nature – Page 78 – brewster's linnet . com

Columbus Weekend

The long weekend provided lots of birds. Sunday was the Big Sit, so I spent the day at the tower by parking lot 7 on Plum Island with Joshua Rose and Nick Paulson. Felt slower than last year but we ended up with 72 species (plus several things like peep sp) so it couldn’t have been that bad. Highlights included a good afternoon jaeger show, 2 bitterns, and a Merlin hunting at dusk. And this guy:

Whatever it is.

There’s been plenty of good stuff still being reported at the Arlington Res, so that was the first stop today. I quickly picked up some of the White-rumped Sandpipers before attempting to wade through the piles of Yellow-rumps and sparrows at Busa without finding much. Working around the res, I got better looks at the sandpipers and eventually got the Great Cormorant to wake up enough to confirm it.

From here, I headed to Danehy Park in Cambridge, hoping for Blue Grosbeak and sparrows. The hill where they’ve been seen was in use as a race track for screaming kids on scooters, so you can guess how that worked out. Did find a sapsucker, Nashville, and couple Cooper’s.

Quick stop home and then off towards Concord to look for Snow and White-fronted Geese. On the way, I watched a Pileated Woodpecker fly over Rt. 2. At the prison fields, I found more geese than I can remember seeing. A quick scan through found one smaller, darker bird. Jumping out to scope it, it turned out to be a Brant! A somewhat overdue county bird (fairly regular and I’ve either missed or been too lazy to chase several). A very quick scan through the rest of the geese didn’t turn up anything (other stuff was reported later, don’t know if I missed them or they flew in).

So no new birds for the county for about 10 months and then 2 in just over 10 days.

WIR 9/28-10/4

Wednesday 9/28: Prospect Hill was very quiet.

Thursday 9/29: Saw something. Nothing at the Cambridge Res later.

Friday 9/30: Duck ponds were pretty quiet. Finally able to crawl through the fallen trees though and do a full loop.

Saturday 10/1: Joined the Menotomy trip to Dunback: Chat, few other warblers, exotic finch, heard-only Dickcissel. Arlington Res after: 3 Blue-winged Teal, White-crowned Sparrow.

Sunday 10/2: Planned on being lazy but the sun came out so ran to Rock Meadow. Clouded up, but spent over two hours in the gardens, mostly with Karsten and Jeff. Karsten eventually picked up one of the Dickcissels which cooperated for a few photos (somewhat). Also a couple Nashvilles, an Osprey, and a flyover loon (Karsten called it Red-throated, I didn’t actually look carefully and am kicking myself quite a bit). Circled Cambridge Res after and found 9 swans and 5 wigeon.

Monday 10/3: BBN was pretty quiet, few sparrows, few blackpolls. Afternoon elsewhere was better:

Tuesday 10/4: BBN again: Lance-tipped Darner, Buckeye, etc.

About time I found one for the patch.

275

Nice series of events last night and this morning:

1. Laptop keyboard and trackpad stops working.

2. Make Apple store appointment for the morning.

3. Decide that even though it’s raining, might as well stop at Arlington Res on the way and hopefully find the Blue Grosbeak.

4. Arrive at Arlington Res, take quick look at berm.

5. That bird looks rather white.

6. Run back to car for scope.

7. Confirm Sanderling, county bird #275 (and 25th shorebird).

Laptop also appears to have started working on its own, which left time to run home and grab the camera (did manage identifiable phone-scoped shots but no one needs to see those).

WIR 9/21-9/27

Wednesday 9/21: BBN had one good flock of warblers including 3+ Blackpolls, a BT Green, a Parula, and a Nashville.

Thursday 9/22: Cambridge Res at lunch: 5 yellowlegs, both Greater and Lesser. Not a whole lot else, Spotted Sandpipers, Solitary Sandpiper, Killdeer, herons. Blackpoll from the yard.

Friday 9/23: Purgatory Cove: 6 GW Teal, 1 BW Teal, 1 Wigeon, 1 PB Grebe.

Saturday 9/24: Purgatory Cove w/parents (and Bob): 7 GW Teal, 2 BW Teal, 2 Pectoral Sandpiper, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs. Cambridge Res in the afternoon: 2 Parula, 1 Black-and-white, 1 Blackpoll, 1 Yellow-rump, 5 Solitary Sandpiper.

