal, 1 Wigeon, 1 PB Grebe.

Saturday 9/24: Purgatory Cove w/parents (and Bob): 7 GW Teal, 2 BW Teal, 2 Pectoral Sandpiper, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs. Cambridge Res in the afternoon: 2 Parula, 1 Black-and-white, 1 Blackpoll, 1 Yellow-rump, 5 Solitary Sandpiper.

Sunday 9/25: Led MBC walk in Lincoln. Found mosquitos and eventually a Baltimore Oriole. Nothing at Cambridge Res on way back.

Monday 9/26: Chased Chris Floyd’s Clay-colored Sparrow at Rock Meadow. Took my whole lunch break but did find it eventually. Greenway bird #160.

Missed a Dickcissel though even spending some time looking.

Tuesday 9/27: UMass Field Station looking for a Dickcissel of my own (2 now at Rock Meadow) but not much of anything.

WIR 9/14-9/20

Wednesday 9/14: Purgatory Cove had both Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal but no sandpipers.

Thursday 9/15: BBN before work: lots of Blackpolls, lots of things in awful light. Broad-winged at Prospect Hill at lunch and not much else there.

Friday 9/16: Duck ponds: Ovenbird, Parula, Black-and-white, Yellowthroat, couple more got away. Also big flock of geese overhead. Driving down Lexington St later, single nighthawk over the Wal-Lex.

Saturday 9/17: Started at Dunback. Not quite as busy as I hoped but pretty good with 8 species of warbler including Blackburnian and first of fall BT Blue, several Broad-wings and Sharpies, and Philadelphia and Blue-headed Vireo. Stopped at Cambridge Res on the way home, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, Great Egret, Osprey, Semipalmated Plover, 2 Green Heron. Afternoon walk around Arlington Res failed to turn up the Dickcissel but did get 4 shovelers.

Sunday 9/18: Rock Meadow early: big flock of warblers at the entrance including 2 Parula, Redstart, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, BT Green. Gardens had more BT Green and a couple Lincoln’s Sparrows. Looped around, finding a Coyote and not much else. Return trip through the gardens found more Parula, Red-eyed Vireos, and Indigo Bunting. River Walk was quiet (Kingfisher, Spotted Sandpiper) but 4 Pectoral Sandpipers at Purgatory Cove were new for me in Waltham (195). Also a few Semipalmated, Least, and Spotted Sandpipers, 3 Green Herons, and a single Blue-winged Teal. (And most likely a Rusty Blackbird that I skipped over as brownish grackle, oops).

Monday 9/19: Prospect Hill had nothing beyond a big flock of grackles.

Tuesday 9/20: Hardy Pond in the rain, still swifts and swallows.

WIR 9/7-9/13

Wednesday 9/7: Purgatory Cove again in the heavy rain: kingfisher, egret, 1 green heron.

Thursday 9/8: Duck ponds had nothing.

Friday 9/9: Prospect Hill: Veery, Prairie Warbler, 2 American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Scarlet Tanager. Five nighthawks around the corner around 5PM.

Saturday 9/10: Farm Meadow in Lincoln: Parula, BT Green, Blackpoll, Redstart, 2 Red-eyed Vireo (local family?), 2 Kingbird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 2 Indigo Bunting. Wayland Community Gardens were pretty quiet, nighthawk and Rose-breasted Grosbeak were about it.

Sunday 9/11: Plum (after planning on going all week on Saturday, rather jealous of the Gull-billed Tern): Buff-breasted and Stilt Sandpipers, Hudsonian Godwit, American Golden-Plovers (3), Blackburnian, 2(?) Eurasian Wigeon. Godwit was #250 for Essex county.

Monday 9/12: BBN at lunch: standard warblers and vireos. Insects good with a Canada Darner and a Mocha Emerald landing. More or less managed a couple photos of the emerald. Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing around the corner before work.

Tuesday 9/13: Paine was quiet.

WIR 8/24-8/30

Wednesday 8/24: Pretty much nothing. Missed one nighthawk over the yard.

Thursday 8/25: BBN was very quiet.

Friday 8/26: Canada, Magnolia, 4+ Redstarts at Prospect Hill. About 6 nighthawks over the yard plus many Chimney Swifts way up high.

Saturday 8/27: Went out with the Athol Bird and Nature Club. Once the sun came out, we got a few dragonflies including a good number of American Rubyspots and two Arrow Clubtails. Rubyspot appears to be ode #100 for me in MA.

Sunday 8/28: Did not find any hurricane-related birds on Hardy Pond (Bank Swallow was decent but wouldn’t cooperate and get on the yard list).

Monday 8/29: Started with an early check of various water without finding much (missed eagle, greater yellowlegs, etc at Cambridge Res). Got to work and no power, come back at noon. Ran to Purgatory Cove where there were a bunch of shorebirds including a Semipalmated Sandpiper among the Leasts. Several hawks bothering them including a big Cooper’s and a possible Red-shouldered. Got a phone call saying no work for the day, so headed out again and checked the Mystic Lakes (1 Least Sandpiper).

Tuesday 8/30: Still no power at work, so hit Dunback. First of fall Blackpoll and Prairie Warblers were good but the highlight was a Northern Waterthrush that chased a robin across the large field. Power restored, but I ran to the duck ponds at lunch and found them draining rapidly, apparently from hurricane damage. Hopefully good shorebirds soon.