Tag: weekinreview

Computer issues…

Wednesday 6/13: Habitat survey was quiet beyond another RB Nuthatch. Stopped at the duck ponds on the way home without much of note.

Thursday 6/14: Rock Meadow survey had 3 flyover cormorants but nothing else. Ran around the parkway and middle area of BBN, Ovenbird singing, Rough-winged Swallow, and Blue-wing with food. Out for a little ride in the evening and had an Osprey more or less over Lot 1.

Friday 6/15: Nothing exciting at Great Meadows.

Saturday 6/16: Couldn’t find the Ruddies at Horn Pond (cub scout fishing event didn’t help). Continued to Bare Meadow in Reading (nothing exciting), then Hobbs Brook (nothing).

Sunday 6/17: Out to Ashby. Quiet at Blood Hill. Lots of good butterflies and a few odes at Watatic. No loons at Fitchburg Res, so one at Flint’s was a nice surprise on the way home.

Monday 6/18: Usual at BBN, finally caught up with one of the Green Herons.

Tuesday 6/19: 5+ Ravens at Dunback.

Wednesday 6/20: Barred Owl, another 5 ravens, and a Red-bellied Tiger Beetle at Prospect Hill.

Thursday 6/21: Slender Bluet at the Wayland CG.

Friday 6/22: Ovenbirds, Winter Wren, Northern Waterthrush at Hamlen Reservation.

Saturday 6/23: Wandered Rock Meadow and BBN without anything particularly exciting.

Sunday 6/24: Every single bird on my Suffolk needs alert was at either Millennium or Brook Farm, so headed that way (also hoping to be nearby if the computer was fixed). Got Orchard Oriole at Millennium and Pewee at Brook but no GC Flycatcher or RE Vireo (plus the less likely stuff). Continued to the Charles River Peninsula which had a juv cuckoo and lots of Slender Bluets.

Monday 6/25: Usual at Forest Grove.

Tuesday 6/26: Usual at Lot 1.

Wednesday 6/6: Habitat survey was quiet again, BT Green still singing away.

Thursday 6/7: Rock Meadow survey finally had Orchard Oriole. Stopped at Lot 1 after, nothing much.

Friday 6/8: FOY Silver-spotted Skipper, Hobomok Skipper, and Wild Indigo Duskywing at Prospect Hill plus a Painted Skimmer and very few birds.

Saturday 6/9: Started at Ell Pond in Melrose, where the Bufflehead had disappeared. Pine Banks Park had Red-breasted Nuthatch and FOY Prince Baskettail and Slender Spreadwing. Heard the King Rail at Belle Isle, lots of eiderlings at Revere Beach. Calling YB Cuckoo was a surprise at Earhart.

Sunday 6/10: Minuteman survey, turkeys, Pileated, normal stuff. Probably shouldn’t have slept the rest of the day (see Tuesday).

Monday 6/11: Had to take the car in, managed a few minutes on Pelham Island Rd first (Green Heron among the expected stuff), then had some swallows and stuff at the auto body shop waiting for Enterprise.

Tuesday 6/12: Audubon’s Warbler had apparently left Mt. Auburn, which was pretty dead beyond another RB Nuthatch.

Wednesday 5/30: First Habitat survey of the season was fairly quiet. Ran to Horn Pond after work but couldn’t find the Cattle Egret.

Thursday 5/31: Rock Meadow survey was also quiet. Stupidly went to West Meadow (Green Heron) and BBN instead of Horn Pond.

Friday 6/1: No egret at Horn Pond.

Saturday 6/2: Ode walk at the Cranberry Bog. Worked my way over via the Great Meadows Billerica trails (nothing exciting) and then Fawn Lake (presumed Spatterdock Darner, Lilypad Clubtail, etc). Decent at the bog although I would have liked to have seen the Arrowhead Spiketail.

Sunday 6/3: Nothing of note at Hayden Woods then a bunch of us went out to the ABNC walk in Royalston. Dave found us the Ebony Boghaunters we were all after and we had some other good stuff too (Arctic Skippers, sapsuckers working on a nest, etc). We continued for another couple stops that were a bit quieter but still had stuff of interest. Waiting on pictures but pretty sure I caught a Uhler’s Sundragon, which would be my second most wanted ode for the state (after the boghaunter).

Monday 6/4: Nothing in drizzle at Great Meadows and even less when it started pouring on my way back out.

Tuesday 6/5: Orange-variant House Finch was the most exciting thing between Codman and Farm Meadow.

Wednesday 5/16: Nobscot was fairly slow, FOY hummer finally along with a Tennessee and a few other warblers but not much else.

