Category: nature

Wednesday 2/27: Didn’t get out.

Thursday 2/28: Riverwalk about the same. Raccoon returned to the feeders at night.

Friday 3/1: Forest Grove: heard a Wood Duck and that was about it. Chipmunks out in force in the yard.

Saturday 3/2: Grackles found the yard. Started in Wayland, where there were 5 Green-winged Teal and 2 American Wigeon among other things behind the town building. Nothing exciting by Heard Pond and quick drivebys of Water Row and Nine Acre Corner didn’t add much. School St. Fields turned up about 20 Horned Larks and 2 Killdeer (plus a bluebird, with another right at the rotary). Flint’s Pond was frozen. With time to scope the ducks on Cambridge Res, I added a female Red-breasted Merganser and a Canvasback(!) along with more of the usual. Quick check of Hardy Pond had the scaup and good numbers of Great Black-backed Gulls.

Sunday 3/3: Meriam’s Corner and Kaveski were pretty quiet. Continued to Great Meadows. Started slow, but while trying to find ducks on the river I found the Red-shouldered Hawk that’s been hanging around and then a pair of Pileateds! Also had some redpolls fly over and bluebirds were mobbing the hawk on the way back. Checked the res again after and had almost exactly the same totals.

Monday 3/4: Had 3 birds total at Prospect Hill.

Tuesday 3/5: Purgatory Cove: just starting to open, good number of Mallards. On the river were more of the same plus a few Ring-necks. Two flickers and a bunch of robins were probably a sign of early migrants.

Wednesday 2/20: River walk was on the quiet side (no Hoodies!), but both scaup (see 2/6) were by the ball field. The second one was also a Lesser.

Thursday 2/21: Duck ponds as usual.

Friday 2/22: Woerd Ave again, nothing new.

Saturday 2/23: Scaup again on Hardy, still too far out. On to Dunback, heard a few blackbirds but not much else. Moved on to the riverwalk, which was about the same (more goldeneye) and then Moody St (nothing new).

Sunday 2/24: Stayed in.

Monday 2/25: Hardy Pond was quiet. Cambridge Res was busy with tons of Ring-necks, a few scaup (only confirmed Greater), a couple wigeon,  goldeneye, Bufflehead, and all 3 mergansers (Red-breasted new for the res?).

Tuesday 2/26: Went to Met State but the parking lot was nonexistent so continued to the duck ponds. Very little (no Mallards!). Finally walked around the block in the afternoon and immediately had first of year grackles and some Red-winged Blackbirds.

Wednesday 2/6: River walk: usual plus a Lesser Scaup by Elm St (suspect a young male) and a scaup sp (suspect Greater) by Shaw’s.

Thursday 2/7: Ended up at Rock Meadow (went to the duck ponds but they were working on both ponds) and nothing much of note.

Friday 2/8: Stayed in, nothing exciting in the yard.

Saturday 2/9: 3 redpolls in the yard for a second record. Usual stuff otherwise, but Hooded Mergansers and a couple coots swam into view late in the afternoon.

Sunday 2/10: No redpolls, nothing else different.

Monday 2/11: Not surprisingly, didn’t get outside.

Tuesday 2/12: Made it to the river walk. Snow made for slow going and I only had time to get to the second overlook. Lots of mergansers and a Bufflehead. Adult Cooper’s in the yard.

Wednesday 1/30: BBN had a couple bluebirds and lots of mud.

Thursday 1/31: Nothing different along the riverwalk.

Friday 2/1: Forest Grove: 2 creepers, lots of the usual ducks but too windy to search through them. About 30 coots at Norumbega.

Saturday 2/2: Started with a quick scan of Hardy Pond (nothing of note) and Cambridge Res (coyote towards the Trapelo end but no birds). Flint’s Pond was similar, so on to Farm Meadow. Nothing exciting there but a nice flock of waxwings at Codman was good. At the gardens I found a big flock of starlings and picked out a few cowbirds. Hoping for more, I started scanning but a fire engine left the station right then and everything flushed. I moved on to Lindentree and found nothing, so I continued to School St and had 5 crows. A quick stop at Norumbega (no coots) and Forest Grove (gulls, mallards, and geese) was not productive, but an adult Bald Eagle was flying over as I drove off. Quick trip from Prospect to Moody had a male Bufflehead but not much else.

Sunday 2/3: Walked to Rock Meadow and had absolutely nothing.

Monday 2/4: Prospect Hill: windy and barely any birds.

Tuesday 2/5: Couldn’t find the snipe reported yesterday at Forest Grove (and the river was frozen so I didn’t expect the scaup). A couple Red-bellies, a Hairy, and not much else.

Wednesday 1/23: Too cold to get out at the duck ponds and there was nothing in sight. No fruit trees with any birds either in a quick drive around.

Thursday 1/24: Still too cold but did manage to zip through Norumbega (which was frozen, so 3 gulls, 3 geese, and 6 pigeons).

Friday 1/25: River walk again, about the same except for a young Bald Eagle flying up Newton St.

Saturday 1/26: Quick check of the res (frozen today, was open Thursday) then a short walk around Cat Rock Park (nuthatches, a creeper, and lots of Red-bellied Woodpeckers). Forest Grove: no gulls worth getting the scope out for. Moody St: lots of gulls including the Iceland but not much else.

Sunday 1/27: WLT Duck walk. Big crowd and cold wind. Lots of mergansers and Ring-necks and a second (or even third) goldeneye.

Monday 1/28: Nothing different at the duck ponds.

Tuesday 1/29: Ended up at Beaver Brook and immediately remembered why I stopped going here. Over 20 dogs in front of the parking lot (and no more than 7 owners/handlers). Needless to say, I didn’t see much of note.

Also, only publishable didn’t refer to quality. Plenty of better photos around, but here’s a similar shot.

Wednesday 1/9: 250 Mallards, 100 geese, 35 coots, 25 black duck, a Pied-billed Grebe, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet off Forest Grove and Purgatory Cove.

Thursday 1/10: River walk had nothing different.

Friday 1/11: Only had time for a quick stop at the Woerd Ave boat ramp, a few Ring-necks and Hoodies were it.

Saturday 1/12: No good gulls at Moody St. Purgatory Cove: 3 Ruddy, more of the same. No coots. Forest Grove: Hairy, nothing else of interest. About 11 coots at Norumbega, Charlesbank still frozen. Cambridge Res fogged in (plus I dropped the eyepiece to the scope and wouldn’t have been able to scan anyway).

Sunday 1/13: Walked to Lot 1, West Meadow, and down the parkway. Two bluebirds, 3 deer, not much else.

Monday 1/14: Nothing out of the ordinary at Rock Meadow (although I thought I heard one peep of a peeper).

Tuesday 1/15: Quick run around Moody St had a Bufflehead and an interesting 1st year gull that I need to see again.