Author: jason

Duck Walk 2012

Sunday morning was the Waltham Land Trust’s annual duck walk. It was a bit on the cool side, but not brutal. The sun was out and there was no wind. The recent freeze had finally pushed some birds onto the Charles and the 25 or so people that joined me had a great time.

Some quick photo highlights:

Hoodie

Male Hooded Merganser

First year male Goldeneye

Young male Common Goldeneye

Parade

Two male Common Goldeneye, female Bufflehead, male Ring-necked Duck on parade.

Also lots of Common Mergansers plus more of all of the above. The big highlight was an almost mature Bald Eagle that cruised up the river. Too quick for any pictures, but just about everyone got on it.

WIR 1/11-1/17

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.

WIR 1/4-1/10

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.

Owl

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.

Lesser Black-back

Tuesday 1/10: Nothing at BBN.

 

WIR 12/28-1/3

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.

2011

Overall birds: 300 even, 13 new (all in CO)

Massachusetts: 252 (5 new)

Middlesex County: 198 (2 new)

Waltham: 157 (new high, 7 new)

Yard: 57 (2 new: Common Redpoll, Wild Turkey)

Western Greenway: 114 (4 new: Rusty Blackbird, Louisiana Waterthrush, Common Nighthawk, Clay-colored Sparrow)

Charles: 97 (9 new: Great Horned Owl, Greater White-fronted Goose, Rusty BlackbirdVirginia Rail, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Swamp Sparrow, Pectoral Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Common Raven)

Butterflies:  59+ several from Colorado, 47 MA, 43 Middlesex, 38 Waltham (10+ ,0, 0, 0 new respectively,)

Odes: 83, 64 MA, 58 Middlesex, 35 Waltham (15, 5, 3, 4 new)

Plus a bunch of new mammals and various other cool things.

Best bird: White-tailed Ptarmigan

Best bird in MA: Cassin’s Sparrow

Best bird in Middlesex County: Mt. Auburn Cranes

Best bird in Waltham: the second Long-tailed Duck

Best bug: Ridings’s Satyr and Rainbow Bluet

Best bug locally: Brook Snaketail

 

Patch 2011

Two patches this year: the Western Greenway and Charles River (Watertown Square to Norumbega). Goal is the 5 year average plus 5, so 120 for the Greenway and 73 for the Charles. Bold is a patch tick, italics is otherwise notable.

Greenway (95% as of 12/6)

