brewster's linnet . com – Page 65

WIR 9/11-9/17

Wednesday 9/11: Nothing at Rock Meadow or the duck ponds.

Thursday 9/12: Couple Osprey at Great Meadows. Probable White-rump at Cambridge Res.

Friday 9/13: Duck pond refilled from rain. More of the same at Cambridge Res (eagles at the south end).

Saturday 9/14: Added BT Green and Cape May to the yard list and had yet another Broad-wing.

Sunday 9/15: Lots of warblers and vireos at BBN, including my first Philadelphia in Waltham. More of the same at Cambridge Res.

Monday 9/16: Would have been a very good day at Prospect Hill if the light was better and it didn’t start to rain. Even so, 10 species of warblers including a Tennessee and a Cape May and a good number of vireos and flycatchers plus my first Ruby-crowned Kinglet of the fall. Quick stop at Cambridge Res had a single eagle. Hardy Pond had a big swift flock that I searched through and came up with a Cliff Swallow eventually (and while watching that a Blue-winged Teal flew across). Afternoon trip to Dunback was quiet, Parula, Magnolia, few redstarts, White-throat.

Tuesday 9/17: Started scouting Farm Meadow for an MBC walk this weekend. Wasn’t hopping but a bright Philadelphia Vireo made it worthwhile. Handful of warblers and many pewees besides. Quick walk around Lindentree had a Lincoln’s Sparrow and my first Palm Warbler of the fall. Stopped at Heard Pond on the way home, where there was a large flock of swallows, all distant. After multiple scans through those (only able to pick up Barn and Rough-winged), I noticed an adult Bald Eagle sitting in the treetops right where the flock was hanging around!

WsIR 8/28-9/10

Wednesday 8/28: Didn’t get out again.

Thursday 8/29: Walked to the duck ponds. On the way: Green Heron and Redstart at Lot 1, more Redstarts, a Black-and-white, and a Canada at Met State, and a gnatcatcher at Rock Meadow. Five Solitaries, 1 Least, 1 Killdeer, and not much else at the ponds.

Friday 8/30: Great Meadows: 3 Snowies plus the Little Blue, a snipe among the usual shorebirds, and a few warblers.

Saturday 8/31: Full loop of Dunback. Mostly quiet beyond lots of grosbeaks, but right as it poured Cliff and I had a Mourning Warbler in a small flock.

Sunday 9/1: Usual at Duck Ponds and Cambridge Res (except a GW Teal).

Monday 9/2: Same as yesterday

Tuesday 9/3: Another Mourning Warbler at BBN (plus something that’s getting a separate post). More of the same at the ponds.

Wednesday 9/4: Nothing exciting at Dunback, although Nashville was a year bird.

Thursday 9/5: Great Meadows in the rain: American Golden-Plover. Once it cleared, good views of the Little Blue plus a nice raptor show including a Bald Eagle and a Merlin. More of the same at the Cambridge Res.

Friday 9/6: Rock Meadow and BBN were quiet, beyond an interesting Catharus that I really needed a better view (and to hear). Nothing new at the ponds. Brought my computer in for repairs and stopped at Cambridge Res on the way over (Hooded Merganser) and Kaveski on the way back (got the Buff-breasteds eventually).

Saturday 9/7: Joined (and then accidentally wandered away from) the Menotomy trip at Dunback without much. Handful of warblers at Hayden Woods after and then a Marsh Wren at Waltham St. Great Meadows late in the afternoon was pretty dull, a nighthawk shortly after arriving was the best, minimal heron/duck flight.

Sunday 9/8: Nothing at Cambridge Res or Arlington Res. Hawkwatched a bit at Prospect Hill: 1 Osprey, 1 Cooper’s, 3 Red-tails, a few unidentified, plus a cuckoo over my head.

Monday 9/9: Lots of birds at BBN including an early Lincoln’s. Ran over to Dunback after but no luck with the Hooded.

Tuesday 9/10: Absolutely nothing at Dunback. Up to 12 Least Sandpipers at the duck ponds. Couldn’t find the possible good birds Bob had at the Cambridge Res later.

WIR 8/21-8/27

Wednesday 8/21: Eventually turned up a good flock of warblers at BBN including a couple Redstarts, a Chestnut-sided, and a really nice Tennessee (which may be the first one this fall in state). Still waiting for something better at the ponds.

Thursday 8/22: Caught up on other stuff.

Friday 8/23: Prairie Warbler and little else at Prospect Hill. Nothing at the res. Dragging muffler ruined plans to go elsewhere.

Saturday 8/24: Besides a sparrow and the yellowlegs flock, 1 BT Blue at Lot 1 (and a White-M), 2 Broad-wings between the West Meadow and Concord Ave, Orchard Oriole at Rock Meadow, and then redstart and Least Flycatcher back at West Meadow.

