Category: birding

WIR 1/19

Tuesday 1/19: Still snowing, stayed in at work.

Wednesday 1/20: Figured the only place with open trails would be Beaver Brook. Nothing other than Mallards that wouldn’t be in the yard right now (and not the 50 red-wings that flew over the yard in the morning).

Thursday 1/21: Charles by Moody St. Few Common Mergansers, nothing interesting among the gulls.

Friday 1/22: Duck ponds, 4 hoodies in with the mallards.

Saturday 1/23: Went to Cape Ann with my parents and a friend. Most of the usual stuff, missed King Eider and a few of the gulls. Did get 2 Peregrines on the tower, many Harlequins, and 2 Iceland Gulls including this adult:

Iceland

Sunday 1/24: Stayed in. Great Black-backed Gull was yard bird #26 for the year, lots and lots of the usual stuff in very quick waves.

Monday 1/25: Raining. Quick check of Hardy Pond had a few gulls and some mallards flying around. Did have 6 Red-wings fly over at work.

WIR 1/12-1/18

Tuesday 1/12: Checked the duck pond. Bunch of mallards, 1 hairy, not much else in 15 minutes.

Wednesday 1/13: Charles, more of the same plus 5 Fish Crows.

Thursday 1/14: Paine, nothing different.

Friday 1/15: Beaver Brook North, nothing different.

Saturday 1/16: Took a long walk to Lot 1 and then the West Meadow. Two red-wings at Lot 1 were the highlight, although lots of regular stuff.

Sunday 1/17: Checked Rock Meadow in the morning, 2 bluebirds, 2 Carolina Wrens, lots of regular stuff. Led the Waltham Land Trust duck walk along the Charles in the afternoon. All the regular stuff (minus the goldeneye) were there and a Lesser Scaup was a very nice surprise. A big crowd as well.

Scaup

Monday 1/18: Snowed, stayed in taking photos (see next post).

WIR 1/5-1/11

Tuesday 1/5: Kestrel on the way to work. Charles again at lunch. Carolina Wren and Hairy were about the only things different.

Wednesday 1/6: Cooper’s keeping everything down in the yard before work. Paine at lunch: red-belly, creeper. Sharpie in one of the trees in the courtyard at work.

Thursday 1/7: Charles at Moody St: one tagged gull. Charles at Elm St: nothing different.

Friday 1/8: Waverly Oaks Marsh had nothing so did a quick Screech-Owl run.

Saturday 1/9: Charles again and again nothing different. The Common Merganser below did pose nicely at least. Also had 19 species in the yard.

Merganser Preening

And stretching

Sunday 1/10: Pretty much stayed in, quick check for the ravens late in the afternoon (mostly to show someone where they are, saw nothing on the ride).

Monday 1/11: Beaver Brook North: Flicker, 2 Tree Sparrows, Red-belly. New Beaver Brook/Rock Meadow Patch page

Waltham Winter List 2009

Once again, taking an idea from the Canadians, here’s a December-February list for Waltham. Dates and locations are the first sighting. Birds in bold are my first Dec-Feb sighting in Waltham.

2007-2008

2008-2009

The List:

