Crowns
Cooperative bird at Busa Farm on Saturday.
And at Danehy Park Sunday. Somehow didn’t notice the missing tail in the field. Like the superlong twig-leg.
WIR 10/6-10/12
Wednesday 10/6: Checked various ponds for sea ducks before work. Found a Ruddy at Hardy Pond and not much at the Cambridge Res or Flint’s Pond.
Thursday 10/7: BBN at lunch. Pretty quiet (multiple Accipiter passes and clouds clearing 20 minutes after I got back to work didn’t help). One Red Admiral was nice.
Friday 10/8: Back side of Prospect Hill: 2 Hermit Thrush, Winter Wren.
Saturday 10/9 – Monday 10/11: Separate post
Tuesday 10/12: Purgatory Cove: 2 American Wigeon, 2 Pied-billed Grebe (on the river), only 1 Wood Duck.
Big Sit and Other Long Weekend Stuff
With the 3 day weekend, I was out and about for most of it.
Saturday started with a walk around Beaver Brook North. I began by retracing the route of last week’s walk. Fewer warblers and sparrows but 4 Eastern Bluebirds were new. On the way back, I continued through the Met State portion of the reservation. It was pretty quiet on the whole but a Purple Finch on the parkway was nice. Even nicer was the Purple Finch that dropped onto the deck shortly after I got home (first in about 12 years in the yard I think):
In the afternoon, my parents and I went for a walk around Great Meadows. Beyond a big flock of swifts and swallows, there wasn’t much (still not a lot of visible water even with the new platform open) but it was a pleasant walk.
Sunday was the Big Sit, the annual event where you confine yourself to a single spot and try to rack up the most species. This was the first time I’ve done it and if the wind was a bit less constant it would have been a really great day. Not that it was bad.
I wasn’t quite as crazy as my co-sitters Chris and Josh and I joined them at the Parking Lot 7 tower at Plum Island around 7:30. Hopefully one of them will post more, but here’s some highlights:
Two Whimbrel dropped in for a few minutes.
Chris found a Yellow-billed Cuckoo late in the morning.
I took a lunchtime break for the Curlew Sandpiper (and Black Skimmers). Probably 50 people have almost identical photos but here’s two of mine:
The Cuckoo returned for the afternoon:
Those photos were a second apart at most, didn’t even realize I had a flight shot until reviewing them.
It was pretty dark at 6:30, so we headed out content with 68 species (one of us should have stayed to count the woodcock that flushed a few feet up the road).
Sunday began with the Menotomy walk at Rock Meadow. Birds all over, including several White-crowned Sparrows and 5 species of warbler but nothing really good (Merlin did turn out to be #99 for me at Rock Meadow). A few birds were photogenic:
After the walk, we headed to the Arlington Res where a Snow Goose had been hanging out for the last couple days. We were joined by Leslie almost immediately and ran into Bob and Chris on the way. They had no luck with the goose or Rusty Blackbird that had been around as well, but did have a lot of sparrows and warblers (mostly what we had just seen at Rock Meadow). We found most of those and added a Blue-headed Vireo. Most of the warblers and sparrows were at the Busa fields and on return from there, many geese were noisy, which suggested that they had just arrived. I plopped the scope down to scan through and sure enough, the Snow Goose was among them.
We worked our way around, chatting with Soheil and Bob (again). There wasn’t much else the rest of the way, so we finished pretty quickly (and I ran back around to get some goose photos). Just over 100 species on the weekend.
WIR 9/29-10/5
Wednesday 9/29: BBN was very quiet along the parkway.
Thursday 9/30: Duck ponds were pretty quiet at lunch time. Final evening Great Meadows walk had a bunch of Chimney Swifts, a Cliff Swallow or two, and a few of the usual raptors.
Friday 10/1: Hardy Pond had more Chimney Swifts, a House Wren, and a couple warblers between rain showers.
Sunday 10/3: Led a walk to BBN. Stayed cool and cloudy. Lots of Chipping Sparrows, robins, and Yellow-rumps and not much else. After the walk, checked Rock Meadow (nothing), McLean (Red-eyed Vireo), Waltham St (White-crowned Sparrow and Purple Finch), and Cambridge Res (Greater Yellowlegs).
Monday 10/4: Purgatory Cove had a few Chimney Swifts and way less Wood Ducks.
Tuesday 10/5: Prospect Hill finally had my first junco of the fall.
Fall Birding
Some highlights from a spectacular day out:
White-eyed Vireo, Dunback Meadow (rather heavily processed to get any color)
Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Dunback (1 of 2 or 3)
Black Saddlebags, Waltham St. Fields
Solitary Sandpiper, Arlington Res
Osprey, Arlington Res (untouched off the camera, 1 of 3 in the air at the moment)
[audio:http://www.brewsterslinnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/VN620031.mp3|titles=Osprey]Not to mention about 12 warblers, 6 sparrows, several other vireos, etc.
WIR 9/22-9/28
Wednesday 9/22: Checked the community gardens which were quiet.
Thursday 9/23: Prospect Hill had a Nashville, 2 Black-and-whites, first of fall Palm, a Swainson’s Thrush, and 2 Golden-crowned Kinglets.
Friday 9/24: Rock Meadow before work was pretty quiet beyond Lincoln’s and White-crowned Sparrows. At lunch, ended up at Gore Place for the first time in a long time. Lots of potential but with a truck driving around nothing much. Arlington Res after work had 10 Blue-winged Teal, 2 Shoveler, a Black-throated Blue Warbler, and 6 pipits.
Saturday 9/25: Joined the MBC walk at Horn Pond which didn’t have too much. Stopped at Waltham St on the way home, which had nothing. Cambridge Res a bit later was pretty quiet.
