Took a few tries (midday heat and checking 20 yards over) but finally found the Yellow-throated Vireo this morning.
Parking lot is in Waltham, so standing there until he sang got me #185.
Category: nature
WIR 5/24-5/30
Monday 5/24: West Meadow had an Orchard Oriole and not much else.
Tuesday 5/25: Tried for the nesting Yellow-throated Vireos at Forest Grove. Guessing the midday heat was the issue as I didn’t see them. Yet another Orchard Oriole and a presumed Cyrano Darner were about the only things of interest.
Wednesday 5/26: Prospect Hill before work was very quiet. Paine at lunch wasn’t much better (Indian Skipper was about it).
Thursday 5/27: Duck ponds were very quiet.
Friday 5/28: BBN before work had Willow Flycatcher and many, many mosquitos. Tried Forest Grove again and didn’t find the vireos again (apparently for a reason). Lots of woodpeckers and more Willow Flycatchers along with the same(?) Cyrano Darner.
Saturday 5/29: Probably posting separately for the weekend, but Assabet River NWR. No luck with goshawks but I spent most of my time watching dragonflies. Also checked Fort Pond Brook on the way home for more.
Sunday 5/30: Atlas run to Dunstable. Confirmed Wild Turkey and Prairie Warbler, would have added Bobolink and Willow Flycatcher but not in safe dates yet. Lots of good dragonflies as well.
WIR 5/17-5/23
Monday 5/17: BBN at lunch. No luck with the Hooded Warbler (eventually reported to have been present earlier in the morning) but a first spring Orchard Oriole wasn’t bad. Good number of butterflies, plus a Common Whitetail on the ride over.
Tuesday 5/18: Checked Paine. School group was running around screaming and the birds were slow. Spicebush Swallowtail was the only thing of note.
Wednesday 5/19: Checked Hardy Pond briefly in the rain, 7 cormorants were it.
Thursday 5/20: Prospect Hill before work had a few things (gate wasn’t open for some reason so I had to run up the hill and didn’t really reach the areas I wanted to check) including a Chestnut-sided or two, a Northern Waterthrush, and first of year Peck’s Skipper. The Charles at lunch was quiet but an Ebony Jewelwing flew in front of the car on the way back. After work was better and a nighthawk overhead around 7 was a good conclusion.
Friday 5/21: Beaver Brook: Bluebird, Swainson’s Thrush, Magnolia Warbler, Empid sp, plus a bunch more jewelwings.
Saturday 5/22: Joined the MBC walk at Horn Pond. Fairly slow, first of year Willow Flycatchers being the highlight. Couple of us continued on nearby and got audio of a Mourning Warbler that was hanging out.
Sunday 5/23: MBC Century Run, more coming but we fell a bit short.
184
Finally, a 2010 tick.
Olive-sided Flycatcher, Metropolitan Parkway South, #184 in Waltham (thanks Paul)
Into the afternoon sun at a good distance so this is the best out of 15 or so shots.
Birdathon 2010
Saturday was Mass Audubon’s annual birdathon. Because I lead the Sunday Mt. Auburn trip, I try to avoid going all out and decided to stick to Waltham as much as possible.
The event actually starts at 6PM Friday, so I stepped outside just after 6 to get the yard birds out of the way. The fourth bird I saw was an Osprey, only the second yard record! It circled a bit and after being slightly confused about how it was moving, I realized there was a second bird following it!
Since my mother’s taking an art class and takes the bus from Waverly, we headed to Beaver Brook early (she can walk over from there). It seemed a bit quieter than it was on Friday, but I got a few warblers including the Magnolia in the same spot. I heard what sounded like another Magnolia nearby but spent a few minutes trying to see it. That proved to be a good idea as a White-crowned Sparrow popped out of the bushes before the Magnolia did.
The next stop was the Beaver Brook Ponds, where I had the only Red-eyed Vireo, Spotted Sandpiper, and Solitary Sandpiper of the day and not much else. From here, I was dropped off at Rock Meadow and began to walk home (so much for taking it easy). The first bird out of the car was an Indigo Bunting, but after that the wind got in the way. I did have a Brown Thrasher, 2 Bobolinks, and a pair of Orchard Orioles but not much else.
Moving on to the shelter of Met State, it was fairly quiet for a few minutes but reaching the hill things got interesting. About halfway up I heard an interesting call note that I assumed was a thrush. Waiting for it to appear, I ended up with an Ovenbird and Canada Warbler (greenway tick #1). No idea if one of those made the call or not. Further on, I got a bit distracted by butterflies including my first Little Wood Satyrs of the year and a bunch of Hobomok Skippers.
