Sandwiched between Brown Creeper and Gadwall on my Suffolk county list:
WIR 12/31-1/6
Wednesday 12/31: Looking for one last year bird in Waltham. Winter Wren at BBN, Savannah Sparrow at the field station, lots of ducks on the res but nothing new.
Thursday 1/1: Surprisingly little on the BBC trip, but one bird was enough.
Friday 1/2: Dunback had a Barred Owl, sapsucker, 2 ravens, a towhee, and 19 Red-wings. Cackling Geese were still at Clay Pit. Nothing exciting along the river.
Saturday 1/3: 55+ Tree Sparrows at BBN, 20 more at the field station.
Sunday 1/4: Quick check of the res was pretty much the same as the 1st: 1 eagle, 25 wigeon, 10 scaup, 90 Ring-necks, 100 Hoodies, etc.
Monday 1/5: Too windy to do much, but cruised a few of the ponds. Shovelers at Arlington Res and an eagle at Mystic Lakes were about it.
Tuesday 1/6: Too cold and snow started before I got energy to go out.
2014
January:
February:
March:
April:
May:
June:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
No travel, which needs to change. Only 1 lifer (Ruff), but 8 county birds (Glaucous Gull, Caspian Tern, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Rufous Hummingbird, Whimbrel, Long-billed Dowitcher, Leach’s Storm-Petrel, Lapland Longspur), and the tern and hummer were state birds as well (plus the Ruff obviously). Only 1 new bird for the Beaver Brook/Rock Meadow patch (Lesser Yellowlegs), but 7 for the Charles (Red-shouldered Hawk, Fox Sparrow, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Ovenbird, Yellow-breasted Chat, Scarlet Tanager, and Tennessee Warbler). Caspian Tern was the only Waltham addition. Five for the yard (GH Owl, YB Cuckoo, Raven, Peregrine, BG Gnatcatcher).
Insectwise, White Corporal, Golden-winged Skimmer, and Brush-tipped Emerald were new odes in the county. Bog Copper and Silver-bordered Fritillary were state and county butterflies.
As for my county tick project, I broke 100 in 16 cities and am pushing towards 3000 town ticks.
Goals for next year: county ode list to 100 (9 away), county list to 295 (4 away), life list to 600 (40+ away), catch up with a few of the overdue state birds. And get the rest of the 2-town area over 100 (Burlington and Weston easy, Winchester, Arlington, and Bedford maybe).
1/1/2015
Well that was a nice start to the year.
WIR 12/24-12/30
Wednesday 12/24: Wandered the river and Cambridge Res without anything.
Thursday 12/25: Stayed in.
Friday 12/26: Great Meadows was quiet. Pair of Lesser Scaup at Hardy.
Saturday 12/27: Nothing at Dunback. Nothing much at Sandy Beach. Nothing at all at the North Reservoir.
Sunday 12/28: Tried for scaup at Fresh Pond but only managed creepers, Canvasback, and Ring-necks. Usual at Cambridge Res.
Monday 12/29: Went to Cape Ann for the day. Razorbills and stuff at Andrew’s and Halibut, one white-winged gull at Jodrey, then I decided it was too cool and windy, so went to Marblehead Neck and found the Townsend’s Warbler easily.
Tuesday 12/30: Worked the river a bit. Winter Wren in Watertown was nice, as were 3 Fish Crows over Moody St. A few ducks finally coming in too.
111
More or less the total from the last 3ish months of commuting to Natick. Hopefully to be added to next year.
Didn’t upload too many photos, but here’s a couple highlights:
WIR 12/17-12/23
Wednesday 12/17: Hardy Pond had nothing exciting, Heard Pond had nothing, and there was nothing more than a few geese and Mallards at the town building.
Thursday 12/18: Res had tons of ducks including more scaup and 3 Gadwall.
Friday 12/19: Cackling Goose and Ruddy at Great Meadows.
Saturday 12/20: 5 Purple Finches and a Winter Wren at Dunback.