  1. Canada Goose (12/2, yard)
  2. Mute Swan (12/5, HP)
  3. Wood Duck (12/13, Purgatory Cove)
  4. American Wigeon (12/5, HP)
  5. American Black Duck (12/13, Purgatory Cove)
  6. Mallard (12/5, HP)
  7. Green-winged Teal (12/5, HP)
  8. Ring-necked Duck (12/19, Charles)
  9. Lesser Scaup (1/17, Charles)
  10. Common Goldeneye (12/23, Charles)
  11. Hooded Merganser (12/5, HP)
  12. Common Merganser (12/5, HP)
  13. Double-crested Cormorant (12/10, Lyman Pond)
  14. Great Blue Heron (12/5, HP)
  15. Turkey Vulture (2/20, Charlesbank)
  16. Bald Eagle (12/18, Purgatory Cove)
  17. Sharp-shinned Hawk (12/13, yard)
  18. Cooper’s Hawk (12/6, yard)
  19. Red-tailed Hawk (12/8, Lexington St)
  20. American Kestrel (12/26, Lot 1)
  21. American Coot (12/13, Charlesbank)
  22. Ring-billed Gull (12/1, WHS)
  23. Herring Gull (12/5, HP)
  24. Lesser Black-backed Gull (2/2, Purgatory Cove)
  25. Great Black-backed Gull (12/5, HP)
  26. Rock Pigeon (12/4, WHS)
  27. Mourning Dove (12/1, Paine)
  28. Eastern Screech-Owl (1/8)
  29. Great Horned Owl (12/4, Miriam)
  30. Belted Kingfisher (12/5, HP)
  31. Red-bellied Woodpecker (12/2, WHS)
  32. Downy Woodpecker (12/1, yard)
  33. Hairy Woodpecker (12/4, Beaver Brook North)
  34. Northern Flicker (12/18, Purgatory Cove)
  35. Blue Jay (12/1)
  36. American Crow (12/1, yard)
  37. Fish Crow (1/13, Charles)
  38. Common Raven (1/2, Cambridge Res)
  39. Black-capped Chickadee (12/1, Paine)
  40. Tufted Titmouse (12/1, Paine)
  41. Red-breasted Nuthatch (12/7, Paine)
  42. White-breasted Nuthatch (12/1, Paine)
  43. Brown Creeper (12/7, Paine)
  44. Carolina Wren (12/13, Purgatory Cove)
  45. Winter Wren (12/25, Lot 1)
  46. Golden-crowned Kinglet (12/1, Paine)
  47. Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2/19, Lot 1)
  48. American Robin (12/1, yard)
  49. Northern Mockingbird (12/2, yard)
  50. European Starling (12/2, yard)
  51. Cedar Waxwing (12/14, Lot 1)
  52. American Tree Sparrow (12/18, Beaver Brook North)
  53. Chipping Sparrow (12/19, Gore Place)
  54. Song Sparrow (12/8, Charles)
  55. White-throated Sparrow (12/1, yard)
  56. Dark-eyed Junco (12/1, yard)
  57. Northern Cardinal (12/1, yard)
  58. Red-winged Blackbird (12/2, WHS)
  59. Common Grackle (12/14, Lot 1)
  60. Common Chaffinch (12/1, yard)
  61. House Finch (12/5, yard)
  62. American Goldfinch (12/2, yard)
  63. House Sparrow (12/1, yard)
  64. Can’t say yet

Big misses: Barrow’s Goldeneye, Tufted Duck

Cumulative total: 86

And new this year:

  1. Autumn Meadowhawk (12/4, Beaver Brook North)

WIR 12/22-12/28

Tuesday 12/22: Charles by Moody St at lunch, almost totally frozen and nothing interesting among the gulls.

Wednesday 12/23: Checked the rest of the Charles: 2 goldeneye, 3 common mergansers, 2 hoodies.

Thursday 12/24: Dunback in the afternoon, nothing exciting other than robins everywhere.

Friday 12/25: Took a quick walk through Lot 1: Winter Wren, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Flicker, several woodpeckers, big flock of juncos.

Saturday 12/26: CBC, separate post sooner or later.

Sunday 12/27: Stayed in.

Monday 12/28: Sick, stayed in.

WIR 12/15-12/21

Tuesday 12/15: Paine at lunch. Lots and lots of common stuff. Most interesting bird was a junco with a hint of white wingbars.

Wednesday 12/16: Lyman Pond, nothing of note. About 110 geese at Fernald.

Thursday 12/17: Too cold to go out even though I had taken the day off for CBC scouting. Fun time at the museum a least.

Friday 12/18: Eagles! Beaver Brook North after, 1 grackle, 2 Great Blue Herons, many Tree Sparrows.

Saturday 12/19: Down the rest of the Charles, not a whole lot. Also a stop at Gore Place where the Chipping Sparrow continued and a walk around Lot 1 with lots of robins and a few red-wings.

Sunday 12/20: CBC postponed because of snowstorm. Tree Sparrow in the yard among other things.

