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.

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.

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.

WIR 2/22-2/28

Monday 2/22: Beaver Brook Ponds, few Hoodies, many robins, 1 grackle, etc. Red-wings singing at work and at the end of the street.

Tuesday 2/23: Checked Woerd Ave and some South St. Charles sites without anything of note.

Wednesday 2/24: Decided to be crazy and check the Charles in the rain. Four goldeneye, 2 ring-necks and not much else.

Thursday 2/25: Wasn’t quite so rainy so hit Lyman Pond. Just short of nothing there but a calling Hairy Woodpecker was a new bird for the site for me (or not, had one on the CBC and didn’t update my spreadsheet).

Friday 2/26: Paine at lunch. Dodged mud and ice to find a big flock of robins and red-wings by the big vernal pool.

Saturday 2/27: Stayed in, nothing of interest.

Sunday 2/28: Mystic Lakes: 5 Great Cormorants, a few ducks. Two pairs of red-tails but no eagles.

WIR 2/15-2/21

There’s a gap from Texas.

Monday 2/15: Important guests for breakfast then finally caught up with the easy Saw-whet in Burlington that all my friends have seen already. In the afternoon, got the Tufted Duck on the Wayland/Sudbury line, very glad that he hung around until I got back.

Tuesday 2/16: Went to the duck ponds at lunch but the sleet and snow picked up, so didn’t get out of the car and didn’t find anything driving around a bit.

Wednesday 2/17: Charles at lunch. Scaup still around with 15 ring-necks spread out. Two Common Mergansers. First Wood Ducks of the year hiding on the other side. Both Sharpie and Cooper’s in the yard.

Thursday 2/18: Moody St at lunch, nothing of note. Sharpie over Kingston and the same Cooper’s in the yard again.

Friday 2/19: Lot 1 at lunch. A total of 5 individual birds but one was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet so I was fairly happy.

Saturday 2/20: Looking for the Tufted Duck found on the Charles yesterday (why didn’t I go at lunch). No luck with that, but Turkey Vulture, 3 Bufflehead, 2 Grackles, and many Red-winged Blackbirds weren’t bad.

Sunday 2/21: Checked the Charles again without much of anything.

WIR 1/26/-2/5

A week and a half this time as next week will be very different.

Tuesday 1/26: Beaver Brook ponds were flooded but had 2 Hooded Mergansers and a few American Black Ducks.

Wednesday 1/27: Charles, refound the Lesser Scaup and finally had a goldeneye for the year but very quiet otherwise. Not a single gull! Also had at least 25 Mallards buzzing around the neighborhood after sunset.

Thursday 1/28: Nothing of note.

Friday 1/29: Freezing cold but hit Lyman Pond quickly. It was frozen.

Saturday 1/30: Still freezing but checked Dunback briefly. Creeper and not much else.

Sunday 1/31: Plum with MBC. Snowy Owl (even further than last time), Rough-legged Hawk, Horned Lark, Bald Eagle, and lots and lots of ice and wind.

Monday 2/1: Beaver Brook North, nothing of real note.

Tuesday 2/2: Purgatory Cove: Lesser Black-backed Gull (last year’s bird back?) but no eagles.

Wednesday 2/3: Paine: creeper and not much else.

Thursday 2/4: Moody St, nothing much (no dark-mantled gulls at all)

Friday 2/5: Charles: scaup still around, 1 fish crow calling, fairly quiet otherwise.

WIR 1/19

Tuesday 1/19: Still snowing, stayed in at work.

Wednesday 1/20: Figured the only place with open trails would be Beaver Brook. Nothing other than Mallards that wouldn’t be in the yard right now (and not the 50 red-wings that flew over the yard in the morning).

Thursday 1/21: Charles by Moody St. Few Common Mergansers, nothing interesting among the gulls.

Friday 1/22: Duck ponds, 4 hoodies in with the mallards.