Sunday 8/25: Repeat

Monday 8/26: Didn’t get out. I think.

Tuesday 8/27: Ran to the duck ponds quickly. Interesting young Red-shoulder that I may post more about soon.

More Patch Ticking

After yesterday’s double (decided I wasn’t totally comfortable with the Lesser Yellowlegs), I agreed to lead a BBC chase for the sparrow, which would have been the 300th bird in the club’s Big Year. I decided to walk again, but since it was an early start, I went straight up Trapelo.

I did go down Emmaline and check conditions at the West Meadow (was soaked 1/3 of the way down and no obvious flycatchers), so I came in from Dawes. Almost as soon as I got through the gate, a warbler gave a couple chips to the left. I took a quick scan and saw what looked like a yellowthroat. However, on getting bins on it, the entire belly looked yellow and there was a fairly obvious eye-ring. I fumbled for the camera and managed a photo quiz quality shot:

The bird moved a bit and I lost track. Moving a bit closer to try and refind it, I heard another chip up high. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to be coming from this:

My first August White-throated Sparrow.

I then met up with the large crowd and we fanned out. No luck with the Lark Sparrow and no luck refinding either of these goodies. Back home, seeing the photo on screen made it very obviously a Mourning Warbler and a quick email around was good confirmation. So my second for Waltham, first overall in fall, and a third patch tick in 2 days (only fourth of the year).

A Series of Events

1. Muffler falls out yesterday.

2. With no car, decide that I should walk the Greenway.

3. See likely Olive-sided Flycatcher at West Meadow.

4. Start for south side of BBN, watch flock of yellowlegs (patch tick! possibly 2!) fly north. Decide it’s too wet and thick and maybe the yellowlegs landed in the marsh on the other side of Concord Ave.

5. No yellowlegs, decide to walk down the road to Rock Meadow instead of doubling back.

6. Walk through Rock Meadow. Find Bob in parking lot.

7. Get ride to duck ponds.

8. Get ride to West Meadow to look for Olive-sided. Park by McLaughlin and whack through the vegetation from Dawes.

9. No Olive-sided. Start to say I’ll walk from there but decide that there’s not enough around and the ride sounds better. Return via the other path and around the parkway.

10. Get back to the car, say to Bob “the area behind the building has nice habitat.”

11. Decide to walk there quickly. Both look at the one bird that pops up and exclaim “Lark Sparrow!”

Lots of things combined for that to happen. Of course, #2 meant I didn’t bother with the camera, but the bird stuck around long enough for Devin Hefferon to get some nice pictures

WIR 8/14-8/20

Wednesday 8/14: Great Meadows was pretty quiet. Finally got both teal but nothing else of note.

Thursday 8/15: Cape with Bob. Fairly slow day, but a few Forster’s Terns, a Whimbrel, a Prairie Warbler, and a few other things were worthwhile.

Friday 8/16: Went out to Fort Pond Brook with Alan and Soheil. Possible Zebra Clubtail was replaced by a Dragonhunter or two but otherwise it was slow.

Saturday 8/17: BBN had lots of redstarts, a Chestnut-sided, and another woodcock. More of the same at the duck ponds but finally got a waterthrush.

Sunday 8/18: Got the expected Olive-sided at Dunback plus a waterthrush.

Monday 8/19: Rock Meadow had loads of hummingbirds and a late family of Orchard Orioles. Two Leasts and a Solitary were it at the ponds. Nighthawks over the yard finally.

Tuesday 8/20: Two Snowy Egrets were about it at Great Meadows (lots of the expected shorebirds though).

WIR 8/7-8/13

Wednesday 8/7: Found something

Thursday 8/8: Nothing exciting at Purgatory Cove (beyond a Bank Swallow and a couple Yellow Warblers). First juv Least Sandpiper at the duck ponds but nothing better.

Friday 8/9: Rainy and lazy

Saturday 8/10: Great Meadows: Semipalmated Plover, 11 egrets, not a whole lot else.

Sunday 8/11: Checked out the Massport trail at Hanscom, nothing too exciting. Then on to an ode walk at the Cranberry Bog, where a Green-striped Darner was the best.

Monday 8/12: Dunback briefly (trails overgrown, 1 redstart, lots of wrens). Six plus Solitaries at the duck ponds.

Tuesday 8/13: BBN: flushed a woodcock, otherwise about the same. No changes other than fewer Solitaries at the ponds.