Monday 12/21: Annual holiday lunch, so no birding.

Waltham Eagles!

I took yesterday and today off to scout for the CBC. Yesterday was too cold and windy to go out (and I had other things to do that I’ll talk about eventually) but today was somewhat better. However, as I was getting ready to go I got a phone call saying check my email about an eagle on the Charles. It was in a spot that’s outside the count circle but I headed over (luckily while I was reading the email my father called to say he was heading home, so I was able to wait for him).

After looping around a bit due to road construction, we reached Woerd Ave. The observer lives on Riverview Ave, although I’m not sure where exactly, so we pulled in at the boat ramp for a quick scan and then headed to Purgatory Cove. Crossing the bridge, I saw two(!) huge lumps on the ice. After almost swerving off the road, I managed to park and we jumped out. There were two adult Bald Eagles sitting next to what appeared to have been a cormorant.

Eagles!

Eagles!

Eagles!

I set up the scope and attempted to digiscope a picture or two as well (not any better than these, so not uploading them). While doing so, a car screeched to a halt and someone got out. She came over and completely ignored the eagles, instead asking me to check on the swans that were way off to the side and see how many young ones there were. Not going to question, but I don’t understand.

After a few more shots, the cold and wind off the river got to be too much, so we turned around and headed home. A very overdue bird for Waltham (#183, 107 along the Charles).

Crows, Eagles, Most of a Cormorant

Crows had enough

WIR 12/8-12/14

Tuesday 12/8: Charles at lunch: 2 hoodies, very little else.

Wednesday 12/9: Too nasty out for anything.

Thursday 12/10: Lyman Pond: Double-crested Cormorant still around, Great Blue was about it otherwise. Big flock of geese on Warren Field but nothing interesting among them in a quick scan.

Friday 12/11: Paine, lot of the common stuff but nothing of real interest.

Saturday 12/12: Stayed in, 18 species in or around the yard.

Sunday 12/13: Dunback quickly: flicker was about it. Charlesbank had a coot and a ton of ducks just out of sight. Forest Grove and Purgatory Cove had 5 Wood Ducks and a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds. A quick check of the river by Cronin’s Landing found this along with a couple hoodies and many common gulls:

Goose

Monday 12/14: Green-winged Teal at the YMCA. Lot 1 had lots of birds including a grackle at the pond and some waxwings mixed in with the many, many robins.

Mac 2

The Fenway MacGillivray’s isn’t the only one currently in Massachusetts. One was found on 11/21 in Medford by Anna Piccolo. It’s in an area that’s less accessible than Fenway and isn’t as cooperative, but it’s a new bird for me in the county so I headed over today.

After a bit of GPS confusion, we arrived at Wright’s Pond and started to look for the correct spot. Luckily, Leslie and Barry were walking out successfully. They told us that there were plenty of people looking so we hurried over.

At the correct spot (which was only a short distance away), we ran into Anna and Patience and could see Marj and Renee working down below. Almost immediately I heard the bird chipping right up close. It proved to be illusive but after starting down the hill, I got two brief flashes of yellow (enough to count it combined with the chipping).

Everyone moved partway down the hill and we began to wait. There were long periods of silence followed by a quick chip or two. Occasionally there’d be a little bit of movement but it never stayed in one place and was very hard to get anything approaching a view. At one point I did get it on the ground and could pick up the eye arcs and gray head but couldn’t get anyone else on the spot.

This continued for almost an hour. At times the bird was fairly noisy but the call was very hard to pinpoint (often sounded to be bouncing back and forth between several spots). Finally, it popped up in the open at the bottom of the slope and everyone got acceptable views. I even managed a couple photos, the best (I use that loosely) of which is below.

Medford Mac

Not surprisingly, everyone took off after that. So, county bird #268 but more importantly, county year bird #200. That’s the first time I’ve hit that number and is not overly easy to do working full time (although given the number of regular birds I’ve missed this year, it shouldn’t be all that hard). The lousy butterfly season ruined my goal of 325 combined birds, butterflies, and odes, but that appears to be a decent goal and hopefully one for next year.