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.

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.

The robins started crossing over, so I followed and started down the path. Lots of sparrows were flying back and forth and I slowed down to work through them. Above the water on the right, some movement caught my attention. Probably a cardinal but I put the bins on it and ooh that’s a rusty looking head and er that’s a lot of spots on the chest. Grab the camera quickly.

Wood Thrush was not exactly on the list of birds I expected. I knew it was very rare, but had no clue as to how rare.

The bird moved, so I continued on. I picked it up again on the ground and almost managed another shot:

After it disappeared, I finally reached the fields. Walking around, I found next to nothing and on the way out, there were no birds along the edge. Right place, right time.

After a quick, almost birdless walk through Dunback, I went home and immediately grabbed Birds of Massachusetts. Somewhere in the Concord CBC circle from December 26, 1971-January 6, 1972 was the only January record (and only 2 other December records). The book is almost 20 years old at this point, so I figured there may be another one or two, but went to watch the football game before digging through Bird Observers. Fortunately, I didn’t have to make the effort as within 10 minutes of posting it, Marj replied that there was only one more. It was from the 2007 Superbowl of Birding at Halibut Point (and happened to be found by my friends Mark, Laura, and Christopher).

So do I set my sights lower on Varied Thrush or higher on Redwing next?

Some quick photo highlights:

Male Hooded Merganser

Young male Common Goldeneye

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Also post #400.

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.