Some highlights from Superbowl of Birding Weekend (not that I competed).
Saturday:
Brown Thrasher, Dunback Meadow
Common Redpoll, yard bird #96!
Sunday:
Thick-billed Murre, Jodrey Pier
Adult Iceland Gull, Jodrey Pier
Month: January 2011
Duck Walk
Still haven’t looked at my pictures, but here’s WCAC’s news report:
And some additional footage:
WIR 1/19-1/25
Wednesday 1/19: Tried to hit Moody St but couldn’t find parking close enough to fit it in on my lunch break, so went to the Elm St end of the river walk. One goldeneye, 41 Ring-neck, scaup still present.
Thursday 1/20: Found space for Moody St. Almost frozen (open on the other side of Moody St and at Prospect St). Eventually dug out the wigeon at Prospect St but nothing else among the mallards, geese, and gulls.
Friday 1/21: Snowed in again. Feeders were busy all day but nothing new.
Saturday 1/22: Didn’t bother going out really. Usual feeder birds still and a big flock of robins moving through the end of the street late afternoon were it.
Sunday 1/23: Led the WLT annual duck walk. Had a good crowd, about 30, and most of the birds cooperated. All the usual stuff was around, plus recently arrived Wood Ducks and a Golden-crowned Kinglet in the Shaw’s lot. Photos of some things up sooner or later.
Monday 1/24: Too cold for anything. Drove up Woerd Ave at lunch and saw a Red-tail and a few House Sparrows.
Tuesday 1/25: Went to Beaver Brook. Peregrine flew over getting out of the car and I thought it landed on one of the radio towers by the marsh. Wandered over there and could only find 2 Red-tails. Didn’t really have time to check the rest of Beaver Brook but walked through quickly. Singing House Finches were nice.
WIR 1/12-1/18
Wednesday 1/12: Snow storm, Tree Sparrow at the feeder finally.
Thursday 1/13: Roads still too much of a mess to go out.
Friday 1/14: Charles. Found the Lesser Scaup John Hines had the other day but no Barrow’s or Red-breasted Mergansers. River was almost frozen from the railroad bridge to the opening between the overlooks. Tree Sparrow down the street was a bit unusual.
Saturday 1/15: Went to Dunback in the cold, found nothing.
Sunday 1/16: Out to Otis for something that I’m not talking about, nothing of note.
Monday 1/17: Finally got a bird in Otis when some chickadees called as we packed the car. Sharpie in Springfield on the way back was the only thing of interest.
Tuesday 1/18: Rather nasty out.
WIR 1/5-1/11
Wednesday 1/5: Lot 1 was pretty quiet. Did stop at the Y on the way over and found the pintails still there (thought it had totally frozen at some point since the CBC but maybe not). Did miss 2 Cooper’s in the yard.
Thursday 1/6: Hit the river walk as John Sharp found 2 Barrow’s yesterday. On arrival, only could see Sunday’s bird. Walked down to the other end (40! Ring-necks on the way), then found both together when I returned. New one looks like the returning bird, other’s clearly a young one (very obvious in direct comparison: lighter brown head, bill and eye aren’t as bright, etc).
Friday 1/7: Lyman Pond was frozen so ended up at the field station with nothing much.
Saturday 1/8: Walked to Lot 1, West Meadow, and Met State. Other than a Great Horned at Lot 1, it was pretty quiet.
Sunday 1/9: Charles
Monday 1/10: Prospect Hill: handful of creepers, not much else.
Tuesday 1/11: Beaver Brook, nothing unusual but pretty good variety for a quick walk in the cold.
Charles Winter Birds
A few shots from today along the Charles
Young male Common Goldeneye
American Coot hiding
About half the Ring-neck flock
The day’s highlight, a Red-breasted Merganser (my second along the river)
And my third a few feet away
Raccoon? tracks
1649 checklists?
Since I apparently submitted 1649 checklists to eBird last year, I figured I should explain how.
Some background first: A number of years ago, I went to see what my month lists looked like (actually half-months). According to my records, I had never seen a pigeon in September and there were many similar gaps. In order to avoid this, I decided that I would record every bird every day (and since I was at RPI for the next couple Septembers, it took several years to close that hole).
So, for the last few years, I’ve compiled a daily yard list, a daily work list, a daily driving around list, and normally a daily walk-around-the-neighborhood list. They all sort of fall in between casual observation and any of the other eBird categories (I try to count everything but don’t track time for the most part).
Of those 1600+ checklists:
342 were from the yard
213 from the neighborhood (plus a few from Hardy Pond instead)
162 were at work (plus a few from other schools)
243 were driving around Waltham (and a few from Lexington, Belmont, etc and Middlesex, Essex, and Worcester counties)
That’s almost 1000 right there. Add in the fact that I try to go out on my lunch break daily and do 20 minutes of birding (probably 200-220 days) and it’s probably about 400 full birding trips. Still a good number but not anything like 1600 implies. Breaking places up adds up as well (for example, Beaver Brook North is one place but I have separate checklists for Lot 1, the West Meadow, and Met State for town lines and other reasons).
WIR 12/29-1/4
Wednesday 12/29: River Walk: 16 Ring-necks, 7 Common Mergansers, Golden-crowned Kinglet.
Thursday 12/30: Scheduled but unknown power outage at work got me out for an extra hour. Wandered Dunback, nothing particularly interesting.
Friday 12/31: Started off at the Charles, 3 goldeneye plus the rest of the regulars. Moody St had a wigeon and the Lesser Black-back returning.
Saturday 1/1: BBC Trip
Sunday 1/2: Quick run down the Charles. Very little on the way down, but there was a yellow-billed goldeneye on the way back, so 3 straight winters with a Barrow’s now. Turned around to leave her and noticed a Merlin on the light poles.
Monday 1/3: Duck ponds were pretty quiet.
Tuesday 1/4: Paine, zip.