nature – Page 78 – brewster's linnet . com

WIR 10/19-10/25

Wednesday 10/19: Hardy Pond had 1 Ring-neck.

Thursday 10/20: Purgatory Cove: 7ish Green-winged Teal, 1 Blue-winged Teal, 1 Gadwall, 2 American Wigeon, 15ish Wood Duck, 4 Coot.

Friday 10/21: BBN was quiet.

Saturday 10/22: In Westport for the day but not birding. Did have a Peregrine, many Tree Swallows and a few other things driving around.

Sunday 10/23: All over. Started at Great Meadows where there were no good sparrows but did have a Sora and a few Rusty Blackbirds plus a snipe overhead. On to the School St fields and prison fields where the Cattle Egrets have moved on (guess I should have rushed over Saturday afternoon). Decided to check Meriam’s Corner for them too (thousands of grackles and not much else) and Nine Acre Corner. Cambridge Res on way home turned up a Surf Scoter, finally getting one for Waltham. Up the Charles after lunch with parents where we had 24 coots and 2 Pied-billed Grebe at Charlesbank and about the same ducks as Thursday at Purgatory Cove (new Gadwall though).

Monday 10/24: Rock Meadow. Was hoping to find a good sparrow but Anna Piccolo beat me and had already found 2 Clay-coloreds. Good views and I think the first time I’ve heard one.

Tuesday 10/25: Back side of Prospect Hill. One busy flock of chickadees and stuff included a Hermit Thrush and some Golden-crowned Kinglets but not much else around.

WIR 10/12-10/18

Wednesday 10/12: Purgatory Cove: 9 Wigeon (5 cove, 4 river), Hooded Merganser, 3 Green-winged Teal

Thursday 10/13: Hardy Pond: First of fall Ruddy.

Friday 10/14: Duck Ponds: lots of grackles, robins, yellow-rumps.

Saturday 10/15: Led MBC walk to Waltham St. Fields and Dunback. Not a whole lot of birds at either. Best with the group was a Bobolink at Dunback, but I had a Dickcissel walking out by myself. Afternoon walk around Arlington Res got the Great Cormorant sharing a rock with the Double-crested plus 2 shoveler, 2 Wood Duck, 3 Green-winged Teal, 1 Spotted Sandpiper, 2 Solitary Sandpiper.

Sunday 10/16: Rock Meadow early. Not a whole lot, highlights: 1 bluebird, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 1 White-crowned Sparrow, 1 Lincoln’s Sparrow, 1 towhee. Eight Ruddies on Hardy Pond in the afternoon.

Monday 10/17: Paine was very quiet. Managed to phone-bin a Shadow Darner but that was about it.

Tuesday 10/18: Prospect Hill: Golden-crowned Kinglet, 2 Hermit Thrush, Red Admiral.

WIR 10/5-10/11

Wednesday 10/5: Purgatory Cove: bunch of Green-winged Teal, first of fall juncos.

Thursday 10/6: Prospect Hill before work: lots of White-throats, Black-and-white, many flyover Yellow-rumps and Blackpolls. Beaver Brook at lunch: Blue-headed Vireo, more Yellow-rumps and a Palm were about it.

Friday 10/7: Prospect Hill again, zip.

Saturday 10/8: More or less stayed in for Yom Kippur. Did walk down to the store for get food for Sunday and found a Red-tail maybe 10 feet off the ground (unfortunately had the phone off and it flew by the time it turned on).

Sunday 10/9 and Monday 10/10: Big Sit and some local stuff

Tuesday 10/11: BBN had a BT Blue, a few Blackpolls, and enough Yellow-rumps that I needed another couple hours to sort through them all.

Columbus Weekend

The long weekend provided lots of birds. Sunday was the Big Sit, so I spent the day at the tower by parking lot 7 on Plum Island with Joshua Rose and Nick Paulson. Felt slower than last year but we ended up with 72 species (plus several things like peep sp) so it couldn’t have been that bad. Highlights included a good afternoon jaeger show, 2 bitterns, and a Merlin hunting at dusk. And this guy:

Whatever it is.

There’s been plenty of good stuff still being reported at the Arlington Res, so that was the first stop today. I quickly picked up some of the White-rumped Sandpipers before attempting to wade through the piles of Yellow-rumps and sparrows at Busa without finding much. Working around the res, I got better looks at the sandpipers and eventually got the Great Cormorant to wake up enough to confirm it.

