Wednesday 6/5: Arrowhead Spiketail at the duck ponds.
Thursday 6/6: Swamp Darner, Spot-winged Glider, and Pepper-and-salt Skipper at BBN.
Friday 6/7: Nothing at Hardy, Great Black-backed Gull at the res barely qualifies as interesting.
Saturday 6/8: Lazy day.
Sunday 6/9: Cranberry Bog again.
Monday 6/10: Black-crowned Night-Heron and Eastern Wood-Pewee at Forest Grove.
Tuesday 6/11: Too rainy.
Fun few hours with Alan Ankers today.
Two shots of Lilypad Clubtail
And the very similar Unicorn Clubtail
Dusky Clubtail
Finishing off a New England Bluet lunch.
Elegant Spreadwing
Wednesday 5/29: Nothing on Hardy or the res.
Thursday 5/30: Great Meadows early, nothing too exciting. Wood Ducklings leaving a box was the best thing. Nothing too exciting at Prospect Hill either.
Friday 5/31: Dusted and Indian Skippers at BBN.
Saturday 6/1: Went exploring in Townsend for a bit. Caught lots and lots of Common Baskettails and had a few other things. Then went and chased a pelican that had apparently flown off half an hour before I started heading that way.
Sunday 6/2: Led a BBC trip to Great Meadows. Highlights were Least Bittern, American Coot, and a Mink stalking several families of Virginia Rail.
(Click through for more photos)
Went to the Carlisle Cranberry Bog after.
Monday 6/3: Orchard Oriole singing at Hardy Pond.
Tuesday 6/4: Usual birds (including ravens) and bugs at Prospect Hill.
Some highlights:
New England Bluet
Lilypad Clubtail
Lilypad Forktail (male then female)
Twelve-spotted Tiger Beetle
Wednesday 5/22: Went to Rock Meadow and BBN. Good numbers of warblers including a Blackburnian, at least two Black-billed Cuckoos, and a few other things but my main highlight was a singing Alder Flycatcher, which is Waltham #204.
Thursday 5/23: Wandered to Mt. Auburn eventually. Worked for thrushes in the Dell with minimal success, then took a short wander where I found 2 Turkey Vultures in trees. Also an Indigo Bunting and late-ish Yellow-rump but struck out on the Mourning. Quick trip around the Cambridge Res had 2 Common Loons.
Friday 5/24: Quick loop of Prospect Hill had the adult ravens down near the start of the road, a few warblers (BT Green, Parula, Ovenbird were the most interesting), and 4 Indigo Buntings. Nothing on Cambridge Res or Flint’s Pond. Got a little brighter out, so continued to Great Meadows and had a beaver swimming right below the new platform and first Blue Dashers of the year.
Saturday 5/25: Cruised Cambridge Res, Flint’s Pond, Heard Pond, Purgatory Cove, etc without finding anything.
Sunday 5/26: Tried again for storm-blown birds. Lots of swallows including Bank at Heard and Hardy but nothing else of note.
Monday 5/27: Dunback had lots of the usual breeders (including bluebirds) but the only things resembling migrants were Redstarts. Quick stop at Hanscom got meadowlark and a Broad-wing.
Tuesday 5/28: Harvester at the duck ponds. Very good nighthawk show at Great Meadows at dusk but no Cave Swallow.
End of May and this bird set a new year record for the yard.
Wednesday 5/15: Prospect Hill, checked the view towards Polaroid without much (Rough-winged Swallow was a likely nester though). Quick walk to the water towers added a redstart.
Thursday 5/16: Rock Meadow before work, nothing unexpected. Forest Grove was pretty quiet beyond yet another Magnolia.
Friday 5/17: Spotted Sandpiper at Hardy Pond early. Veery and a few warblers at Paine plus a Stream Cruiser. A late White-throat in the yard was the first bird for birdathon.
Saturday 5/18: Birdathon/MBC big day. Highlights included a Great Egret at the Vine Brook marsh, Sora at Great Meadows, an Upland Sandpiper right next to Virginia Rd, and a late Ruddy on the Cambridge Res. Miscounted slightly and ended the day on 99, would have dug up one more if I had been aware.
Sunday 5/19: Pretty lazy after running around on Saturday. Eventually went to Dunback where I had a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, kestrel, Willow Flycatchers, and a handful of warblers.
Monday 5/20: Took some vacation time this week. Started at Purgatory Cove and Forest Grove, where a Rose-breasted Grosbeak was (surprisingly) new for the river for me but little else. I moved on to Nine Acre Corner and watched Barn Swallows gather mud until a Cliff buzzed through. Made a brief stop at Cat Rock Park on the way back, but it was so muggy I gave up quickly (did get first Lancet Clubtail of the season).
Tuesday 5/21: Twitch. Spent some time at Hellcat after and had 11 warblers in the couple of pines just outside the parking lot (including Canada and Cape May) plus a few more elsewhere on the trails.
Amazing work by Suzanne Sullivan.
The one standing at the back center does look a bit different but I’m sure 99% of us would have gone right past it.
Bigger breast band, bigger supercilium, longer and more orange bill.
And the toes.
Wednesday 5/8: Nothing exciting at Purgatory Cove (cygnets, few swallows, Great Crested Flycatcher did get me to 100 in Waltham this year).
Thursday 5/9: Rather heavy rain made things difficult (although better at noon than at 11:30 when the fire alarm went off) but Common Loon and some late(ish) ducks (Bufflehead, Ruddy, maybe a Ring-necked) at Cambridge Res.
Friday 5/10: Had to go to the RMV, so took a half day off and started at Mt. Auburn (BT Blue in the yard first actually). Warblers everywhere (12? species, mostly Black-and-white, BT Blue, BT Green, Parula) plus a few other things. After zipping through the line, I stopped at Purgatory Cove and saw nothing beyond a few Fragile Forktails.
Saturday 5/11: Cambridge Res was just about birdless (although a few things singing along the road weren’t bad). North end had 2 Orchard Orioles. Two Broad-wings over Busa but little else at Arlington Res.
Sunday 5/12: Mt. Auburn walk again. Something like 18 warblers including Bay-breasted and Blackburnian plus a hummingbird and Least Flycatcher. Once the rain cleared, I went to Prospect Hill. Fledgling ravens plus BT Blue, BT Green, Magnolia, and Prairie Warblers, Indigo Buntings, and a Painted Lady. The Black Vulture that went over later would have been nice though.
Monday 5/13: Ring-necked Duck still at Hardy Pond, nothing of note at Rock Meadow.
Tuesday 5/14: Lots of birds at BBN, 9 warblers and a few other things. Solitary Sandpiper (finally) at the duck ponds, along with some baby Wood Ducks.
Breaking up the WIRs, here’s my 150th bird at the Arlington Res
