nature – Page 75 – brewster's linnet . com

WIR 2/29-3/6

Wednesday 2/29: Nothing at Paine. Luckily, I stopped at the field station on the way and got 4 Killdeer without even having to stop the car. Needed the extra day, but that’s 70 for the winter list.

Thursday 3/1: Snow had changed to rain at lunch so ran to Purgatory Cove. One ring-neck on the cove, 14 more near Edgewater (and easier to see from there). While driving over, quick scan from Charlesbank had another Ring-neck plus about 50 coots. Not surprisingly with the snow, White-throat and Song Sparrow back in the yard.

Friday 3/2: River walk was as dead as I’ve ever seen it. Heard a Killdeer and there was a grackle in the big sycamore but otherwise nothing.

Saturday 3/3: Indoors at the Birder’s Meeting all day.

Sunday 3/4: Wandered BBN a bit. Started on Concord Ave, where there were Red-wings all over, plus a few Hoodies on the golf course. Two flyover Common Mergansers were a patch tick. Found a (or the) Swamp Sparrow at the West Meadow. A creeper and 2 possible Winter Wrens were about it at Met State, but 2 bluebirds were flying around Concord Ave getting back to the car. A quick stop at the duck ponds had very little.

Monday 3/5: Forest Grove: Killdeer, blackbirds, Common Mergansers. Turkey Vulture over downtown.

Tuesday 3/6: Prospect Hill was rather icy so just hung around the base watching mostly robins. Skunk cabbage coming up.

WIR 2/22-2/28

Wednesday 2/22: Shocking little around the marsh at BBN.

Thursday 2/23: Hardy Pond, 2 Ruddies were new and otherwise the same. Mergansers on the res.

Friday 2/24: Purgatory Cove: first Wood Duck of the year, plus a few Ring-necks and mergansers. Flicker and point-blank Golden-crowned Kinglets too. (Forgot this last week, but interesting news for the cove)

Saturday 2/25: Plum with MBC. Wind, wind, wind, and wind. Plus 2-3 Snowy Owls and a few other things.

Sunday 2/26: Arlington Res in the afternoon: 2 wigeon, 1 Gadwall, 4 Green-winged Teal, 3 Killdeer, etc.

Monday 2/27: Prospect Hill was very quiet. A certain squirrel reappeared late at night.

Tuesday 2/28: BBN was still very quiet. Blackbirds galore at home.

WIR 2/15-2/21

Wednesday 2/15: Duck ponds had lots of the usual.

Thursday 2/16: Woodpeckers, robins, and juncos at BBN.

Friday 2/17: Purgatory Cove: a few Ring-necks were joined by a Greater Scaup (Charles #131), plus various mergansers. No good gulls though.

Saturday 2/18: Towhee, also the usual Cape Ann stuff.

Sunday 2/19: Walked BBN. Nothing much at Lot 1 (except first of year for the patch Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls). Grackle flew over the boardwalk. Not much more at the Met State side. No wigeon on Hardy Pond late in the afternoon. Making this a nature post and not a birding one, first chipmunk of the year.

Monday 2/20: Cold and windy. Nothing at Hardy Pond or Waltham St.

Tuesday 2/21: Duck ponds were very quiet.

351

Not the most cooperative subject, especially since I couldn’t figure out how to set the 7D’s focus to use a single point, which meant lots of branches in front being the target.

WIR 2/8-2/14

Wednesday 2/8: Ended up at Lone Tree Hill in Belmont, nothing interesting.

Thursday 2/9: Purgatory Cove: 14 swans, 3 coot, the Lesser Black-back.

Friday 2/10: West Meadow had lots of robins, white-throats, and woodpeckers.

Saturday 2/11: MBC trip to Horn Pond was pretty quiet. Stopped for the Red-throated Loon on the Mystic Lakes on the way home. Nothing at Spy Pond or the Cambridge Res.

Sunday 2/12: Cold and windy, stayed in.

Monday 2/13: Lyman Pond was frozen (50 geese, assorted feeder birds). Had a few minutes, so ran over to Hardy Pond and immediately had an eagle flying around (in a spot that was visible from the house). Looked again in the afternoon with no luck, but 3 wigeon were around.

(Click to watch)

Tuesday 2/14: River walk had the usual. One (four) Fish Crows finally though.

WIR 2/1-2/7

Wednesday 2/1: Duck ponds were fairly quiet, six hoodies were about it (although 2 Ring-billed Gulls on the ice were unusual for the spot).

Thursday 2/2: Morning stop at Hardy Pond: 4 Common Merganser. Nothing much at Prospect Hill at lunch, big flock of robins was about it. Eagle showed up at Hardy Pond, got a half second look on the way home but it took off before I was able to walk over. Did find 2 wigeon at least.

Friday 2/3: Nothing at Rock Meadow.