The Blue-winged Warblers were quiet here, but Indigo Buntings and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks weren’t. Moving past the water tower, I heard a loud song coming from the side of the hill. It sounded a lot like a Hooded Warbler but I couldn’t find it. I decided to try from below and rushed down and around but couldn’t find it there either. Circling back up, it was still singing so I bushwhacked in a bit until I got stopped by a large raspberry patch. Fortunately that was far enough in.
After watching him for a few minutes, I moved on. The parkway was fairly quiet beyond a Killdeer, so I crossed to the West Meadow.
The marsh is still pretty battered and there wasn’t a whole lot there, so I moved through quickly. In the short stretch of woods on the other side, I was rather surprised by a singing Bobolink. No luck finding it through all the leaves though.
Moving on to Lot 1, I bushwhacked up. In the woods I found a redstart and down at the meadow, a Blue-winged Warbler finally sang. The pond had a family of Wood Ducks but not much else, so I headed home.
After a quick snack break, we headed out to pick my mother up. A quick circle of the hill at Met State failed to find the Hooded again, so it was home for lunch and then out again for the afternoon.
The first stop was Prospect Hill. Butterflies were fairly good, but other than a Pine Warbler I found very little so we moved on to the Charles. The usual birds were out and a Barn Swallow was a bonus flyover.
At home, I did a quick tally and found I was in the mid 60’s, so with a few minutes left took a quick walk to Hardy Pond for Mute Swan and Double-crested Cormorant. House Finch on the way back was the final new bird of the day.
Of course, upon sending in the list, I entered the data and immediately noticed I left the 3 shorebirds and Savannah Sparrow off, so I actually had 71 on the day. Even better than I thought. Ad with a little more effort another 5-10 species would have been gettable, so well into the 80’s should be possible.
WIR 5/10-5/16
Monday 5/10: Prospect Hill had a couple interesting potential breeders.
Tuesday 5/11: Charles: Least Flycatcher, Wilson’s Warbler plus the regulars.
Wednesday 5/12: Hardy Pond had a big flock of swallows including 4 Cliff. Afternoon walk over added Spotted Sandpiper.
Thursday 5/13: BBN before work: Common Loon, Least Flycatcher, several warblers including Magnolia, Eastern Wood-Pewee. Duck ponds at lunch had family of Wood Ducks, a catbird that really sounded like a Yellow Warbler and several Red Admirals (although first of year was at work on the way).
Friday 5/14: Beaver Brook had a Magnolia, 2 Redstarts, and a Blue-headed Vireo (and more but I spent too much time chasing a Yellow Warbler around a cedar). Stepped outside at 6 to get the birdathon count going and 2 Osprey flew over!
Saturday 5/15: Birdathon, separate post coming but 2 greenway ticks got me over 150.
Sunday 5/16: Mt. Auburn for the BBC. First loop had poor view of a Bay-breasted and better views of a Wilson’s but not a whole lot more. Went back for a second loop (now that the birdathoners were awake and around) and had a nice Canada, heard more Bay-breasts, etc. Finally got Chestnut-sided and Veery for the year. Slept the rest of the day.
WIR 5/3-5/9
Monday 5/3: Woke up to a Swainson’s Thrush singing, second yard record I think. Quick stop at Hardy Pond at lunch had another Orchard Oriole along with Tree Swallows working on a nest. Thrasher singing behind work in the afternoon.
Tuesday 5/4: Graverson loop in the morning had House Wren, continuing Waterthrush, and BT Green. Yellow Warbler singing along Lexington St. Prospect Hill at lunch had Indigo Buntings, many butterflies (2 swallowtails, ETB, copper, etc), 1 darner (presuming Springtime).
Wednesday 5/5: Car finally fixed, quick stop at the Woerd Ave boat ramp had a bunch of Rough-winged Swallows and Warbling Vireos.
Thursday 5/6: Graverson loop had nothing new. BBN at lunch had a ton of summer residents arriving (Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting, Blue-winged Warbler, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Yellow-billed Cuckoo) plus Solitary Sandpiper. Also very early (record early?) Hobomok Skipper among other butterflies and my first Common Whitetails of the year.
Friday 5/7: Ended up at Beaver Brook eventually, few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and not much else. Baskettail was new for the year.
