Finally caught up with a Lark Sparrow in state and county, this one being found yesterday by Karsten Hartel at Danehy Park in Cambridge.
With a Savannah
Row of sparrows: Chipping, Savannah, Lark, Chipping (probably want to click to enlarge this one).
Monday 9/28: Stayed home, Red-tail over the yard and Turkey Vulture down there street. Jays were excited by something at the corner but couldn’t find anything.
Tuesday 9/29: UMass field station and gardens at lunch. Palm Warbler, House Wren, Black Swallowtail.
Wednesday 9/30: Purgatory Cove: 40 Wood Ducks, 4 Rough-winged Swallows.
Thursday 10/1: Prospect Hill in the morning: Cape May Warbler (new for Waltham) and quite a bit else that I didn’t have time to cover carefully. Checked out the Met State boardwalk at lunch, 3 turkeys and my first Marsh Wren for Lexington.
Friday 10/2: Hardy Pond, same as last week pretty much. Beaver Brook ponds at lunch, good flock of things that I didn’t have time to go through but Red-eyed Vireo and BT Green Warbler among them.
Saturday 10/3: Rainy.
Sunday 10/4: Rock Meadow: Kestrel, few warblers, Lincoln’s Sparrow or two, 5 phoebes. Nine Acre Corner (or nearby): Black-tipped Darner, lots of geese. Waltham St. Fields: not much.
Monday 10/5: Prospect Hill at lunch: Swainson’s Thrush, Savannah Sparrow (#98 and #99 for the park). Great Meadows after work, finally got the Glossy Ibis and then huge (450+) numbers of Wood Duck and 4(!) American Bitterns as it got dark.
Monday 9/21: Lyman Pond at lunch, lots of Wood Ducks, a kingfisher, etc.
Tuesday 9/22: Paine, not a whole lot.
Wednesday 9/23: Hardy Pond on the way to work: 4 wigeon, Green Heron, several Blackpolls. Prospect Hill at lunch, 1 interesting warbler (90% sure it was a Mourning) but not much else other than my first Question Mark in Waltham this year.
Thursday 9/24: Back to Prospect Hill to see if the warbler was hanging around. No luck with that, but Wilson’s, Nashville, several Blackpolls, and a Black-throated Green. Jays also picked up a Sharp-shin going overhead (which didn’t seem to actually be looking down at all).
Friday 9/25: Met State before work. Lot of activity near at the cemetery, including a Tennessee Warbler and first of fall Yellow-rump and Golden-crowned Kinglet.
Saturday 9/26: Started at Dunback. Fairly quiet (first Lincoln’s Sparrow of the fall, Blue-headed Vireo, few Blackpolls) but wandered around with a few people. Led Waltham Land Trust walk to Beaver Brook North (Met State) but didn’t really look at birds. Afternoon walk around Arlington Res had a few wigeon and Green-winged Teal.
Sunday 9/27: Rainy, lousy day. Stayed in for the most part. Red-wings were vocal at the end of the street for the first time in a while.
Monday 9/14: Prospect Hill in the morning (Big Prospect and Whitney Trail). Good number of migrants including first of fall Blackpoll, Junco, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Blue-headed Vireo. Paine at lunch, singing Pine Warbler and a few more migrants.
Tuesday 9/15: Prospect Hill at lunch (base up to top of the slope). One White-throat was about it, although a Mourning Cloak was nice.
Wednesday 9/16: Met State before work, not much. UMass Field Station at lunch, nothing.
Thursday 9/17: Beaver Brook Ponds at lunch, nothing really there. Big flock of geese at Fernald.
Friday 9/18: Hardy Pond on the way to work, Spotted Sandpiper was the most interesting thing. Met State at lunch, a Wandering Glider actually landed but otherwise nothing.
Saturday 9/19: Busy with family.
Sunday 9/20: Dunback and Waltham St. in the morning. Not too bad with 7 warblers, a few Broad-wings, and 2 Common Loons overhead. Great Meadows in the afternoon, incredibly quiet.
Tuesday 9/8: Met State at lunch, Wood Thrush and nothing else.
Wednesday 9/9: Prospect Hill before work, almost nothing. Paine Estate at lunch, also nothing. Did hear Carolina Wren in the yard for the firs time in a few weeks.