  1. Mute Swan (3/22)
  2. Canada Goose (1/28)
  3. Wood Duck (2/17)
  4. American Black Duck (2/17)
  5. Mallard (1/3)
  6. Northern Pintail (1/5)
  7. Hooded Merganser (1/3, breeding 7/21?)
  8. Wild Turkey (4/7)
  9. Double-crested Cormorant (3/19)
  10. Great Blue Heron (4/17)
  11. Green Heron (5/5)
  12. Turkey Vulture (2/17)
  13. Osprey (4/26)
  14. Sharp-shinned Hawk (4/22)
  15. Cooper’s Hawk (1/8)
  16. Red-tailed Hawk (1/8)
  17. American Kestrel (4/27)
  18. Peregrine Falcon (1/25)
  19. Killdeer (3/19)
  20. Spotted Sandpiper (7/21)
  21. Solitary Sandpiper (5/25)
  22. American Woodcock (3/20)
  23. Ring-billed Gull (1/3)
  24. Herring Gull (4/10)
  25. Rock Pigeon (3/1)
  26. Mourning Dove (1/5)
  27. Yellow-billed Cuckoo (5/13)
  28. Black-billed Cuckoo (5/27)
  29. Great Horned Owl (1/8)
  30. Common Nighthawk (9/4)
  31. Chimney Swift (5/5)
  32. Ruby-throated Hummingbird (6/2)
  33. Belted Kingfisher (2/22)
  34. Red-bellied Woodpecker (1/7)
  35. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (4/17)
  36. Downy Woodpecker (1/3)
  37. Hairy Woodpecker (1/8)
  38. Northern Flicker (1/8)
  39. Eastern Wood-Pewee (5/24)
  40. Willow Flycatcher (5/28)
  41. Eastern Phoebe (4/7)
  42. Great Crested Flycatcher (5/3)
  43. Eastern Kingbird (4/27)
  44. Blue-headed Vireo (10/6)
  45. Warbling Vireo (5/16)
  46. Red-eyed Vireo (5/12)
  47. Blue Jay (1/5)
  48. American Crow (1/4)
  49. Common Raven (12/6)
  50. Tree Swallow (4/17)
  51. Barn Swallow (4/22)
  52. Black-capped Chickadee (1/3)
  53. Tufted Titmouse (1/3)
  54. Red-breasted Nuthatch (3/29)
  55. White-breasted Nuthatch (1/4)
  56. Brown Creeper (11/19)
  57. Carolina Wren (1/8)
  58. House Wren (4/22)
  59. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (4/22)
  60. Golden-crowned Kinglet (4/27)
  61. Eastern Bluebird (3/17)
  62. Hermit Thrush (3/29)
  63. Wood Thrush (5/3)
  64. American Robin (1/5)
  65. Northern Mockingbird (1/8)
  66. Brown Thrasher (4/17)
  67. Gray Catbird (5/3)
  68. European Starling (1/3)
  69. Cedar Waxwing (5/23)
  70. Blue-winged Warbler (5/24)
  71. Nashville Warbler (5/13)
  72. Northern Parula (5/3)
  73. Yellow Warbler (5/3)
  74. Chestnut-sided Warbler (5/3)
  75. Magnolia Warbler (5/25)
  76. Black-throated Blue Warbler (5/12)
  77. Black-throated Green Warbler (4/27)
  78. Yellow-rumped Warbler (4/19)
  79. Pine Warbler (4/6)
  80. Palm Warbler (4/19)
  81. Blackpoll Warbler (5/25)
  82. American Redstart (8/18)
  83. Black-and-white Warbler (4/27)
  84. Ovenbird (5/3)
  85. Northern Waterthrush (7/21)
  86. Louisiana Waterthrush (7/26)
  87. Common Yellowthroat (5/3)
  88. Eastern Towhee (5/3)
  89. American Tree Sparrow (1/3)
  90. Chipping Sparrow (4/14)
  91. Clay-colored Sparrow (9/26)
  92. Field Sparrow (4/10)
  93. Savannah Sparrow (4/17)
  94. Fox Sparrow (3/19)
  95. Song Sparrow (1/8)
  96. Lincoln’s Sparrow (9/18)
  97. Swamp Sparrow (4/17)
  98. White-throated Sparrow (1/3)
  99. White-crowned Sparrow (10/16)
  100. Dark-eyed Junco (1/3)
  101. Scarlet Tanager (5/9)
  102. Northern Cardinal (1/3)
  103. Rose-breasted Grosbeak (4/27)
  104. Indigo Bunting (5/13)
  105. Dickcissel (10/2)
  106. Orchard Oriole (5/25)
  107. Baltimore Oriole (4/27)
  108. Red-winged Blackbird (3/2)
  109. Brown-headed Cowbird (3/19)
  110. Rusty Blackbird (4/7)
  111. Common Grackle (2/24)
  112. House Finch (1/5)
  113. American Goldfinch (1/3)
  114. House Sparrow (1/3)

Butterflies (31):  Silver-spotted Skipper (6/6), Juvenal’s Duskywing (4/27), Least Skipper (8/2), European Skipper (6/20), Little Glassywing (6/28), Peck’s Skipper (8/6), Hobomok Skipper (5/28), Dun Skipper (7/27), Black Swallowtail (5/28), Spicebush Swallowtail (8/19), Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (5/13), Clouded Sulphur (5/2), Cabbage White (4/17), American Copper (5/28), Banded Hairstreak (6/20), Cherry Gall Azure (5/24), Summer Azure (8/12),  Eastern Tailed-Blue (9/4), Monarch (7/19), Red-spotted Purple (8/18), Viceroy (5/28), American Lady (5/13), Painted Lady (5/28), Red Admiral (5/28), Mourning Cloak (4/10), Question Mark (5/25), Eastern Comma (4/10), Pearl Crescent (5/28), Appalachian Brown (7/19), Common Ringlet (5/28), Little Wood Satyr (5/28), Common Wood-Nymph (7/19)

Odes (24+): Ebony Jewelwing (6/6), Eastern Forktail (5/25), Common Green Darner (5/25), Canada Darner (9/13), Shadow Darner (9/13), Lance-tipped Darner (8/18), Common Baskettail (5/25) , Prince Baskettail (6/28), Mocha Emerald (7/19, probably had in the past, it may be the most common emerald around), Clamp-tipped Emerald (8/12), Calico Pennant (6/20), Eastern Pondhawk (7/15), Widow Skimmer (7/15), Common Whitetail (5/28), Slaty Skimmer (7/21), Twelve-spotted Skimmer (7/15), Blue Dasher (7/15), Spot-winged Glider (6/28),  Wandering Glider (8/6), Eastern Amberwing (8/3), Ruby/Cherry-faced Meadowhawk (7/19), Band-winged Meadowhawk (8/19), Autumn Meadowhawk (8/12), Black Saddlebags (7/26) [possible Springtime Darner 5/25]

