Month: April 2025

Wednesday 4/23: Lot of Savannahs, nesting Cooper’s, a few Hermit Thrushes, three turkeys, a Mourning Cloak, and not much else at Dunback.

Thursday 4/24: Bunch of arrivals at Forest Grove including BH Vireo, catbird, Black-and-white, Nashville, and Chimney Swifts. Lot of other birds but they were mostly Yellow-rumps.

Friday 4/25: Started towards College Pond but it was unexpectedly pouring and didn’t appear to be a passing shower, so I went to Heard Pond. Solitary, eagle, Osprey, Rusty, few other things. Did let up enough to walk but almost everything was visible or audible from the car. Snipe flew by while I was scanning the marsh on the way out. Had time for the res, which had a loon and 2 Bufflehead.

Saturday 4/26: Did a quick run around the res and Nine Acre before the rain got too bad. Two loons on the res, ibis flying at Nine Acre, and that was about it.

Sunday 4/27: Town listing plus lots of swifts and swallows at the res on the way home.

Monday 4/28: Hanscom and Gaining Ground had FOY Great Crested, Northern Waterthrush, Blue-winged, and Yellow Warbler plus House Wren, thrasher, 4 kestrels, 2 Black-and-whites, and more. Also Eastern Pine Elfin, azures, a duskywing, Six-spotted Tiger Beetle, and Common Green Darner.

Tuesday 4/29: Little quieter than hoped for at BBN. FOY Parula and oriole plus BT Green, Blue-winged, kingbird, more of the same insects, etc.

Wednesday 4/16: Rather windy at Weston Station Pond. Usual stuff on the water (which was over the path, requiring some bushwhacking and almost a slide down the hill). Decided to checked the wooded areas for waterthrush with no luck but had a Broad-wing (my earliest locally or anywhere actually) and a Winter Wren singing. Good number of the expected warblers around the parking lot. About 50 Ruddy on the res on the way home but nothing else of note.

Thursday 4/17: No waterthrush in Estabrook, Ring-necks and turkeys about the most interesting. Had time to swing through Nine Acre and caught up with the ibis flock.

Friday 4/18: Mt. Auburn was pretty quiet, few Hermit Thrushes and sapsuckers, a Turkey Vulture, and Field Sparrow about it.

Saturday 4/19: Started by trying to get the 5 April birds I needed to get Norfolk to 100 at McCarthy Park. Walked the park side and saw very little, eventually getting a kestrel. Walked the link trail and had nothing much. Broad-wing over the buildings was one but that was it, although a Pileated while driving through Westwood made two. Millennium next, hoping for a Suffolk Broad-wing. Started at the high school marsh, where there was an Easter egg hunt assembling. Got a Green Heron before I get away. Parking at the park was tough, so ended up at the canoe launch and walked the trail a bit. Nothing particularly noteworthy, so up to the top and the sky. Harrier, Osprey, meadowlark, 100+ cormorants but no Broad-wing. Buzz on the res on the way home was just Ruddy and geese.

Sunday 4/20: Led the first of my Mt. Auburn trips. Windy but sunny and a good sized group. Harrier, bunch of Palms and a couple Pines at Halcyon. Coyote with a rabbit or something by Spectacle. Hermit Thrushes all over, one tree with a dozen kinglets, but otherwise nothing terribly unusual.

Went to Magazine Beach next, which wasn’t the best spot given the wind. Ran into Pete who gave me the tour (or at least confirmed I wasn’t missing a secret hot area). We turned up a thrasher and a bunch of sparrows. Continued to Earhart. Egret, sapsucker, a couple Hermit Thrushes, 3 loons, etc. Res had Ruddies.

Monday 4/21: Did a Worcester county loop figuring everything closer to home would be busy. Started at Westborough WMA where Tim tipped me off to a Vesper Sparrow, which I surprisingly had pop right up. Also Warbling Vireo, Ruddy, Green Heron,  Broad-wing, House Wren, etc. Continued to Gate 36 at Wachusett where there were 4 Bonaparte’s way out but not much else. Also gave a few shopping centers in the area a quick scan but no BH Gull to be found. Decided I had time for Bolton Flats too. Walked in and met a couple women walking out. They had some dark crane-like birds and asked if I had any ideas. I said ibis, they said “absolutely not”. Walked out and there were 11 Glossy Ibis. Also both yellowlegs but not much else.

Tuesday 4/22: Barred Owl, gnatcatcher, not too much else at BBN.

Wednesday 4/9: Mt. Auburn was not terribly exciting. Four sapsuckers, a kingfisher, FOY Chipping Sparrows, etc.

Thursday 4/10: Nothing terribly exciting at GM Headquarters. Very few birds at Nine Acre.

Friday 4/11: 3 Bonaparte’s at the res. PB Grebe at Nine Acre. Snipe and kestrel at Kaveski.

Saturday 4/12: Lovely weather. Early afternoon loop had 8 Red-necked Grebes at the res and the Snow Goose and 8 ibis at Nine Acre.

