WIR 9/30-10/6

Wednesday 9/30: Weather wasn’t exactly good, nothing on the res or Hardy.

Thursday 10/1: Thought about Waltham St but school is open in Lexington so parking would have been a pain. Upper Vine Brook was quiet, walked into Dunback and had a Connecticut flush just before the intersection. Got nice pics of the bush it was in but not the bird and not much else. Ringlet back by the car was a new October butterfly for me.

Friday 10/2: Tried North Bridge again. Was fairly birdy but Francis texted about a Sora in the gardens(!) at Rock Meadow, so I cut and ran. No luck with that, but 2+ towhees.

Saturday 10/3: Waltham St was very busy, almost 50 species including siskins, pipits, a grosbeak, and a parula. Meadowbrook had a late waterthrush. South end of the lakes had another parula and 3+ Catharus. Sandy Beach had a Philadelphia Vireo, 4 Blue-headed, 12 BW Teal, and a tanager. Tide was dead high so no space for the skimmers at Point of Pines.

Sunday 10/4: Started with a very quick check of Point of Pines, skimmers scopeable. Plan was Earhart, Torbett McDonald, Draw Seven, etc but saw the message about Dunback as I got to Earhart. Decided to bird there anyway, which was a good decision with no flycatcher at Dunback after the initial sighting and birds all over at the dam. Got 6 new species for Everett (although Red-belly and WB Nuthatch aren’t exactly exciting), Indigo Bunting, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Scarlet Tanager, and Palm Warbler, which got me town #23 over 100. On to Dunback, which was birdy but without too much of interest. Did have FOF BT Blue and Alan had a Connecticut while standing next to me (but I saw nothing).

Monday 10/5: Hobbs Brook had a few peep along the road, then decent numbers of both teal off the road. Since I didn’t check the power lines, I had time to double back to the road for another scan and had both yellowlegs and 2 Pecs plus more peep. Those were 3 of my bigger misses until now for the ‘commute’ Cambridge Region list, which is now at 156.

Tuesday 10/6: Mostly errands but a quick walk in Watertown had 20+ siskins go over.