Category: nature

Wednesday 8/9: Prairie, 3 Redstarts, and a Black-and-white at Dunback.

Thursday 8/10: Finally had some success with early warblers at Prospect Hill. Canada was a good start, then a Tennessee at the top of a slope, a Nashville by the tanks, and Black-and-whites all over (plus Yellow, Redstart, Ovenbird). Also a Cicada Killer landed with a cicada.

Friday 8/11: Blue-winged, Black-and-white, not much else at Lone Tree Hill. Very brief stop at the duck ponds was nothing but Chimney Swifts and waxwings.

Saturday 8/12: Started at Deer Island. Gnatcatcher, couple Yellow Warblers, and Cape May were most of the land birds, very little on the water. Winthrop Beach had lots of shorebirds but the tide was high and they were in a tough spot to scan without disturbing. Fisherman’s Bend had the usual plovers and turnstones (and heat shimmer). Quick stop at Earhart became a longer one when the Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was foraging in the cove. Also a bunch of peep and one of the Snowy Egrets.

Sunday 8/13: Started at School St, but the limited shower didn’t drop much in (or it had already left), just a few Least and Solitary. Warner’s Pond next, a ton of Red-wings, an egret, and an Indigo (somehow a SRV year bird). Tried Barrett’s Mill after, which was fairly quiet beyond a ton of Bronzed Tiger Beetles. Quick checks of Elm Brook and the res had nothing.

Monday 8/14: Black-and-white, Blue-winged, and a redstart was it for warblers at BBN. Hoodie was back on the pond/marsh and a Night-Heron and otter were there on the way out.

Tuesday 8/15: Tried Great Meadows in the rain, couple sandpipers flew over (probably just Spotted), a group of Bobolink, and a ton of swallows before it starting pouring. Eagle and not much else at the res and nothing at Hardy from there.

Wednesday 8/2: No migrants at Rock Meadow or the duck ponds.

Thursday 8/3: Couple orioles at Cookson, not much along the river.

Friday 8/4: Eagle, 5 Least, a Spotted, and a Northern Waterthrush at Great Meadows.

Saturday 8/5: GH Owl and the expected stuff at Estabrook. Quiet ode walk at the Cranberry Bog, Striped Hairstreak was the most interesting thing.

Sunday 8/6: Squantum run, coyote was about it at Squantum Point Park. Virginia Rail (actually a county bird), but no unusual shorebirds and no kestrel at the marshes. Three redstarts at Nickerson Rock. Kestrel cooperated and flew over the car on the way out at least.

Monday 8/7: 2 Restart, 2 Black-and-white, another warbler that looked fairly interesting but got away at BBN.

Tuesday 8/8: Gave School St, Nine Acre, and the res a quick scan in the downpours without anything to show for it.

Wednesday 7/26: No Dusky Dancers or much else at the Mystic Lakes.

Thursday 7/27: Too much road construction near Dunback so ended up at Hartwell. No sapsucker, raven and FOY Shadow Darner were about it.

Friday 7/28: College Pond had most of the usual, no Ovenbird, towhee, RB Nuthatch though.

Saturday 7/29: Went to Spot Pond to look for Dusky Dancers. No luck but a decent variety of birds, most new for Stoneham, plus a few other odes. Was probably too hot but stopped at Draw Seven after, just the usual gulls and terns.

Sunday 7/30: The DRLT property in Dunstable still had martins, plus Bank Swallow, a few sandpipers flying around, and a few other things. Nissitissit Meadows and WMA didn’t have too much (another Bank Swallow and a handful of odes). More of the same at Keyes-Parker. Egret was still at School St but no sandpipers were obvious.

Monday 7/31: Couldn’t find any last minute July commute birds at Fresh Pond. Spinylegs and a few Zabulon Skippers were nice though.

Tuesday 8/1: Didn’t really get out other than a birdless pause at Flint’s.

Wednesday 7/12: Didn’t get out for the first time in ages.

Thursday 7/13: Quick loop of BBN had a Hooded Merganser.

Friday 7/14: Was too nice at Great Meadows. Couple YT Vireos singing and a Monarch were nice but thought that would be it until a Least Bittern flew right past me as I was walking back.

Saturday 7/15: Hop Brook/Desert/Assabet loop had the usual. Meriam’s after had a first of fall Solitary.