Thursday 9/10: Beaver Brook Ponds at lunch, nothing really of note. Not much at home but big numbers of robins around the neighborhood at dusk.
Friday 9/11: Wigeon at Hardy Pond at lunch.
Saturday 9/12: Rainy all day, stayed in.
Sunday 9/13: Went to Lincoln in the morning. Two Indigo Buntings, a few Savannah Sparrows, and some hawks. Afternoon trip to Arlington Res, very little, water level way up.
A nice surprise today was a presumed family group of 3 Red-shouldered Hawks (2 juvs and an adult).
That’s juv #1, which was right in front of me.
Juv #2 was further away (and I didn’t know it was a second bird at first). A Sharp-shinned Hawk came in and eventually took a couple swipes at it, moments after this excellent shot:
You’ll probably want to click through to see it bigger. I also added notes to point out the birds (the Sharpie is especially hidden).
Monday 8/31: Prospect Hill at lunch: Pileated! Maybe two as the one I saw didn’t appear to be making the calls I was hearing. Also 3 redstarts and a Black-and-white. Redstart at the end of the street and in the yard as well.
Tuesday 9/1: Met State before work (already miss summer hours). Prairie, BT Green, Nashville, and a Warbling Vireo. Paine at lunch, Least Flycatcher and Hummingbird. Single nighthawk feeding over the house at night.
Wednesday 9/2: Beaver Brook at lunch, nothing. Nothing around the house either.
Thursday 9/3: Beaver Brook Ponds at lunch, not a whole lot (Solitary, Kingfisher). Very few dragonflies even.
Friday 9/4: Dunback in the morning. Singing Parula, Blue-winged, and Least Flycatcher were about it. Out to New Salem after work where there was a big swarm of Aeshna and Somatochlora but none low enough to catch.
Saturday 9/5: Few warblers in New Salem but none cooperating and then a drive up to Lunenberg, Vermont. Poked around there a bit, White-faced Meadowhawk being the highlight. See some photos from the weekend.
Sunday 9/6: Went to Pondicherry in New Hampshire (early afternoon though). Few warblers and a Gray Comma. Back in Lunenberg, Variable Darner was a highlight as was a Barred Owl calling.
Monday 9/7: Sat around in Lunenberg for a couple hours with bluebirds, a few warblers, and sapsuckers flying in and out. Back to New Salem and then home without much of note.
Some highlights from a weekend in northern Vermont with a quick trip to Pondicherry in New Hampshire.
Autumn Meadowhawk
White-faced Meadowhawk
Gray Comma
White Admiral
Variable Darner
Black-tipped Darner
And one other thing:
Spring Peeper?
For no real reason, a winter flock of Dunlin from Plymouth Beach. And looking closer, there’s some Sanderling mixed in.
Monday 8/24: Paine at lunch, nothing beyond a ton of chipping sparrows. Two nighthawks and 6 Great Blues over the yard at night.
Tuesday 8/25: Met State in the morning, Chestnut-sided was about it. Beaver Brook ponds at lunch, Solitary Sandpiper and 2 Kingfishers. Nighthawk count was 7 tonight and 2 pigeons flying by were yard bird #50 on the year.
Wednesday 8/26: Purgatory Cove at lunch. No shorebirds but looked like some good numbers of Lilypad Forktails icluding a couple of the ghostly pruinose females (need to get back with a camera one of the days).
Thursday 8/27: Prospect Hill in the morning, 2 BT Greens, 2 Redstarts, Black-and-white. Two nighthawks at night.
Friday 8/28: Dunback in the morning, 1 Black-and-white and a big flock of Cormorants was it. Paine at lunch, another Black-and-white.
Saturday 8/29: Rained all day.
Sunday 8/30: Joined the Menotomy walk at Great Meadows, which was one of the best walks I’ve been on in a long time. Started with Black-bellied and American Golden-Plover, then added Short-billed Dowitcher and Baird’s Sandpiper. Also had a Peregrine and an American Bittern that wandered around right in the open for a couple minutes. Went back after lunch to try to get another look at the Baird’s without anything different. Great Egret over the yard at night was #89 for the yard list.