Saturday 2/4: Took a wander through Wayland. One Common Merganser at Horn Pond. Both kinglets were at the community gardens along with 5 bluebirds and good numbers of sparrows. At the Old Rt. 27 Bridge, I had 2 Bald Eagles and a harrier pass over in 5 minutes, probably should have sat around for a while to see what else came by. Wigeon continued on Hardy pond, GBBG up to 10.

Sunday 2/5: Dunback was quiet, did almost every bit anyway. Charles in the afternoon had one each of most of the expected ducks (few more hoodies) plus 3 herons. Just missed a kingfisher.

Monday 2/6: Supposed to be very mild, so took a long walk around the marsh at BBN and found absolutely nothing.

Tuesday 2/7: Duck ponds were quiet at lunch. Good stuff in the neighborhood early though, including a flicker, first of year Red-winged Blackbird, and a flyover Pine Siskin (3rd? yard record).

WIR 1/25-1/31

Wednesday 1/25: Forest Grove and Flowed Meadow: picked out the Lesser Black-back on the ice and there were a few coots around. Walking to the landfill and around was a waste though.

Thursday 1/26: Paine was quiet.

Friday 1/27: Rainy.

Saturday 1/28: Planned to go scan the Middlesex county portion of the Merrimack and then wander through Dunstable a bit. Had a hard time finding anywhere to scan the river (did get a Great Cormorant in Dracut) and Amos Kendall was a sheet of ice. Got into Arched Bridge and wandered around a bit, but nothing of note. Took a quick run through Great Meadows on the way home (1 coot, 3 goldeneye, 1 distant flock of interesting looking bunting-type things) and the Cambridge Res (nothing).

Sunday 1/29: Got lazy, so eventually just wandered to Moody St. Nothing much there. Quick check of Woerd Ave (9 swans, nothing else) and then on to the Cambridge Res where there were 2 Bald Eagles circling. One came in nice and close and then disappeared into thin air before I got the camera out.

Monday 1/30: River walk was pretty quiet. Two goldeneye, 1 bufflehead, no Ring-necks or Common Mergansers.

Tuesday 1/31: BBN was very quiet.

WIR 1/18-1/24

Wednesday 1/18: River walk had first of year Bufflehead and a female had joined the male goldeneye.

Thursday 1/19: Nothing at Beaver Brook.

Friday 1/20: Iceland Gull was almost a driveby at Moody St. Nothing else good among the gulls (although the Lesser was apparently around later). Two Ring-necks at the Woerd Ave boat ramp and no interesting gulls in that area.

Saturday 1/21: Stayed in with the snow. Song, White-throat, and goldfinches finally at the feeder.

Sunday 1/22: Interesting day.

Monday 1/23: Rock Meadow had very little, and about 70% of that was Mourning Doves.

Tuesday 1/24: Fairly quiet at Lot 1, also too muddy to check thoroughly.

Winter Wood Thrush!

The duck walk meant that I was unable to join the BBC gull workshop field trip Sunday. That turned out to be a very good thing (in addition to all the stuff on the walk) as I headed out midafternoon to poke around the Waltham St. Fields and check on the Lark Sparrow. Parking at the tennis courts by Dunback, I walked down the street and spent a few minutes checking the flock of robins and other stuff near the corner.

The robins started crossing over, so I followed and started down the path. Lots of sparrows were flying back and forth and I slowed down to work through them. Above the water on the right, some movement caught my attention. Probably a cardinal but I put the bins on it and ooh that’s a rusty looking head and er that’s a lot of spots on the chest. Grab the camera quickly.

Wood Thrush was not exactly on the list of birds I expected. I knew it was very rare, but had no clue as to how rare.

The bird moved, so I continued on. I picked it up again on the ground and almost managed another shot:

After it disappeared, I finally reached the fields. Walking around, I found next to nothing and on the way out, there were no birds along the edge. Right place, right time.

After a quick, almost birdless walk through Dunback, I went home and immediately grabbed Birds of Massachusetts. Somewhere in the Concord CBC circle from December 26, 1971-January 6, 1972 was the only January record (and only 2 other December records). The book is almost 20 years old at this point, so I figured there may be another one or two, but went to watch the football game before digging through Bird Observers. Fortunately, I didn’t have to make the effort as within 10 minutes of posting it, Marj replied that there was only one more. It was from the 2007 Superbowl of Birding at Halibut Point (and happened to be found by my friends Mark, Laura, and Christopher).

So do I set my sights lower on Varied Thrush or higher on Redwing next?

Duck Walk 2012

Sunday morning was the Waltham Land Trust’s annual duck walk. It was a bit on the cool side, but not brutal. The sun was out and there was no wind. The recent freeze had finally pushed some birds onto the Charles and the 25 or so people that joined me had a great time.

Some quick photo highlights:

Male Hooded Merganser

Young male Common Goldeneye

Two male Common Goldeneye, female Bufflehead, male Ring-necked Duck on parade.

Also lots of Common Mergansers plus more of all of the above. The big highlight was an almost mature Bald Eagle that cruised up the river. Too quick for any pictures, but just about everyone got on it.