From here, I headed to Danehy Park in Cambridge, hoping for Blue Grosbeak and sparrows. The hill where they’ve been seen was in use as a race track for screaming kids on scooters, so you can guess how that worked out. Did find a sapsucker, Nashville, and couple Cooper’s.

Quick stop home and then off towards Concord to look for Snow and White-fronted Geese. On the way, I watched a Pileated Woodpecker fly over Rt. 2. At the prison fields, I found more geese than I can remember seeing. A quick scan through found one smaller, darker bird. Jumping out to scope it, it turned out to be a Brant! A somewhat overdue county bird (fairly regular and I’ve either missed or been too lazy to chase several). A very quick scan through the rest of the geese didn’t turn up anything (other stuff was reported later, don’t know if I missed them or they flew in).

So no new birds for the county for about 10 months and then 2 in just over 10 days.

WIR 9/28-10/4

Wednesday 9/28: Prospect Hill was very quiet.

Thursday 9/29: Saw something. Nothing at the Cambridge Res later.

Friday 9/30: Duck ponds were pretty quiet. Finally able to crawl through the fallen trees though and do a full loop.

Saturday 10/1: Joined the Menotomy trip to Dunback: Chat, few other warblers, exotic finch, heard-only Dickcissel. Arlington Res after: 3 Blue-winged Teal, White-crowned Sparrow.

Sunday 10/2: Planned on being lazy but the sun came out so ran to Rock Meadow. Clouded up, but spent over two hours in the gardens, mostly with Karsten and Jeff. Karsten eventually picked up one of the Dickcissels which cooperated for a few photos (somewhat). Also a couple Nashvilles, an Osprey, and a flyover loon (Karsten called it Red-throated, I didn’t actually look carefully and am kicking myself quite a bit). Circled Cambridge Res after and found 9 swans and 5 wigeon.

Monday 10/3: BBN was pretty quiet, few sparrows, few blackpolls. Afternoon elsewhere was better:

Tuesday 10/4: BBN again: Lance-tipped Darner, Buckeye, etc.

About time I found one for the patch.

275

Nice series of events last night and this morning:

1. Laptop keyboard and trackpad stops working.

2. Make Apple store appointment for the morning.

3. Decide that even though it’s raining, might as well stop at Arlington Res on the way and hopefully find the Blue Grosbeak.

4. Arrive at Arlington Res, take quick look at berm.

5. That bird looks rather white.

6. Run back to car for scope.

7. Confirm Sanderling, county bird #275 (and 25th shorebird).

Laptop also appears to have started working on its own, which left time to run home and grab the camera (did manage identifiable phone-scoped shots but no one needs to see those).

WIR 9/21-9/27

Wednesday 9/21: BBN had one good flock of warblers including 3+ Blackpolls, a BT Green, a Parula, and a Nashville.

Thursday 9/22: Cambridge Res at lunch: 5 yellowlegs, both Greater and Lesser. Not a whole lot else, Spotted Sandpipers, Solitary Sandpiper, Killdeer, herons. Blackpoll from the yard.

Friday 9/23: Purgatory Cove: 6 GW Teal, 1 BW Teal, 1 Wigeon, 1 PB Grebe.

Saturday 9/24: Purgatory Cove w/parents (and Bob): 7 GW Teal, 2 BW Teal, 2 Pectoral Sandpiper, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs. Cambridge Res in the afternoon: 2 Parula, 1 Black-and-white, 1 Blackpoll, 1 Yellow-rump, 5 Solitary Sandpiper.

Sunday 9/25: Led MBC walk in Lincoln. Found mosquitos and eventually a Baltimore Oriole. Nothing at Cambridge Res on way back.

Monday 9/26: Chased Chris Floyd’s Clay-colored Sparrow at Rock Meadow. Took my whole lunch break but did find it eventually. Greenway bird #160.

Missed a Dickcissel though even spending some time looking.

Tuesday 9/27: UMass Field Station looking for a Dickcissel of my own (2 now at Rock Meadow) but not much of anything.

WIR 9/14-9/20

Wednesday 9/14: Purgatory Cove had both Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal but no sandpipers.