Sunday 4/13: Grebes were still at the res and a Red-breasted Merganser was nice. Kendrick Pond had nothing. Heard a chip from the waterthrush at Allandale but couldn’t see it and nothing else of note. Tried the Roslindale Urban Wild, which also had nothing much. And pretty much the same at D. Blakely Hoar. 

Monday 4/14: Common Mergansers, kingfisher, flyover cormorant about it at BBN.

Tuesday 4/15: Two Hermit Thrushes, a couple Yellow-rumps, a Palm, a RC Kinglet, etc at Cookson. Started pouring as I got to the river but there were at least 5 Night Herons and a Red-breasted Merganser. Also a turkey on the way home.

Wednesday 4/2: Pileated, Barred Owl, Pine Warbler, towhee, etc at Hanscom.

Thursday 4/3: No gull flight here but 2 LT Ducks on Cambridge Res. Flint’s, Nine Acre, School St, Hardy all without much. Afternoon pass of Hardy and the res had nothing.

Friday 4/4: Nothing on the res. Warblers were in at BBN including a few Palm and a Pine (and Cliff had Yellow-rumps too). Swans were on the pond and a meadowlark was a surprise flyby on the way out. Drove through Potter Pond for turkeys and then followed one of the swans down Trapelo.

Saturday 4/5: Started at Horn Pond. Fox Sparrow, FOY Osprey, Peregrine (new for me here somehow), Bald Eagle, Pine Warbler, cooperative Winter Wren, etc but not the main target. Decided to work on my Wilmington list next. Silver Lake had 2 Ring-billed Gulls and 2 Hooded Mergansers, so that was a short stop. Decided to walk the area around the dog park and found it had a nice look at some wetlands. Bunch of swallows, a few ducks, lots of Pines and a Yellow-rump, a Rusty Blackbird, and a few other things. Bumped my list from 31 to 49 (sigh). Quick check of the res on the way home only had turkeys of note.

Sunday 4/6: Left in a downpour that wasn’t happening 2 minutes earlier as I was getting ready. Stopped at the res and didn’t see much before heading to Farm Pond. First scan had nothing but the pile of swans but walking out the causeway a flock of gulls came in: Bonaparte’s! They only spent about 10 minutes before drifting up and out. A couple Savannahs on the ground and a few mergansers were about it for birds, but an otter was a nice surprise.

Headed west from here to Sudbury Res. Pulled over on White Bagley and immediately had another block of Bonaparte’s. Decided to drive around and walk the rail bed. Gulls hung out but were far out and not too much else around. Decided from here that I should go to Great Meadows instead of heading to Westborough like originally planned. Paused at Heard and Nine Acre on the way and had nothing. Only gulls at Great Meadows were Great Black-backed. Also a snipe, a ton of swallows, a PB Grebe, and that was about it (plus the fighter jets from Friday’s Fenway flyover finally leaving). Rain eventually picked up and there didn’t seem to be anything coming in, so I moved.

Flint’s had some interesting shapes which quickly proved to be more Bonaparte’s. Sent Norm a text and got an immediate reply that he was (already) en route, so I waited. We walked over to the water department and got better views. Usual ducks otherwise and then the rain picked up again. Bunch of scaup were on the res passing by, nothing at Hardy.

Monday 4/7: Pond loop. Nothing at the res. Kingfisher at Flint’s but less ducks and no gulls. Nothing at Spy. Eagle in the tree at the Mystic Lakes. Loon at Fresh Pond. Nothing at Hardy.

Tuesday 4/8: Arlington Res had a couple Palms but otherwise was about the same as it’s been. Fought through traffic and had just enough time at Cambridge Res to scope a flock of Bonaparte’s Gulls.

Wednesday 3/26: Sapsucker about it at BBN.

Thursday 3/27: Night Herons at Cookson and along the river.

Friday 3/28: Goldeneye at College Pond was a new Weston bird, otherwise usual stuff. Thirty+ Ruddy on the res but almost nothing else.

Saturday 3/29: Went a bit north. Lake Q had mergansers and Ring-necks. Audubon Road had a few ducks. Martins Pond had an eagle, a bunch of mergansers, and a few other things. Mist got heavy so I gave up on the idea of a walk in Andover and came back to see nothing at the res, blackbirds at Nine Acre, and nothing at Flint’s. Added 1 species in Wakefield and 6 in North Reading, so almost a worthwhile trip.

Sunday 3/30: Started at Chestnut Hill Res (after a quick check of nothing at Hammond Pond). Turkeys were on the road, 100+ Ruddy, not too much else. Went to D. Blakely Hoar next, big flock of Rusties were about it, couldn’t get any March Norfolk birds. Allandale Woods again, no Pileated or much else. Turkeys on the way home did get a Norfolk March addition, but nothing along the Charles or res.

Monday 3/31: Braved the fog and traffic to reach Weston Station Pond. Got the Rough-winged Swallow I wanted immediately. A few ducks on the pond, not too much in the fields. Had a few minutes at the end so went back and had a Barn Swallow too, plus 3 otter. Drove around the res but it was still pretty much fogged in.

Tuesday 4/1: PB Grebe at the res. Arlington Res had the usual ducks including 2 scaup, a ton of Tree Swallows and a couple Rough-wings, and a Fish Crow.