Host disappeared last week (as you may have seen). Got the files back today and managed to restore the posts I didn’t have easily backed up. Lost the theme, but I think everything else should be back to normal.
WIR 3/26-4/1
Wednesday 3/26: Too cold.
Thursday 3/27: Riverwalk was quiet, as was Moody St. Great Cormorant on the way back though. Pulled in at Forest Grove quickly and had 2 of both cormorants and 2 Tree Swallows over the river.
Friday 3/28: BBN was pretty quiet. Yellow-rump by the cemetery, bluebirds by the parkway and not much else.
Saturday 3/29: Great Meadows again, nothing too exciting beyond a Red-shoulder. Looped School St and Nine Acre without anything of note.
Sunday 3/30: Looped Hardy Pond to School St to Waltham St without anything too exciting.
Monday 3/31: Too cold and wet. But where was that goose the last 4 times I’ve been through Nine Acre?
Tuesday 4/1: Went goose hunting. No Barnacle, 300ish Canadas, a few ducks, and a Pileated. And a yard visitor.
WIR 3/19-3/25
Wednesday 3/19: Forest Grove was mostly quiet. Four Wood Ducks and the firemen practicing water rescues. Quickly checked Newton City Hall but the teal was doing its typical midday disappearing act.
Thursday 3/20: Pintail, eagle, etc at Great Meadows.
Friday 3/21: Dunback had a Fox Sparrow, Woodcock, and I finally tracked down the Yellow-rump I thought I had heard a few weeks ago. Nothing at Waltham St.
Saturday 3/22: Looped through Lincoln, Concord, and Wayland without much more than a Turkey Vulture to show.
Sunday 3/23: Joined the MBC walk at Horn Pond with Winter Wren and Fox Sparrow as highlights. Waltham St and the duck ponds were quiet on the way home.
Monday 3/24: Roamed around looking for geese without much of anything.
Tuesday 3/25: Same except I walked Great Meadows and had a Pileated fly in front of the car by Decordova.
WIR 3/12-3/18
Wednesday 3/12: First Tree Swallows of the year at Great Meadows, plus a few ducks and another Rusty. Also turkeys by Hanscom.
Thursday 3/13: Cold, snowy, and windy.
Friday 3/14: Riverwalk late afternoon had more Greater Scaup (plus 1 Lesser). Pulled in at the field station on the way home and got my first of year Killdeer.
Saturday 3/15: Started at Norumbega where there were lots of ducks, nothing overly exciting. On to Forest Grove. First thing on the river was a Great Cormorant attempting to swallow a giant fish.
Two more cormorants were sitting on the ice and the Red-breasted Merganser was swimming around. Nothing much on the trails. Quick stop at the boat ramp added 2 American Wigeon. Next stop was the Wayland Town Building, nothing much different. Cruised Water Row and Nine Acre Corner without anything. School St had a few larks and a Sharpie buzzed over Rt. 2. Sloshed around Waltham St. a bit and had a couple bluebirds. Back home, the yard was overrun with grackles with a decent number of red-wings and cowbirds mixed in.
Sunday 3/16: Rock Meadow and BBN were quiet.
Monday 3/17: River walk had the scaup continuing and a Hairy (first in about 3 years along here). Tons of Herring Gulls at Moody St but nothing else of note. Quick drive to Purgatory Cove and Norumbega didn’t have anything new (and nothing unusual continuing in a quick scan).
Tuesday 3/18: Wandered Lindentree and Mt. Misery a bit. Reasonably sure I had a northern-type Red-tail but never got a close view. Otherwise blackbirds and bluebirds. Continued to Nine Acre Corner where there were lots of geese, all 3 mergansers, and a few Ring-necks on the river plus a big flock of blackbirds and a Killdeer or two in the fields.
DSA 2012 Day 4 and 5
Yes, I’m finishing this up almost 2 years later.
Saturday 5/5: Indoor meeting day, nothing to say by now.
Sunday 5/6: Spent the day with Steve Hummel. We started at Lee State Park, which was pretty quiet (cloudy?). A few bluets and pennants were about it. Did have a nice watersnake and some robber flies.
We drove around a bit and ended up at Woods Bay State Park, which was a neat area but also quiet. Acadian Flycatcher was my highlight, although if we were able to get to a few of the bugs just out of reach of the boardwalk, we probably would have had something good.
No clue about lunch, dinner was one of the chains I think.