Sunday 9/25: Led MBC walk in Lincoln. Found mosquitos and eventually a Baltimore Oriole. Nothing at Cambridge Res on way back.

Monday 9/26: Chased Chris Floyd’s Clay-colored Sparrow at Rock Meadow. Took my whole lunch break but did find it eventually. Greenway bird #160.

Missed a Dickcissel though even spending some time looking.

Tuesday 9/27: UMass Field Station looking for a Dickcissel of my own (2 now at Rock Meadow) but not much of anything.

WIR 9/14-9/20

Wednesday 9/14: Purgatory Cove had both Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal but no sandpipers.

Thursday 9/15: BBN before work: lots of Blackpolls, lots of things in awful light. Broad-winged at Prospect Hill at lunch and not much else there.

Friday 9/16: Duck ponds: Ovenbird, Parula, Black-and-white, Yellowthroat, couple more got away. Also big flock of geese overhead. Driving down Lexington St later, single nighthawk over the Wal-Lex.

Saturday 9/17: Started at Dunback. Not quite as busy as I hoped but pretty good with 8 species of warbler including Blackburnian and first of fall BT Blue, several Broad-wings and Sharpies, and Philadelphia and Blue-headed Vireo. Stopped at Cambridge Res on the way home, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, Great Egret, Osprey, Semipalmated Plover, 2 Green Heron. Afternoon walk around Arlington Res failed to turn up the Dickcissel but did get 4 shovelers.

Sunday 9/18: Rock Meadow early: big flock of warblers at the entrance including 2 Parula, Redstart, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, BT Green. Gardens had more BT Green and a couple Lincoln’s Sparrows. Looped around, finding a Coyote and not much else. Return trip through the gardens found more Parula, Red-eyed Vireos, and Indigo Bunting. River Walk was quiet (Kingfisher, Spotted Sandpiper) but 4 Pectoral Sandpipers at Purgatory Cove were new for me in Waltham (195). Also a few Semipalmated, Least, and Spotted Sandpipers, 3 Green Herons, and a single Blue-winged Teal. (And most likely a Rusty Blackbird that I skipped over as brownish grackle, oops).

Monday 9/19: Prospect Hill had nothing beyond a big flock of grackles.

Tuesday 9/20: Hardy Pond in the rain, still swifts and swallows.

WIR 9/7-9/13

Wednesday 9/7: Purgatory Cove again in the heavy rain: kingfisher, egret, 1 green heron.

Thursday 9/8: Duck ponds had nothing.

Friday 9/9: Prospect Hill: Veery, Prairie Warbler, 2 American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Scarlet Tanager. Five nighthawks around the corner around 5PM.

Saturday 9/10: Farm Meadow in Lincoln: Parula, BT Green, Blackpoll, Redstart, 2 Red-eyed Vireo (local family?), 2 Kingbird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 2 Indigo Bunting. Wayland Community Gardens were pretty quiet, nighthawk and Rose-breasted Grosbeak were about it.

Sunday 9/11: Plum (after planning on going all week on Saturday, rather jealous of the Gull-billed Tern): Buff-breasted and Stilt Sandpipers, Hudsonian Godwit, American Golden-Plovers (3), Blackburnian, 2(?) Eurasian Wigeon. Godwit was #250 for Essex county.

Monday 9/12: BBN at lunch: standard warblers and vireos. Insects good with a Canada Darner and a Mocha Emerald landing. More or less managed a couple photos of the emerald. Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing around the corner before work.

Tuesday 9/13: Paine was quiet.

WIR 8/31-9/6

Wednesday 8/31: Prospect Hill was very quiet.

Thursday 9/1: BBN before work. Pretty quiet, 1 Magnolia and 1 Blue-winged or Lawrence’s (lousy view but it didn’t feel like a Blue-winged) were about it. Back end of Prospect Hill at lunch was even quieter.

Friday 9/2: Purgatory Cove: 2 Semipalmated and 5 Least Sandpipers, 4 Green Heron, 1 Great Egret, 2 Great Blue, 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron.

Saturday 9/3: BBN to start, leucistic Chipping Sparrow was about it. Ponds were filled again, 16 mallards were all that was on them. Great Meadows was very quiet although a calling Northern Waterthrush was #174 for the site.

Sunday 9/4: Started at Prospect Hill. Mostly quiet but 2 flocks of warblers added up to 9 species, plus an early Palm elsewhere. Dunback was very quiet from there. Evening visit to BBN finally added nighthawk to the site list (and West Meadow as well) but no sign of any white sparrows.