Sunday 7/16: Nothing at the res. A few peep at School St, which I had to wait 20 minutes in a downpour for, then noticed the tornado alert as soon as I got out of the car, so I bailed pretty quickly.

Monday 7/17: Nothing much at Ricci Farm.

Tuesday 7/18: Usual at Weston Station Pond.

Wednesday 7/5: Usual birds at BBN. Lots of Spot-winged Gliders among other odes, Silver-spotted Skippers among other butterflies, and a whole family of Short-tailed Weasels.

Thursday 7/6: Nothing of note at Cookson or the river.

Friday 7/7: At least one Red-billed Tiger Beetle at Prospect Hill. Swift River Cruiser about the only other thing of note. Nothing on the res on the way home.

Saturday 7/8: Concord butterfly count. We changed up the route a bit this year and hit spots that actually had butterflies instead of overgrown brush. Still wasn’t great but we had about 20 species instead of the barely 10 last year. Also decent numbers of odes, an antlion, the wasp mimic robber fly Ceraturgus fasciatus, and 3 mantisflies. Broad-wings were about it for birds of note.

Sunday 7/9: Started at Squantum where the rail wasn’t calling but a few shorebirds were around. Went to Nut Island for Wilson’s Storm-Petrel next (wish I had seen the Whimbrel report from the spit by then), then to Ponkapoag. Worked the dam a bit and eventually got a single Attenuated Bluet, which I believe is my 30th Enallagma. Also a couple Scarlet Bluets but not too much else. An eagle flew over with a fish and kingbird escort. Started down the boardwalk but it looked to be getting hairy, so I gave up and went back to the dam without finding anything different.

Monday 7/10: Too rainy, so Least Sandpipers at Nine Acre were the only things of interest on a pond/farm field loop.

Tuesday 7/11: More or less the usual at Hanscom, a few FOY butterflies included Dun Skipper and Great Spangled Fritillary.

Wednesday 6/28: Between rain and some work stuff only walked Hardy Pond and Graverson, nothing of note.

Thursday 6/29: Quick run around Dunback had FOY meadowhawk, Atomosia puella, and nothing much in birds.

Friday 6/30: Usual at Weston Station Pond.

Saturday 7/1: Millennium was too foggy to see the poles where the martin had been hanging out, then probably too sunny by the time I looped around. A few Savannahs, not too much else. Went to the Blue Hills to look for pygmy clubtails next, although I suspect too late. It had clouded up again a bit, so walked a ways waiting for it to clear without finding too much. Got back and walked the stream but just a couple whitetails and jewelwings. Went back up and looped Hillside Pond, Carolina Saddlebags and an emerald the most interesting. Pulled in at Norumbega on the way home, nothing there. Traffic looked bad on 128, so went down to Main St and Bear Hill Rd. Res started the usual midsummer cormorants and geese but halfway around something ternlike flew by. I jumped out of the car fast and found 3 Commons! Watched those for half an hour or so, then took a quick loop to Flint’s (nothing) and Hardy (Herring Gull) just in case there were more around.

Sunday 7/2: Weather didn’t look good for Alan’s ode walk. Started with a check of the res, no terns but a loon was nice. Heard Pond was next and had nothing on it and nothing of note at the swamp. Wasn’t raining (much), so gave Water Row a walk. Osprey with young at the nest and a Brown Thrasher by the hunter lot was a nice surprise. Quick check of Flint’s on the way home didn’t have anything.

Monday 7/3: Nothing that I could see in the fog at the res. Couple gulls, PB Grebe calling about it at Great Meadows.

Tuesday 7/4: Couple Osprey at the res. Nothing obvious at Spy Pond or the Mystic Lakes so decided to look for storm-petrels at Winthrop Beach. Succeeded there, then decided I should get them for Deer Island too. Parade either about to start or just finished, so I decided that wasn’t the best idea. Lewis Lake had a few swallows, a Black Duck family, and a few Least Terns. Belle Isle had ibis and lots of shorebirds including a few dowitchers, yellowlegs, and Least Sandpipers.

Wednesday 6/21: Looped the hill and powerlines at Hobbs Brook. Field Sparrow, creeper, towhee, Prairie, etc. Had enough time to walk Shade St too and had another creeper and a redstart.

Thursday 6/22: Night-Herons at Cookson and the square but little else.

Friday 6/23: Speculatively tried the trail across from Tanner’s Brook to the ranger station at Minuteman in case there were more sapsuckers around. Not much beyond a bluebird, so had time for the trails around Flint’s, which were about the same.