Saturday 1/23: Went to Cape Ann with my parents and a friend. Most of the usual stuff, missed King Eider and a few of the gulls. Did get 2 Peregrines on the tower, many Harlequins, and 2 Iceland Gulls including this adult:

Iceland

Sunday 1/24: Stayed in. Great Black-backed Gull was yard bird #26 for the year, lots and lots of the usual stuff in very quick waves.

Monday 1/25: Raining. Quick check of Hardy Pond had a few gulls and some mallards flying around. Did have 6 Red-wings fly over at work.

WIR 1/12-1/18

Tuesday 1/12: Checked the duck pond. Bunch of mallards, 1 hairy, not much else in 15 minutes.

Wednesday 1/13: Charles, more of the same plus 5 Fish Crows.

Thursday 1/14: Paine, nothing different.

Friday 1/15: Beaver Brook North, nothing different.

Saturday 1/16: Took a long walk to Lot 1 and then the West Meadow. Two red-wings at Lot 1 were the highlight, although lots of regular stuff.

Sunday 1/17: Checked Rock Meadow in the morning, 2 bluebirds, 2 Carolina Wrens, lots of regular stuff. Led the Waltham Land Trust duck walk along the Charles in the afternoon. All the regular stuff (minus the goldeneye) were there and a Lesser Scaup was a very nice surprise. A big crowd as well.

Scaup

Monday 1/18: Snowed, stayed in taking photos (see next post).

WIR 1/5-1/11

Tuesday 1/5: Kestrel on the way to work. Charles again at lunch. Carolina Wren and Hairy were about the only things different.

Wednesday 1/6: Cooper’s keeping everything down in the yard before work. Paine at lunch: red-belly, creeper. Sharpie in one of the trees in the courtyard at work.

Thursday 1/7: Charles at Moody St: one tagged gull. Charles at Elm St: nothing different.

Friday 1/8: Waverly Oaks Marsh had nothing so did a quick Screech-Owl run.

Saturday 1/9: Charles again and again nothing different. The Common Merganser below did pose nicely at least. Also had 19 species in the yard.

Merganser Preening

And stretching

Sunday 1/10: Pretty much stayed in, quick check for the ravens late in the afternoon (mostly to show someone where they are, saw nothing on the ride).

Monday 1/11: Beaver Brook North: Flicker, 2 Tree Sparrows, Red-belly. New Beaver Brook/Rock Meadow Patch page

WIR 12/29-1/4

Tuesday 12/29: Too cold to go out, plus free lunch at work so no reason to go out.

Wednesday 12/30: Beaver Brook Ponds: Kingfisher (don’t understand, the Charles is totally open and there’s no kingfishers but I’ve found two in the last few days in spots that I could leap over the open water).

Thursday 12/31: Took a quick trip over to the Mystic Lakes (for Great Cormorant and eagles). Not a whole lot there, a quick walk at Sandy Beach had 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, a few hoodies, and a red-wing or two. Saw some ducks on the river at the other rotary on the way home, so pulled in and stopped for a minute. More hoodies and a Ring-neck among the mallards and swans. Started snowing then, but decided to stop at Dunback anyway. Snow was much worse there and I gave up after a brief search of the pines. Only thing of note was a big flock of White-throats foraging about 15 feet up in the pines.

Friday 1/1: Goldfinch for bird #1. Did the BBC trip, Laura’s report is up. Highlights: Ipswich Sparrow, Snowy Owl, Glaucous Gull, flock of Razorbills.

Saturday 1/2: Basically snowed in but ran out for a few minutes after hearing that a raven was on the deer carcass at the Cambridge Res. Took a bit of searching to find the carcass, but the bird was still there (no spot to stop though so no pictures).

Sunday 1/3: Snowed in again, nothing different for the yard but enough to be entertaining.

Monday 1/4: Charles at lunch for the Barrow’s Goldeneye that has reappeared. No goldeneye at all but 2 swans, 7 ring-necks, and a few Hooded and Common Mergansers made it a worthwhile trip.