Charles (133% as of 12/4)

  1. Greater White-fronted Goose (3/23)
  2. Canada Goose (1/2)
  3. Mute Swan (1/2)
  4. Wood Duck (1/23)
  5. Gadwall (3/14)
  6. American Wigeon (1/20)
  7. American Black Duck (1/2)
  8. Mallard (1/2)
  9. Blue-winged Teal (9/14)
  10. Green-winged Teal (9/14)
  11. Ring-necked Duck (1/2)
  12. Lesser Scaup (1/14)
  13. Bufflehead (11/4)
  14. Common Goldeneye (1/6)
  15. Barrow’s Goldeneye (1/2)
  16. Hooded Merganser (1/2)
  17. Common Merganser (1/2)
  18. Red-breasted Merganser (1/9)
  19. Pied-billed Grebe (9/23)
  20. Double-crested Cormorant (3/14)
  21. Great Cormorant (3/14)
  22. Green Heron (7/28)
  23. Great Blue Heron (1/2)
  24. Great Egret (8/11)
  25. Black-crowned Night-Heron (7/28)
  26. Turkey Vulture (5/1)
  27. Cooper’s Hawk (2/12)
  28. Red-tailed Hawk (1/9)
  29. Merlin (1/2)
  30. Virginia Rail (4/11)
  31. American Coot (1/9)
  32. Killdeer (4/12)
  33. Spotted Sandpiper (8/5)
  34. Solitary Sandpiper (8/5)
  35. Lesser Yellowlegs (9/24)
  36. Least Sandpiper (7/28)
  37. Semipalmated Sandpiper (8/29)
  38. Pectoral Sandpiper (9/18)
  39. Ring-billed Gull (1/2)
  40. Herring Gull (1/2)
  41. Iceland Gull (12/4)
  42. Lesser Black-backed Gull (3/14)
  43. Great Black-backed Gull (1/2)
  44. Rock Pigeon (1/2)
  45. Mourning Dove (1/2)
  46. Great Horned Owl (2/16)
  47. Belted Kingfisher (4/20)
  48. Chimney Swift (4/28)
  49. Red-bellied Woodpecker (5/1)
  50. Downy Woodpecker (1/2)
  51. Hairy Woodpecker (1/2)
  52. Northern Flicker (3/14)
  53. Great Crested Flycatcher (5/1)
  54. Eastern Phoebe (7/28)
  55. Eastern Kingbird (5/1)
  56. Warbling Vireo (5/6)
  57. Yellow-throated Vireo (5/1)
  58. Blue Jay (1/2)
  59. Common Raven (12/4)
  60. American Crow (1/6)
  61. Fish Crow (1/9)
  62. Northern Rough-winged Swallow (4/20)
  63. Tree Swallow (4/20)
  64. Bank Swallow (4/20)
  65. Barn Swallow (4/28)
  66. Black-capped Chickadee (1/2)
  67. Tufted Titmouse (1/28)
  68. White-breasted Nuthatch (1/2)
  69. Red-breasted Nuthatch (5/1)
  70. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (5/1)
  71. Carolina Wren (1/2)
  72. Golden-crowned Kinglet (1/2)
  73. American Robin (1/6)
  74. Northern Mockingbird (1/2)
  75. Gray Catbird (5/26)
  76. European Starling (1/2)
  77. Cedar Waxwing (2/12)
  78. Northern Parula (5/4)
  79. Yellow Warbler (4/28)
  80. Yellow-rumped Warbler (4/12)
  81. Pine Warbler (4/8)
  82. Palm Warbler (4/8)
  83. Common Yellowthroat (5/26)
  84. Chipping Sparrow (4/28)
  85. Song Sparrow (1/2)
  86. Swamp Sparrow (5/4)
  87. White-throated Sparrow (2/12)
  88. Dark-eyed Junco (1/2)
  89. Northern Cardinal (1/2)
  90. Red-winged Blackbird (3/2)
  91. Rusty Blackbird (3/30)
  92. Common Grackle (3/6)
  93. Brown-headed Cowbird (4/12)
  94. Baltimore Oriole (5/1)
  95. House Finch (1/20)
  96. American Goldfinch (1/2)
  97. House Sparrow (1/2)

Butterflies (3): Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (6/1), Cabbage White (5/1), Eastern Comma (5/1)

Odes (16): Blue-fronted Dancer (7/1), Violet Dancer (8/4), Powdered Dancer (8/4), Stream Bluet (6/1), Orange Bluet (6/8), Vesper Bluet (7/31), Fragile Forktail (7/18), Eastern Forktail (5/26), Common Green Darner (5/26), Common Baskettail (6/1), Prince Baskettail (6/8), Halloween Pennant (7/31), Eastern Pondhawk (7/28), Slaty Skimmer (8/4), Blue Dasher (7/18), Ruby/Cherry-faced Meadowhawk (7/31)

WIR 12/21-12/27

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.