Sunday 12/21: Nothing exciting along the river. More gulls but nothing good among them.
Monday 12/22: Sapsucker was still around at BBN but not much else.
Tuesday 12/23: Hunting for goldeneye without any luck from Prospect St to Norumbega.
WIR 12/10-12/16
Wednesday 12/10: Too dark to really see but about the same at the res, nothing much at Flint’s, Heard, or Pelham Island Rd.
Thursday 12/11: Few mergansers and a Bufflehead at Hardy. Hermit Thrush and nothing else at the riverwalk. Very quick buzz of Purgatory Cove had an Iceland Gull.
Friday 12/12: Dunback pretty quiet.
Saturday 12/13: Started at BBN. Sapsucker along the parkway was nice, as was a Winter Wren while trying to get from Dawes to the West Meadow (which was under a foot of water). Not much else there, nothing at the field station or Moody St. No Iceland Gull near Forest Grove or in the Shaw’s lot. Same big flock at the res which I didn’t feel like scoping. Goldeneye at Hardy Pond among the usuals.
Sunday 12/14: CBC. Not going to bother with a full report, but Barred Owl and Red-winged Blackbirds at Dunback, Bluebird at Lot 1, Savannah Sparrow (new for the sector) at the field station, and the usual ducks.
Monday 12/15: Pintail at Forest Grove, not too much else.
Tuesday 12/16: Checked the Mackerel Hill bit of BBN for a change. Yellow-rump was yet another bird that would have been nice on Sunday but nothing overly exciting otherwise.
WIR 12/3-12/9
Wednesday 12/3: Usual at the ponds (other than big numbers of American Black Ducks). Stupidly drove past an eagle on Pelham Island Rd figuring it would stay for the 5 minutes it would take to check Heard Pond.
Thursday 12/4: Siskin and 2 Red-wings at Dunback but still no redpolls.
Friday 12/5: An hour on the platform at Great Meadows had very little (60 coots, 1 bunting/lark call overhead, a few bluebirds, a probable Red-shoulder).
Saturday 12/6: Finally got up the energy to get out late afternoon. Nothing at Norumbega down to Edgewater. Tons of ducks at the Cambridge Res. Nothing new, but 225+ Ring-neck, 120+ Hooded Merganser, 65+ wigeon, 120ish coot, and 2 eagles.
Sunday 12/7: Walked from BBN to Lot 1. Purple Finch at Lot 1, GH Owl at the West Meadow (assist to the Red-tail taking a swipe at it), and lots and lots of American Tree Sparrows. Also another interesting Red-tail (and poor views of the one from last week again).
Monday 12/8: Nothing at Purgatory Cove or Norumbega. Still had a bit of time, so checked Pelham Island Rd and had 2 shovelers and a Gadwall among the mass of Mallards and geese.
Tuesday 12/9: Nothing exciting at Heard.
WIR 11/26-12/2
Wednesday 11/26: 160+ Coots on the res and a flyover pipit.
Thursday 11/27: Walked over to Hardy Pond: Gadwall, coots, kingfisher, a few other ducks.
Friday 11/28: Nothing much at the res or Flint’s, but School St was worth the drive.
Saturday 11/29: Nothing of note at Spy Pond or Dunback. Huge numbers at Cambridge Res but couldn’t find anything good.
Sunday 11/30: Great Meadows for the morning. Little bit moving early (probable redpoll, few Herring Gulls, and 10 Snow Buntings). Not much after, male harrier and 5 pintail about it.
Monday 12/1: BBN and West Meadow were fairly quiet (well, lots of juncos, sparrows, and goldfinches but nothing exciting). Red-tail was intriguing, maybe more later.
Tuesday 12/2: River walk had 6 Hoodies, 1 Ring-neck and nothing else. Very quick scan from Purgatory Cove had a few Bufflehead, 2 Ruddy, and lots of geese, mallards, Ring-billed Gulls, and swans.