Thursday 9/15: BBN before work: lots of Blackpolls, lots of things in awful light. Broad-winged at Prospect Hill at lunch and not much else there.

Friday 9/16: Duck ponds: Ovenbird, Parula, Black-and-white, Yellowthroat, couple more got away. Also big flock of geese overhead. Driving down Lexington St later, single nighthawk over the Wal-Lex.

Saturday 9/17: Started at Dunback. Not quite as busy as I hoped but pretty good with 8 species of warbler including Blackburnian and first of fall BT Blue, several Broad-wings and Sharpies, and Philadelphia and Blue-headed Vireo. Stopped at Cambridge Res on the way home, 2 Greater Yellowlegs, Great Egret, Osprey, Semipalmated Plover, 2 Green Heron. Afternoon walk around Arlington Res failed to turn up the Dickcissel but did get 4 shovelers.

Sunday 9/18: Rock Meadow early: big flock of warblers at the entrance including 2 Parula, Redstart, Blackpoll, Black-and-white, BT Green. Gardens had more BT Green and a couple Lincoln’s Sparrows. Looped around, finding a Coyote and not much else. Return trip through the gardens found more Parula, Red-eyed Vireos, and Indigo Bunting. River Walk was quiet (Kingfisher, Spotted Sandpiper) but 4 Pectoral Sandpipers at Purgatory Cove were new for me in Waltham (195). Also a few Semipalmated, Least, and Spotted Sandpipers, 3 Green Herons, and a single Blue-winged Teal. (And most likely a Rusty Blackbird that I skipped over as brownish grackle, oops).

Monday 9/19: Prospect Hill had nothing beyond a big flock of grackles.

Tuesday 9/20: Hardy Pond in the rain, still swifts and swallows.

WIR 9/7-9/13

Wednesday 9/7: Purgatory Cove again in the heavy rain: kingfisher, egret, 1 green heron.

Thursday 9/8: Duck ponds had nothing.

Friday 9/9: Prospect Hill: Veery, Prairie Warbler, 2 American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Scarlet Tanager. Five nighthawks around the corner around 5PM.

Saturday 9/10: Farm Meadow in Lincoln: Parula, BT Green, Blackpoll, Redstart, 2 Red-eyed Vireo (local family?), 2 Kingbird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 2 Indigo Bunting. Wayland Community Gardens were pretty quiet, nighthawk and Rose-breasted Grosbeak were about it.

Sunday 9/11: Plum (after planning on going all week on Saturday, rather jealous of the Gull-billed Tern): Buff-breasted and Stilt Sandpipers, Hudsonian Godwit, American Golden-Plovers (3), Blackburnian, 2(?) Eurasian Wigeon. Godwit was #250 for Essex county.

Monday 9/12: BBN at lunch: standard warblers and vireos. Insects good with a Canada Darner and a Mocha Emerald landing. More or less managed a couple photos of the emerald. Rose-breasted Grosbeak singing around the corner before work.

Tuesday 9/13: Paine was quiet.

WIR 8/31-9/6

Wednesday 8/31: Prospect Hill was very quiet.

Thursday 9/1: BBN before work. Pretty quiet, 1 Magnolia and 1 Blue-winged or Lawrence’s (lousy view but it didn’t feel like a Blue-winged) were about it. Back end of Prospect Hill at lunch was even quieter.

Friday 9/2: Purgatory Cove: 2 Semipalmated and 5 Least Sandpipers, 4 Green Heron, 1 Great Egret, 2 Great Blue, 1 Black-crowned Night-Heron.

Saturday 9/3: BBN to start, leucistic Chipping Sparrow was about it. Ponds were filled again, 16 mallards were all that was on them. Great Meadows was very quiet although a calling Northern Waterthrush was #174 for the site.

Sunday 9/4: Started at Prospect Hill. Mostly quiet but 2 flocks of warblers added up to 9 species, plus an early Palm elsewhere. Dunback was very quiet from there. Evening visit to BBN finally added nighthawk to the site list (and West Meadow as well) but no sign of any white sparrows.

Monday 9/5: Started at BBN. No Chipping Sparrow and fairly quiet. One BT Green, 1 thrasher, 1 pewee was about it. Purgatory Cove later had many Semipalmated Sandpipers and at least 6 Green Herons.

Tuesday 9/6: Hardy Pond had a few swallows.