Saturday 5/8: Trip got rained out. Scarlet Tanager, Black-and-white Warbler, thrush in the yard. Rain stopped briefly so ran to Arlington Res and got soaked but a few Bank Swallows and a yellowlegs weren’t bad. Out to Ethan’s after that, where I could hear Ovenbird among several warblers and saw a Red-eyed Vireo.
Sunday 5/9: Still at Ethan’s but too cold and windy to go out. Best views I’ve had of a black squirrel at his feeder. Nothing much on the ride home or around the house.
WIR 4/26-5/2
Monday 4/26: Checked Forest Grove at lunch, 1 yellow-rump, 1 forktail.
Tuesday 4/27: Hardy Pond had a couple Barn Swallows mixed in with many Tree.
Wednesday 4/28: Paine Estate was quiet.
Thursday 4/29: Too windy at Prospect Hill but did have what was most likely a Bald Eagle over the Cambridge Res (lost it before I could be certain but nothing else it could have been).
Friday 4/30: Started for Beaver Brook in the morning but had car issues, so only managed 30 minutes. Few yellow-rumps, 1 Hermit Thrush were all I could find. Car trouble prevented me from going out at lunch, but a Peregrine over the Charles at Moody St later was very nice.
Saturday 5/1: Led the BBC trip to Mt. Auburn. Went into Boston with parents and uncle later in the day. Public garden was too crowded by then, but 3 Black-crowned Night-Herons along the Charles were nice.
And a couple shots of the hawk:
Sunday 5/2: Graverson/Hardy Pond loop had an Eastern Kingbird, Northern Waterthrush, and Common Yellowthroat (and a Chimney Swift when repeating the walk in the afternoon). Arlington Res had 4(!) Orchard Orioles, many Warbling Vireos and Kingbirds but not much else.
WIR 4/19-4/25
Monday 4/19: Went to the Littleton Rookery where the Red-headed Woodpecker eventually showed off. Also pair of Osprey, Wood Ducks in the trees and entering a hole, etc. Continued to Assabet River where I couldn’t find the gos but did have Purple Finch, Rusty Blackbird, 2 Kestrels, and a Woodcock.
Tuesday 4/20: Paine was fairly quiet but a few Yellow-rumps were recent arrivals.
Wednesday 4/21: Duck ponds were dead other than a Clouded Sulphur. Did Graverson/Hardy Pond loop twice and had Blue-headed Vireo, Kingfisher, and Savannah Sparrow.
Thursday 4/22: Prospect Hill had a few butterflies (Juvenal’s Duskywings mostly) but nothing for birds.
Friday 4/23: Walked the trail behind work at lunch, not much of anything today.
Saturday 4/24: Did garlic mustard removal at Lot 1 in the morning, first forktails of the year there. Great Meadows in the afternoon was pretty quiet, but FOY gnatcatchers and coots (finally) and an Osprey, plus more forktails and a green darner. Also 40 cormorants flying over the street after dinner.
Sunday 4/25: Started at BBN. Walked for probably 2 miles and all the good birds were next to the car: few Palms, couple Yellow-rumps, 3 Savannahs, 1 Towhee, 1 gobbling turkey. Continued to Hayden Woods where a Rusty Blackbird was singing but otherwise quiet. Arlington Res had pretty much no migrants, Spotted Sandpiper was new but nothing else. Tiger Swallowtail in the yard in the afternoon.
WIR 4/12-4/18
Monday 4/12: Prospect Hill: 2 Hermit Thrush, 6+ flickers.
Tuesday 4/13: Quick run to Paine had lots of Pine Warblers and not too much else (lots of movement as I was rushing out though)
Wednesday 4/14: Forest Grove was quiet.
Thursday 4/15: Checked Hayden Woods on the way to work: 2 Palms, singing Hermit Thrush, not much else.
Friday 4/16: Duck Ponds at lunch. Not much there, but 3 turkeys on the way back. Got out of work early so stopped at Hardy Pond, where 2 Common Mergansers continued with a bunch of Tree Swallows.
Saturday 4/17: Cruised around a bit in the rain. Big flock of cormorants on Cambridge Res and 2 Ring-necks at Flint’s Pond where all I could come up with.
Sunday 4/18: Joined the Menotomy trip at Horn Pond (added 4 birds to my Horn Pond list: Turkey Vulture, shoveler, sapsucker, and black duck). Stopped at Arlington Res on the way home and found a bunch of Palms and Yellow-rumps and not much else. Also finally walked the trail from Hardy Pond to Graverson, will likely make a regular loop here in the next couple months.