Saturday 6/24: Technically ran a BBC trip, although with no one joining. Started at Fitchburg Res, which was fogged in but one loon was calling as was a Yellow-rump and a few other things. Sun was almost out at Blood Hill. Not too much on the trail up beyond a couple sapsuckers. Sat at the top a bit and had 3 crossbills fly over. Looped a bit and tried to cut back to the trail, failed miserably and ended up bushwhacking through the mountain laurel for a good mile downhill before finding the trail almost at the parking lot. Raining too much for anything else.

Sunday 6/25: On foot day, Falzone to West Meadow then down Concord Ave to the duck ponds (dipping into Rock Meadow mostly to avoid traffic). Back through Rock Meadow, BBN, and out at Brookhaven. Birding was pretty quiet, only 49 species. Four were new for the nonmotorized year list, so I made the June target. Did have a few FOY odes (all common), a handful of butterflies, and a Long-tailed Weasel that didn’t cooperate for photos.

Monday 6/26: In office day, so got out to Heard Farm. Unfortunately it was pretty quiet, lots of Bobolinks, 3 Osprey, a hummingbird, and that was about it. Nothing much at the pond or swamp either.

Tuesday 6/27: Somehow didn’t rain at Arlington Great Meadows. Very distant calling YB Cuckoo was nice, not too much otherwise. Holopogon was good as always.

Wednedsay 6/14: Stopped at Farm Meadow to pick up Bobolink for the ‘commute’, usual otherwise. Had enough time to check the river at Nine Acre, also finally adding Spotted Sandpiper but only a single Barn and Tree Swallow.

Thursday 6/15: Habitat survey was very quiet (like Minuteman on Sunday, trees were very noisily dripping). Hardy Pond and the res didn’t have much after.

Friday 6/16: Family of Peregrines and GC Flycatcher (finally) at Fresh Pond.

Saturday 6/17: Started at Great Meadows in slightly better than expected weather. Other than the grebe still singing, it was pretty quiet and eventually started pouring, fortunately while I was in the woods. Slowed down enough back at the parking lot that David and I decided to try Brewster’s Woods, but it picked up again and was too loud to hear across the river. Two loons at Flint’s, nothing at the res on the way home.

Sunday 6/18: Squantum run. Clapper Rail was calling a lot but remained my only heard only in state. Also 4 Glossy Ibis, a Willet landing on the power lines and poles, and the Piping Plovers were scopeable from the hummock. Nickerson Rock Park had a Red-shoulder and a couple redstarts. Thought about a couple other stops but ended up at Draw Seven to pick up Common Tern for June 2023 in Middlesex. Also added Fish Crow for Somerville.

Monday 6/19: Hartwell area, no Acadian but walked up to Scott right after he found the sapsucker nest. Which was around the corner from where a Short-tailed Weasel had popped up, unfortunately and surprisingly I couldn’t spish it back out. Usual stuff otherwise.

Tuesday 6/20: Most of the expected but nothing beyond that through the woods at BBN.

Wednesday 6/7: Pretty quiet at Hanscom other than a near pure White Admiral.

Thursday 6/8: Woodcock at the West Meadow, not much at Falzone.

Friday 6/9: 4 BC Night-Herons at Cookson, nothing of note at the square.

Saturday 6/10: Ode walk in Carlisle, so started in Chelmsford. Got 30ish new species, which puts that past 50. Alder Flycatcher and kestrel the most interesting. Walk itself wasn’t too exciting, weather not great but we did have an Eastern Red Damsel eventually.

Sunday 6/11: Minuteman survey was a breeze, actually found the points without much effort. Bit quiet, maybe from the rain yesterday. Then zipped down to Lakeville and eventually got moderate views of a couple Midland Clubtails. Not a ton else, although I did get 6 Plymouth county birds and had a good chat with Blair. The early start was catching up with me, so headed home but decided to check Healthpoint quickly. Tons of bluets, a Cyrano Darner, and a few Amber-winged Spreadwings.

Monday 6/12: Figured it was unlikely so not surprised with no Least Terns at Great Meadows. No luck with Least Bittern either but did hear a couple rails and most of the regular stuff.

Tuesday 6/13: Rock Meadow survey was quiet. Stopped at BBN for a few and had an Ovenbird and Green Heron with a frog.