Thursday 5/17: Too birdy at BBN, needed another two hours as I only covered the parkway and down to the cemetery. Sixteen warblers, Bobolinks, another YT Vireo, etc for 50 species (first time in ages I’ve hit that on the way to work).

Friday 5/18: Rock Meadow had a flyover loon, a Broad-wing, a few warblers, etc. A few minutes at the duck ponds added a Cape May among others.

Saturday 5/19: Supposed to be crappy but woke up to sun. Nothing exciting at Hobbs Brook. Foss Farm had FOY baskettails (finally) but no birds of interest. Quick stop at the river crossing had a parula. Still semi-nice but went to Great Meadows anyway. Did get Swainson’s Thrush (#196 there) but no storm birds. Mid-afternoon loop of the res in the rain had lots of swallows but no hoped-for terns. Magnolia in the yard in the morning, turkey in the evening.

Sunday 5/20: Initial plan was to check Great Meadows for storm-related stuff but decided to swing around the res first. Nothing much there but a ton of song as I reached Trapelo. Combining that with the clearing sky, and I decided to skip GM and head straight to the Heald St. Orchard in Pepperell. Wasn’t totally hopping but 6+ Tennessee, 2 Bay-breasted, 2 Broad-wings, and a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher made it worthwhile. Realized that the Golden-wings in NH were only 20 minutes away, so headed that way next. Stopped at a random wetland on the way as I had rolled down the windows and a Louisiana Waterthrush was singing loudly. Added a few more things before reaching the NH site. Took a good bit of effort but eventually did see one. Not totally thrilled as it had pretty distinct, whitish wing bars and a hint of yellow under the throat, but not sure how much better they get locally*. Also a Blue-winged, YB Cuckoo, and some commoner stuff that I still needed for NH and an interesting warbler song that sounded like a BT Blue singing a BT Green song.

Stopped at Brooks on the way home in case Marj’s Kentucky was still singing. Once the rain stopped, I found out it wasn’t but had another YB Flycatcher, so worth the effort.

*I scrolled through a few hundred Macaulay library images and could pick every one of this bird out from the thumbnails with very few false positives (and all of those were from Maine or Vermont).

Monday 5/21: BBN had Alder Flycatcher, Bay-breasted, Canada, and Tennessee Warblers, and more of the usual (51!).

Tuesday 5/22: Tried Cutler Lake to fill a few Norfolk gaps (which includes most warblers). Not overly successful, got 6 to hit 149). Tennessee Warbler was the most interesting (and a Bank Swallow).

Wednesday 5/9: Blackburnians at Prospect Hill plus FOY Black Swallowtail.

Thursday 5/10: More of the same at College Pond, BT Blue was new for Weston.

Friday 5/11: Pair of GW Teal and a YT Vireo at BBN. Pileated flew over 128 on the way to work.

Saturday 5/12: Bird-a-thon. Lousy weather, got about 93. Highlights included Cerulean in Medford, Cape May in Winchester, and the usual.

Sunday 5/13: Led the Mt. Auburn trip. Still lousy weather, more Cape Mays and the like but hard work. Wandered to Earhart after and had 10 warblers there. Quick stop at the Mystic Lakes didn’t turn up much and Meadowbrook had a parula and too many people visiting graves.

Monday 5/14: House Wren in the yard, eagle, turkey, a few warblers, etc at Forest Grove.

Tuesday 5/15: Had to renew my license, so got a few hours in at Mt. Auburn first. Twenty warblers (missing yellowthroat(!)) including 2 Cape Mays, a few Bay-breasted, a Tennessee, etc. Missed Olive-sided and a few other things but not bad at all.

Wednesday 5/2: Went back to Arlington Res to get the grosbeak for May and for the commute. Took more effort than I had hoped but I did get it. Also FOY Baltimore Orioles and Green Heron plus a ton of Yellow-rumps. Sitting outside in the evening had an Osprey go over.

Thursday 5/3: Got up early to go to Nobscot but a text from Tim as I was leaving saying it was slow had me head to BBN instead. Good decision, lots of yearbirds including catbird, parula, Black-and-white, RB Grosbeak, Blue-winged, and my first spring Orange-crowned. 

Friday 5/4: Drizzled enough that I abandoned plans for Prospect Hill and went to Heard Pond instead. Early Blackpoll, GC Flycatcher, etc.

Saturday 5/5: Suffolk county run. Goal was to hit 200 (starting at 191). Deer Island was hopping (finally), 12 warblers (Waterthrush, BT Blue, Prairie, Wilson’s all targets), plus gnatcatcher, Swainson’s Thrush, oystercatchers, tons of sparrows, and more. Piping Plover and nothing else at Winthrop Beach. Greenway had another waterthrush and a calling Least Flycatcher plus FOY Common Green Darner (presumably). Belle Isle was pretty dead. Did get a Veery and FOY Chimney Swift. Missed the Hooded Warbler in Mission Hill but did get a thrasher (199) plus Blue-winged and a few other things. Made up for that at Millennium. Not a whole lot else there but did get to 80 on the day.