WIR 12/14-12/20

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).

Greater Boston CBC 2011

Sunday was the Greater Boston CBC, so I suppose I’m required to post a bit about it. Too cold for many pictures.

I got up a little before 6, intending to go owling. That didn’t work out as my car really didn’t want to start. On the third attempt, I finally got it to start and decided to just let it run for a few minutes and charge up the battery. I took a quick walk to the end of the street (no owl calling on its own and I wasn’t about to play a tape) and then over to Graverson, where a screech-owl flew in almost immediately. That’s #157 for the year in Waltham, a new high.

Back home, I moved my car out of the way and we went to meet the rest of the group at Dunkin Donuts. Everyone was there within a couple minutes and we headed for Dunback. Before arriving, I got a call from John of the Lexington group, who was waiting for us at Waltham St. We ran over and began to hunt for the Lark Sparrow.

Working along the back, an interesting bird flushed up but disappeared into the brush. We eventually looped the field without finding much. John had to take off to meet with his group, so we started circling back. At almost the same spot, a bird flushed and disappeared again. This time I got enough of the tail to say it was almost certainly the sparrow. We backed off a bit and waited it out. After a good 10 minutes, he came out to the front of the bush and sat for a minute or two. Definitely the right way to start, with a new bird for the count that was a lifer for a good portion of the group.

After passing the word along, we returned to Dunback and headed out. A quick stop to drop Eric’s car off, and we drove through Potter Pond, picking up 2 Hooded Mergansers, a Great Blue Heron, and 4 turkeys in almost the same spot as yesterday’s 4. We then parked on Concord Ave and walked up to the path to the West Meadow boardwalk. On the way to the boardwalk, we had a few woodpeckers and Red-tail. The boardwalk itself was pretty quiet. The far end usually is loaded with White-throats but had none today (plenty of robins at least). I also discovered that my ipod apparently doesn’t like the cold and wasn’t turning on. Fortunately I have the owl mobbing recording on my phone as well, but it failed to attract anything.

Reaching Lot 1, we scanned the pines for owls and came across a nice flock of White-throats. Checking the more open areas for waxwings and thrushes didn’t reveal much and there was nothing on the pond. We hopped into Eric’s car and drove back to Lew’s before heading up the parkway. There wasn’t much around Dawes, so we walked down the parkway. There were lots of American Tree Sparrows and a good woodpecker show including a Red-bellied and our only flicker of the day.

From here, we did a quick drive through Fernald (less than half of yesterday’s geese) and then up to Northeast (nothing). Eric had to leave, so Lew and I headed to Wendy’s to meet everyone else for lunch. Lunch was not exactly good and we all agreed to try somewhere else next year.

After suitably warming up and dealing with the paperwork, we headed back out, starting with the Moody St. part of the Charles. Walking up, we scanned the gulls on the water without finding the Iceland. That was because it was actually flying right over our heads:

Iceland above

We walked down a bit and counted the Mallards and geese but decided not to bother with the whole loop. On to Shaw’s, where I wandered down to the left with my father while everyone else checked the right. We found next to nothing, the rest found a Ring-neck and a few Hoodies.

From here, we actually were pretty much out of places to go, so we headed to the edge (or a little beyond) of the circle and stopped at Forest Grove. Scanning through the ducks on the river by Edgewater Drive revealed not only yesterday’s Gadwall, but a few wigeon and a Green-winged Teal. While looking at those, a Turkey Vulture flew over.

That basically wrapped up the day. We dropped Mark and Barbara back off at their cars and gave Hardy Pond a quick scan (finding nothing that Judy and Nancy didn’t have earlier in the day). That got us home in time to relax for a few minutes before totaling everything up and we even got to watch a few minutes of the Patriots game.

Although numbers were low and we missed a bunch of things that had been around, we still tied my highest species total in the sector (46) and added 4 to the cumulative total (Gadwall, Iceland Gull, Wild Turkey, Lark Sparrow). The sparrow was the third first for the entire CBC I’ve had, although the second stakeout (and Turkey Vulture was the third, which might be more expected than some birds that are recorded regularly).

Already ready for next year.