Monday 9/5: Started at BBN. No Chipping Sparrow and fairly quiet. One BT Green, 1 thrasher, 1 pewee was about it. Purgatory Cove later had many Semipalmated Sandpipers and at least 6 Green Herons.

Tuesday 9/6: Hardy Pond had a few swallows.

WIR 8/24-8/30

Wednesday 8/24: Pretty much nothing. Missed one nighthawk over the yard.

Thursday 8/25: BBN was very quiet.

Friday 8/26: Canada, Magnolia, 4+ Redstarts at Prospect Hill. About 6 nighthawks over the yard plus many Chimney Swifts way up high.

Saturday 8/27: Went out with the Athol Bird and Nature Club. Once the sun came out, we got a few dragonflies including a good number of American Rubyspots and two Arrow Clubtails. Rubyspot appears to be ode #100 for me in MA.

Sunday 8/28: Did not find any hurricane-related birds on Hardy Pond (Bank Swallow was decent but wouldn’t cooperate and get on the yard list).

Monday 8/29: Started with an early check of various water without finding much (missed eagle, greater yellowlegs, etc at Cambridge Res). Got to work and no power, come back at noon. Ran to Purgatory Cove where there were a bunch of shorebirds including a Semipalmated Sandpiper among the Leasts. Several hawks bothering them including a big Cooper’s and a possible Red-shouldered. Got a phone call saying no work for the day, so headed out again and checked the Mystic Lakes (1 Least Sandpiper).

Tuesday 8/30: Still no power at work, so hit Dunback. First of fall Blackpoll and Prairie Warblers were good but the highlight was a Northern Waterthrush that chased a robin across the large field. Power restored, but I ran to the duck ponds at lunch and found them draining rapidly, apparently from hurricane damage. Hopefully good shorebirds soon.

WIR 8/17-8/23

Wednesday 8/17: Rock Meadow was pretty quiet. Hummer, family of mockingbirds, and not much else.

Thursday 8/18: BBN before work was pretty quiet. Bunch of pewees, a hummingbird (site tick), a redstart, and a couple orioles. Duck ponds at lunch were dead. Big flight of robins and grackles over the house at night (robins south, grackles northwest) plus a single nighthawk and 2 shorebirds (snipe?). Bad note was a dead screech-owl on Miriam.

Friday 8/19: Paine was pretty quiet at lunch other than a Turkey Vulture in the trees by the vernal pool. Got out of work a little early and came home to find a family of turkeys on the neighbor’s lawn, yard bird #97!

Saturday 8/20: Dunback had a quick run of the same warblers (Chestnut-sided, Redstart, Canada) plus an Olive-sided Flycatcher, a Northern Waterthrush, and a Broad-winged Hawk. Waltham St. Fields had nothing.

Sunday 8/21: BBN in the morning: long walk for a redstart and waterthrush. Green Heron down the street in the afternoon.

Monday 8/22: Purgatory Cove had about the same. Pewee with the kingbirds down the street.

Tuesday 8/23: Duck ponds in the morning: Black-and-white, redstart, hummingbird. Prospect Hill at lunch: hummingbird, Gray Hairstreak. One nighthawk at night (and I apparently missed two more).

WIR 8/10-8/16

Wednesday 8/10: Paine was quiet, although I only worked the downhill portion for a change,

Thursday 8/11: Walked through Forest Grove with next to nothing. Took a couple seconds to scan Purgatory Cove on the way out and had 2 Solitary and 3 Least Sandpipers along with a Great Egret. Should have spent all my time there.

Friday 8/12: BBN, ended up chasing dragonflies. Caught a female Clamp-tipped Emerald, saw a few more emeralds, an Aeshna, a Common Green Darner, and probably a Dragonhunter.

Saturday 8/13: South Beach

Sunday 8/14: Still sore from yesterday but a quick run to north end of the Cambridge Res and Purgatory Cove didn’t have anything new at either.

Monday 8/15: Hoped for storm blown birds at Hardy Pond and the Cambridge Res. Found a bunch of cormorants and not much else.

Tuesday 8/16: Prospect Hill: Red-eyed Vireo, Redstart, Canada Warbler, 1-2 Chestnut-sided, 1-2 Pine. Also a probable Broad-wing down the street before work.