WIR 8/23-8/29

Wednesday 8/23: GW Teal at Forest Grove, little else.

Thursday 8/24: Surprisingly little at BBN, 3 Solitaries in the marsh finally.

Friday 8/25: Greater Yellowlegs was the highlight at Heard Farm.

Saturday 8/26: Went out to Townsend. Seven warblers in the state forest, although all but redstart were ones I have had in summer before. Flushed Ruffed Grouse was easily bird of the day. Side trip to NH without finding any quick sites worth checking, so back to Townsend Hill WMA. The woods were fenced off but an eagle over as I walked in was nice.

Sunday 8/27: Joined the MBC walk at Horn Pond. Ten Woburn year birds and first Common Nighthawk overall but fairly quiet. There were a few sandpipers by the gardens. Continued to Earhart where there were a ton of Semipalmated Sandpipers but not much else. On to Winthrop Beach, tide was totally wrong so other than a couple Laughing Gulls and one Spotted Sandpiper there was nothing of interest. Belle Isle was equally dead, so I went down to Squantum where there had been a Wilson’s Phalarope. Found that pretty quickly, worked down to the end of the marshes and did a quick email check. Caspian Terns on the spit opposite some street. There’s a spit, and there’s a Caspian Tern. And an oystercatcher. And among the other things I checked, a Red-necked Phalarope was also at the pans earlier (what was the one that dropped towards the back just before the Wilson’s came in?). Walked back and found Linda, and then Vin and company. Added 2 White-rumps and 2 Westerns but no Red-neck.

Monday 8/28: Kicked myself for not checking ebird alerts yesterday afternoon, so no phalarope at Forest Grove. Osprey over Comm Ave at least.

Tuesday 8/29: Rock Meadow was on the quiet side. Lots of Song Sparrows and finches, a few vireos, a couple redstarts, and a flyover kingfisher. Quick run around the duck ponds had a Solitary and a waterthrush.