Wednesday 5/28: Went to Brewster’s Woods and heard the Prothonotary. Also RB Nuthatch finally and most of the usual summer stuff.
Thursday 5/29: Couple Blue-wings was about it at Dunback, loon at the res in a quick check.
Friday 5/30: Decided not to bother fighting traffic towards Mt. Auburn and went to Weston Station Pond. Mostly the usual, couple Prairie Warblers the most exciting. Also FOY Dusted Skipper and Red-spotted Purple.
Saturday 5/31: Waited out the rain then worked my way to Belle Isle. Stilt wasn’t visible when I got there but a Purple Martin flew by and I also got FOY Saltmarsh Sparrow. Eventually the stilt came out, ran around a bit, then took a nap before flying in a bit closer. Decent number of other birds but nothing too exciting. Eventually moved to look for the ibis found yesterday and phalaope found today. Pulled over for a scan at Revere Beach and a Manx Shearwater was close and the only bird in sight. The phalarope site had nothing but Chimney Swifts, so I moved on and found another spot to scan Rumney. A bunch of ibis were fairly close, all looked like Glossy. Could see some further out so doubled back for the scope and found them buried in tall grass. Watched for a bit and couldn’t find anything that looked different. Eventually took a walk down to the other end and had a Red-eyed Vireo singing. Returned again and they were even harder to see, so I gave up.
Sunday 6/1: Since I hadn’t added a month bird in two months (had planned on Grasshopper Sparrow yesterday and last weekend but weather and other plans got in the way), went to Horn Pond for the YC Night Heron. Not around and not much else either. Did a loop, then decided I might as well work on other things and went to the Wilmington dog park to get another town past 50. Since I was at 49 and basically hadn’t birded Wilmington in spring or summer, I got there in roughly 30 seconds and added another six in a short walk. Reading was at 36 and next door, so I went to the Maillet Conservation Area, which turned out to be fairly well landscaped and tiny, so not rushing back. Did get five easy ones. Thought about North Reading or even an Essex county Wood Thrush but decided with the wind, just staying close was better. Went to the Town Forest and did a fairly long walk. Swainson’s Thrush was the only mildly interesting bird but I got 13 needed ones, so two towns past 50 today. Seven left and four are over 40 (and Holliston is 39). Hopefully knocking another couple off next weekend and then I may take a break until the fall. Then the second half of getting everything to 100 begin, which will probably require a bit more of a targeted approach, with repeated visits over the year to a few at a time instead of going scattershot.
Monday 6/2: Wanted to go to Habitat but traffic was backed up going left, so I went right and then decided Minuteman was easier. Walked the area behind the tavern (turkeys, redstart), then down the Battle Road (Magnolia) to Brooks Village (Field Sparrow). Looks like they’ve done away with the vernal pool trail completely, so ended up backtracking and had the odd singing Blue-winged.
Tuesday 6/3: Habitat for a change, nothing particularly of note. Had time for the duck ponds after, nothing there but the Mill Pond was mostly mud, wish I had known that a couple weeks ago.