Sunday 9/26: Intended to start in Lincoln and then join the butterfly walk in Wayland. Luckily the emails with results on the walk came in before I went to bed, so I was aware I missed it but I continued as planned anyway. Farm Meadow had a Bobolink, couple Indigo Buntings, and lots of Savannah Sparrows but not much else. Lindentree was quiet. After wandering all over the Wayland Community Gardens, I finally found a single Bronze Copper on the way out and then had a surprise Pipevine Swallowtail back at the car.
Checked Flint’s Pond and Cambridge Res on the way home. Nothing at Flint’s, about the same as yesterday at the res (plus an egret and Greater Yellowlegs).
Monday 9/27: Purgatory Cove had about 100 Wood Ducks, a Green Heron, and a Killdeer.
Tuesday 9/28: Prospect Hill at lunch was pretty quiet.
WIR 9/15-9/21
Wednesday 9/15: Started the day with a young Broad-wing on the wires across from the driveway (yard bird #95!). Beaver Brook North before work, ended up working the parkway mostly. Three deer, a couple of the common warblers, tons of goldfinches, a Veery (#140 for the year in Waltham!), and an Oporornis that got away. Prospect Hill at lunch had another 10 Broad-wings, a Sharpie, and a few more common warblers. Two more Broad-wings over the yard in the afternoon.
Thursday 9/16: Back side of Prospect Hill. One red-tail, 1 Sharpie, not much else.
Friday 9/17: Only had a little time at lunch, so a very quick stop at Purgatory Cove. Three Green Herons, a Solitary Sandpiper, several Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers, and the usual Wood Ducks.
Saturday 9/18: Pretty much stayed in. Couple walks around the neighborhood revealed a bunch of Blackpolls passing through and a Red-eyed Vireo flew through the yard as I got back.
Sunday 9/19: Started with Lot 1 and the West Meadow, which were fairly quiet, then Arlington Res which had a nice selection of ducks and shorebirds with a few warblers and first of year White-throated Sparrow (details posted to ArlingtonBirds).
Monday 9/20: BBN had some Golden-crowned Kinglets and a few other things of minimal interest.
Tuesday 9/21: Prospect Hill before work was quiet up until I had to leave. Few Blackpolls and White-throats, 2 Swainson’s Thrushes (I think), and then a Magnolia back at the car. Ovenbird was the only thing of note at Paine at lunch.
WIR 9/8-9/14
Wednesday 9/8: Tried to hit northern end of the Cambridge Res before work between thunderstorms. Found two Pectoral Sandpipers and then got soaked. Think there was more but it was too dark even when it wasn’t raining.
Thursday 9/9: Day off. Morning run around Dunback had a Bay-breasted, many redstarts, a couple parula, Magnolia, a Veery, and a heard only Philadelphia Vireo. Led my second evening BBC/MBC walk to Great Meadows. I had 5 species of swallow including several Cliff and 2 nighthawks, the group had 2 Osprey, a Kestrel, a Harrier, and a Great Egret.
Friday 9/10: Prospect Hill before work had a good flock at Big Prospect including my earliest fall Yellow-rump in Middlesex county and more of the same warblers I’ve been seeing all week. Paine at lunch had another Bay-breasted and more of the same.
Saturday 9/11: Hayden Woods were pretty quiet with an Ovenbird, a couple redstarts, and 2 BT Greens. Also at least 6 flickers on the field. Cambridge Res had a Baird’s (separate post). Rock Meadow was very quiet.
Sunday 9/12: Joined the Menotomy trip at Arlington Res. First of fall Nashville Warbler and both Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal among other stuff. Busa field looks real good for sparrows.
Monday 9/13: Duck ponds had a hummingbird and a slightly leucistic robin and not much else.
Tuesday 9/14: Purgatory Cove had 40+ Wood Ducks and 2 Green Herons.
Baird's
Today’s highlight was a Baird’s Sandpiper at the northern end of the Cambridge Res. When there was one (or two) here a few years ago, views were way distant and in bad light. Today’s bird started at medium range and ended up being the closest bird to the road (within 5 feet!).
Slightly larger size and much longer wings compared to Semipalmated Sandpipers are obvious here.
Size, long wings, and dark rump. Think that’s a Least below.
General buffiness, long wings, very fine-tipped bill.
And another flight shot that I really like.
WIR 9/1-9/7
Wednesday 9/1: Beaver Brook North. Only managed a redstart but pretty sure there were a few more things in there, just didn’t have the time to wait them out.
Thursday 9/2: Duck ponds had nothing different, pretty wet again. Sandpipers over the house that almost got passed off as nighthawks.
Friday 9/3: Prospect Hill early: a pewee, red-eyed vireos, bt green, 4 redstarts. Paine at lunch: 2 yellowthroat.
Saturday 9/4: Checked Cambridge Res for Earl fallout, nonexistent. A hummingbird and empid were about it. A Warbling Vireo and few more Redstarts at Arlington Res.
Sunday 9/5: Plans to go to the Quabbin area were canceled so we went to Dunback. Big flock included parulas, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Blackpolls, Black-and-whites, and Redstarts. Missed Bay-breasted and a Chat however. Also had an interesting female Somatochlora, either Clamp-tipped or Mocha (still debating). Charles midafternoon had a Cliff Swallow at Purgatory Cove.
Monday 9/6: Rock Meadow through Beaver Brook North. Rock Meadow had 2 hummers, a Veery, BT Green, Blackpoll, and Redstarts (plus an Oporornis that got away). BBN had a thrasher, Parulas, Chestnut-sideds, BT Greens, Black-and-whites, and Wilson’s.
Tuesday 9/7: Did BBN again without much of anything.