WIR 7/29-8/4

Wednesday 7/29: Had to stop by Habitat so walked around a bit. RB Nuthatch along the road and the goats were about it. Solitary at the duck ponds after.

Thursday 7/30: White-throat was a real surprise at Dunback, my first in July.

Friday 7/31: Nothing at Falzone, which left enough time to check Hardy (nothing) and the res (PB Grebe was back, which means 140 up for the Cambridge region pre-work list).

Saturday 8/1: Quick check of the parkway marsh at BBN had a few sandpipers. Draw Seven was quiet. Debated skipping Earhart but decided it was right there, so pulled in. Headed towards the casino side and noticed a whiter-looking gull where the mud would be if it wasn’t high tide. Worked around to get a better angle and it looked pretty good for a white-winger and Glaucous on size. Eventually flew over the dam (more or less got flight shots). Doubled back pretty quickly and got some much better views. First “inland” summer record for the state as far as I can tell (and there’s only one other nationally with a quick eyeball of the ebird map). Continued to Belle Isle, which was a waste (less so than looping Winthrop and Revere Beaches and finding no parking first).

Sunday 8/2: Finally got the central-ish MA swing in. Whitehall Res had one loon but no chicks visible. Hummingbird and eagle the other birds of note. Next was the Cedar Swamp in Holliston. Trail cleared a bit since I was last here. Too cloudy for odes unfortunately, Lilypad Forktail the most interesting (so not very). A few birds, nothing much there either. Looked for a spot in Ashland to stop but didn’t find anything worthwhile, so continued to Pelham Island Rd. Single Spotted and Solitary on the river was about it.

Monday 8/3: Quick check of Watertown Square was extremely quiet.

Tuesday 8/4: Regular shorebirds at BBN, nothing much else. All the Sooty Tern reports came in just as I finished work for the day so ran over to Cambridge Res. No terns but 3 yellowlegs and 3 dowitchers were nice (dowitchers especially since they were res #178 and Waltham #221).

Dowitchers