Fall Starts with a Bang

Went to Prospect Hill this morning hoping for some early migrants. Started at Big Prospect where I had a Pine Warbler before heading down the slope. Chickadees and titmice all over but nothing with them. I took one of the side trails back up and had very little. Nothing at the end of Whitney, so I headed up the Ridge Trail to start towards the back end of the park. Reaching the more open area just below the tower, I heard some more chickadees and stopped to pish. Four birds promptly flew across the path. The first three were chickadees, the fourth was clearly not. A quick look showed it to be an American Redstart. Worth a few minutes to work through anything else with them.

Pretty quickly, another warbler popped up. Initial views showed big wingbars and left me a bit puzzled as the only thing I could think of was a Blackpoll, which would have been ridiculously early. After a few seconds of hiding, it came out again and I got a better view. A tiny, tiny tail and a huge eyebrow. That was enough to get Cerulean into my head and another look showed the confirming bluish back.

I scrambled for the camera and got a few poorly lit shots (of anything that moved, somehow I got a cardinal and the redstart before getting the warbler). I wasn’t helped by the fact that I only had enough room for maybe 10 shots on the card and had to scramble for a new one. Fortunately a couple were identifiable. The bird moved towards the tower and I chased after it. A few more shots and it moved down the road.

It took a couple minutes to relocate, but this time it posed for some nice shots.

Check out that blue near the tail!

The bird continued down the road and I let it go and rushed out an email. I then finished my loop through the park. Probably not quite concentrating, but lots more chickadees with not much among them. One hummingbird was nice and a couple of Gray Hairstreaks would have been the highlight on another day.

Back at Big Prospect, I made another pass and eventually caught up with Bob on the Whitney Trail. Although the flock was still present (we could hear the redstart among others), it took a good bit of effort to coax the Cerulean back out. And then we realized that the original spot was much better lit, so we coaxed it up there and got some moderate shots.

And then it was time for lunch.

WIR 7/31-8/6

Wednesday 7/31: Went to the Cranberry Bog for the first time in awhile. Nothing much there, but a probable Sweetflag Spreadwing down the Otter Slide trail was nice as was the miniflock containing a yellowthroat, Ovenbird, and Black-and-white. Two Leasts and a Spotted at the duck ponds.

Thursday 8/1: BBN to start. One small flock at the top of the hill had a Chestnut-sided, Redstart, Yellow, and Blue-winged (last was probably local, the rest not). Quiet from there though. Duck ponds again found Bob, a Spotted, and 2 Solitary.

Friday 8/2: Great Meadows: 3+ Great Egret, not much else. One Spotted at the duck ponds. Down to the Cape for the rescheduled pelagic where we drove around Falmouth and did not hear Chuck-will’s-widow.

Saturday 8/3: Pelagic, link to report sooner or later.

Sunday 8/4: Took a quick check for Clapper Rail without luck and then worked our way off Cape.

Monday 8/5: Great Meadows midafternoon: 14+ Lesser Yellowlegs, 1 Greater, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper, 3 Solitary, 1 Spotted, 8+ Least, 1+ Semipalmated. Same Least, Solitary, Spotted at the duck ponds.

Tuesday 8/6: BBN had presumably the same Black-and-white and Redstart, but not much else for birds. A White-M Hairstreak and Zabulon Skipper made up for that. White-M was probably my most wanted.

Quick stop at the duck ponds had more of the same shorebirds but a Black-crowned Night-Heron was new for the location.

WIR 7/24-7/30

Wednesday 7/24: Great Meadows to start. A flock of Lesser Yellowlegs briefly touched down but nothing much else. Stopped at the duck ponds and had 6 Leasts.

Thursday 7/25: Duck ponds again: 4 Least, 4 Solitary, 2 Killdeer. Rock Meadow was pretty quiet (as expected with it being 60, cloudy, and windy).

Friday 7/26: Waited out the rain then wandered to the duck ponds again. Rain had refilled them, nothing of note.

Saturday 7/27: Started at Rock Meadow where I finally got a local Willow Flycatcher for the year. Walked through there and BBN without much else. Stopped at the duck ponds yet again on the way home, about halfway down and with 3 Least Sandpipers. New Salem in the afternoon. Only took a short walk, but came across a family of Ruffed Grouse (no camera unfortunately, although I was close enough to being attacked that I doubt I would have gotten any good shots).

Sunday 7/28: Great Meadows: Caught up with a Great Egret and a BW Teal finally, not much else.

Monday 7/29: Purgatory Cove was quiet. Couple Leasts in a two minute stop at the duck ponds.

Tuesday 7/30: Started at Cat Rock Park where I had a Pileated, Marsh Wren, and pair of bluebirds. Six ravens on the tower at Prospect Hill was a bit of a surprise, but quiet otherwise (another river cruiser and a spinylegs about it).