WIR 3/5-3/11
Wednesday 3/5: Horn Pond: Missed the Horned Grebe but a calling Red-shouldered Hawk was nice.
Thursday 3/6: Riverwalk: 3 Greater and 5 Lesser Scaup.
Friday 3/7: Caught up with the Shoveler at Alewife plus Buzz and Ruby and my first singing Red-winged Blackbird of the spring.
Saturday 3/8: Birder’s meeting all day.
Sunday 3/9: Started at Forest Grove, which was colder than expected. A Red-breasted Merganser was among the ducks (along with 2 Common Mergansers and 3 Ring-necks) and there were a few blackbirds around. Next stop was Newton City Hall where a quick check did not turn up the Eurasian Teal. Back to the river walk which was quiet (another Red-wing, only 34 Ring-necks and 1 Lesser Scaup). Nothing much at Moody St either. Got most of the way around and started thinking about how I had seen no raptors. Looked up and a Peregrine was buzzing over.
Monday 3/10: BBN was quieter than I expected. Ended up seeing more in 15 minutes at the duck ponds than I did in an hour plus there, but nothing of note at either.
Tuesday 3/11: Started in Wayland with the expected stuff along Water Row. Heard Pond area was quiet, Hager Pond had the usual, and a Rusty and some teal were at the Pelham Island Rd bridge. Nice out, so I hiked up Prospect Hill. Ravens at the nest but no vultures or anything else good passing by.
WIR 2/26-3/4
Wednesday 2/26: River walk as usual.
Thursday 2/27: Didn’t go out
Friday 2/28: Didn’t go out
Saturday 3/1: Riverwalk again. Six scaup including my first Greater for here.
Nothing at Moody. Continued to east of Watertown Square where I had 3 more Greater Scaup and finally (on my third pass) got a brief view of the overwintering Brown Thrasher.
Sunday 3/2: Dunback had nothing.
Monday 3/3: Tried Lindentree, absolutely nothing. Drove through Nine Acre Corner on the way out and saw enough mergansers in the river to stop and walk over. A Red-breasted was a very nice surprise.
Tuesday 3/4: Cold.
WIR 2/19-2/25
Wednesday 2/19: Nothing
Thursday 2/20: Cowbirds and little else at Great Meadows.
Friday 2/21: Eh
Saturday 2/22: Winter Wren at Forest Grove. Pair of Wood Duck were the only new arrivals at the riverwalk and nothing new at Moody St.
Sunday 2/23: Started in Wayland, where there were a handful of ducks and about 20 grackles at the town building marsh. The Rt 20 bridge was still covered by a snowbank, so on to Water Row where there were 3 Wood Duck, a bunch of mergansers, and a single Ring-neck. NAC and School St were quiet. More grackles at Dunback, plus a probable harrier and a coyote. Got home and 2 grackles showed up at the feeder.
Monday 2/24: Walked from Rock Meadow to the West Meadow without much of anything. Quick stop at the duck ponds without much after.
Tuesday 2/25: Checked the ravens nest at Prospect Hill. Nothing there today and not much of anything elsewhere on the hill. Chipmunk emerged in the yard.
WIR 2/12-2/18
Wednesday 2/12: Great Meadows was quiet as expected. Twenty minutes at School St had 17 Horned Larks and nothing else.
Thursday 2/13: Snowed.
Friday 2/14: Dug out.
Saturday 2/15: River walk had the same. Watertown section had a couple kinglets and nothing much else.
Sunday 2/16: More snow.
Monday 2/17: Dunback was extremely quiet.
Tuesday 2/18: Forest Grove was quiet. Same ducks on the river walk but a Red-shouldered Hawk was a very nice surprise (#147 on the Charles).
Too cloudy, so you get a phone-binned shot instead of something decent.
WIR 2/5-2/11
Wednesday 2/5: Snowstorm.
Thursday 2/6: Eventually got out and checked the res. Just short of frozen but the grebes and RB Mergansers were still there.
Friday 2/7: River walk to Prospect. A fourth scaup but nothing else.
Saturday 2/8: Lazy, eventually checked the res (scaup and otherwise frozen) and then looped out 117 and saw next to nothing.
Sunday 2/9: Went to Oak Grove. Nice views of the Clay-colored and Savannah but no odd juncos.
Monday 2/10: River walk again. Winter Wren was a nice surprise, otherwise about the same.
Tuesday 2/11: Too cold.