WIR 11/11-11/17

Wednesday 11/11: Pond loop found very little.

Thursday 11/12: Went to Horn Pond and turned up 50 species (and missed a few more) with some effort. Highlights included a catbird, raven, Fox Sparrow, finding a second Great Horned after Marj showed me where she had one earlier and then having a Barred Owl pop up. Stopped at Winter Pond after for the presumed Mallard x Pintail and then looped the res and Flint’s without anything.

Friday 11/13: Fox Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, and Gadwall at Forest Grove plus a meadowhawk before the real excitement.

Saturday 11/14: Started with a quick pass of the res then School St. No Franklin’s Gull there or at Great Meadows but a Pectoral Sandpiper and 6 pintail made the walk out in the wind worthwhile. Wasn’t sure what to do next so started towards the Earhart Dam. Checked email while stopped at a light and saw a gull report from Lynn, so headed that way. No gull but timed the Cave Swallow perfectly. Drove around a bit looking for the gull but too windy to get out and scan for the most part.

Sunday 11/15: Great Meadows was fairly quiet (and frozen), School St, Nagog, Norumbega, and Moody St were dull. The MacGillivray’s was barely cooperative at Arlington Res but a Bald Eagle was a new bird for me there and 11 Lesser Scaup were surprising. Gave Paul a ride to Waltham St with a quick stop at the Waldorf Pond, which had 11 Gadwall.

Monday 11/16: Headed down to the Cape for a couple days. Started by stopping at Millennium where the Red-headed Woodpecker barely cooperated. Continued to Plymouth where a pile of construction meant I only checked Nelson Park. A Common Merganser seemed a bit odd there but nothing else of interesting. Scusset Beach had tons of ducks. Got to Head of the Meadow for the last hour of daylight and had a nice movement of Great Shearwaters plus a few other things.

Tuesday 11/17: Started at Herring Cove Beach, which had a fair number of birds. Corn Hill was quiet, Fort Hill fairly quiet (a raven wasn’t bad), and Morris Island was quiet. Gave up on finding an open fish and chips place and went back to Head of the Meadow. Less around but got on the Little Gull (probably had it last night but was a bit too dark by then).