Sunday 5/6: Swainson’s Thrush was 168 for the res on the new trail at Hobbs Brook. Also redstart and Prairie, FOY Scarlet Tanager and Spotted Sandpiper, and a few other things. Wasn’t quite lousy enough at Great Meadows but did have a couple yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers go over. Solitary and Spotted along the river plus another Blackpoll and most of the usual residents. White-crowned in the yard late in the day was the first in 10 years.

Monday 5/7: Another Swainson’s, this time at Lot 1 plus probably a pair of Broad-wings.

Tuesday 5/8: Made the drive out to Westborough for a little change. Nothing overly exciting, filled the White-crowned Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, and Orchard Oriole gaps in Worcester county.

Wednesday 4/25: Nothing in the rain at the res, Flint’s, Nine Acre, or Heard.

Thursday 4/26: Thrasher (new for Lincoln) and House Wren at Lindentree.

Friday 4/27: Warbling Vireo, not a lot else at Farm Pond. Turkey running around at work.

Saturday 4/28: Too sunny at the res (couldn’t look at the water), nothing at McClennen. Kingbird, Warbling Vireo, 2 thrashers in addition at Arlington Res. Nothing at Meadowbrook, 1 Mourning Cloak but no elfins or azures at Arlington Great Meadows.

Sunday 4/29: BBC Mt. Auburn trip had GH Owl, turkeys, and not much else. Great Meadows was a waste beyond FOY Marsh Wren and BH Vireo (in a downpour). Nothing at the res.

Monday 4/30: Chased a reported Audubon’s (that wasn’t) at Sudbury Great Meadows. FOY Ovenbird and a few other things.

Tuesday 5/1: BH Vireo and not much more at Forest Grove.

Wednesday 4/18: Lot 1 had a Field Sparrow.

Thursday 4/19: Too snowy(!). Palm and some cormorants were about all I could see at the res. Did finally get a Rough-winged Swallow at Heard Pond on the way home.

Friday 4/20: Nobscot had a sapsucker, Hermit Thrush, couple towhees, etc.

Saturday 4/21: Joined the MBC walk at Horn Pond, which was quiet beyond the kinglets. Drove a bunch of loops around Ipswich not seeing White-faced Ibis. Did run to Gloucester in between and had a sapsucker and Merlin.

Sunday 4/22: Looped Hanscom which wasn’t too bad. First Sharpie for Bedford plus 4 or more kestrels, a meadowlark (singing just slightly out of place which had me baffled for a minute), lots of Hermit Thrushes, etc. Full loop of Great Meadows had a loon (first one I’ve had on the water there I think), PB Grebe, and plenty of the usual. Brief run around the duck ponds had FOY Cabbage White. Kinglet singing in the yard early was nice.

Monday 4/23: Field Sparrow, Kestrel, etc at Heard.

Tuesday 4/24: Winter Wren(s), Barn Swallow, Gnatcatcher, Mourning Cloak, not much else new at BBN.

Wednesday 4/11: PB Grebe about it at Forest Grove.

Thursday 4/12: Palm Warblers and Chipping Sparrows were in at BBN and finally got a Fish Crow there.

Friday 4/13: FOY kingfisher and a somewhat surprising gnatcatcher at College Pond.

Saturday 4/14: Chipping Sparrow and little rabbit in the yard. Menotomy walk at BBN had 25-30 Palms, a Pine, a few Yellow-rumps, a sapsucker, 2 GW Teal, a Solitary Sandpiper, and more. Got the BW Teal and Greater Yellowlegs at Arlington Res but no gulls or other shorebirds. More of the same at the duck ponds and nothing at Cambridge Res or Hardy Pond.

Sunday 4/15: Quick res loop had a chickadee and a Hermit Thrush. Palms and a Ring-neck down by Rt. 2 then a Barn Swallow among the Trees at Hobbs Brook. Kestrel by Hanscom, nothing elsewhere.

Monday 4/16: Awful weather. Looped Hardy (nothing), the res (nothing), Mystic Lakes (4 Great Cormorants), Arlington Res (nothing), then went for a haircut and looped the res again. This time 3 Bonaparte’s Gulls dropped in but didn’t stay long enough for anyone else.

Tuesday 4/17: 28 GW Teal, 4+ Snipe, a kestrel, and 18+ Savannah Sparrows at Meriam’s Corner.