One more from the weekend.
Common Eider at Jodrey Pier. No idea what is sticking to the bird but I’d appreciate any thoughts.
Pretty self-explanatory, a new project: the gull gallery
Tuesday 1/19: Still snowing, stayed in at work.
Wednesday 1/20: Figured the only place with open trails would be Beaver Brook. Nothing other than Mallards that wouldn’t be in the yard right now (and not the 50 red-wings that flew over the yard in the morning).
Thursday 1/21: Charles by Moody St. Few Common Mergansers, nothing interesting among the gulls.
Friday 1/22: Duck ponds, 4 hoodies in with the mallards.
Saturday 1/23: Went to Cape Ann with my parents and a friend. Most of the usual stuff, missed King Eider and a few of the gulls. Did get 2 Peregrines on the tower, many Harlequins, and 2 Iceland Gulls including this adult:
Sunday 1/24: Stayed in. Great Black-backed Gull was yard bird #26 for the year, lots and lots of the usual stuff in very quick waves.
Monday 1/25: Raining. Quick check of Hardy Pond had a few gulls and some mallards flying around. Did have 6 Red-wings fly over at work.
Tuesday 1/12: Checked the duck pond. Bunch of mallards, 1 hairy, not much else in 15 minutes.
Wednesday 1/13: Charles, more of the same plus 5 Fish Crows.
Thursday 1/14: Paine, nothing different.
Friday 1/15: Beaver Brook North, nothing different.
Saturday 1/16: Took a long walk to Lot 1 and then the West Meadow. Two red-wings at Lot 1 were the highlight, although lots of regular stuff.
Sunday 1/17: Checked Rock Meadow in the morning, 2 bluebirds, 2 Carolina Wrens, lots of regular stuff. Led the Waltham Land Trust duck walk along the Charles in the afternoon. All the regular stuff (minus the goldeneye) were there and a Lesser Scaup was a very nice surprise. A big crowd as well.
Monday 1/18: Snowed, stayed in taking photos (see next post).
Tuesday 1/5: Kestrel on the way to work. Charles again at lunch. Carolina Wren and Hairy were about the only things different.
Wednesday 1/6: Cooper’s keeping everything down in the yard before work. Paine at lunch: red-belly, creeper. Sharpie in one of the trees in the courtyard at work.
Thursday 1/7: Charles at Moody St: one tagged gull. Charles at Elm St: nothing different.
Friday 1/8: Waverly Oaks Marsh had nothing so did a quick Screech-Owl run.
Saturday 1/9: Charles again and again nothing different. The Common Merganser below did pose nicely at least. Also had 19 species in the yard.
Sunday 1/10: Pretty much stayed in, quick check for the ravens late in the afternoon (mostly to show someone where they are, saw nothing on the ride).
Monday 1/11: Beaver Brook North: Flicker, 2 Tree Sparrows, Red-belly. New Beaver Brook/Rock Meadow Patch page
Tuesday 12/29: Too cold to go out, plus free lunch at work so no reason to go out.
Wednesday 12/30: Beaver Brook Ponds: Kingfisher (don’t understand, the Charles is totally open and there’s no kingfishers but I’ve found two in the last few days in spots that I could leap over the open water).
Thursday 12/31: Took a quick trip over to the Mystic Lakes (for Great Cormorant and eagles). Not a whole lot there, a quick walk at Sandy Beach had 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, a few hoodies, and a red-wing or two. Saw some ducks on the river at the other rotary on the way home, so pulled in and stopped for a minute. More hoodies and a Ring-neck among the mallards and swans. Started snowing then, but decided to stop at Dunback anyway. Snow was much worse there and I gave up after a brief search of the pines. Only thing of note was a big flock of White-throats foraging about 15 feet up in the pines.
Friday 1/1: Goldfinch for bird #1. Did the BBC trip, Laura’s report is up. Highlights: Ipswich Sparrow, Snowy Owl, Glaucous Gull, flock of Razorbills.
Saturday 1/2: Basically snowed in but ran out for a few minutes after hearing that a raven was on the deer carcass at the Cambridge Res. Took a bit of searching to find the carcass, but the bird was still there (no spot to stop though so no pictures).
Sunday 1/3: Snowed in again, nothing different for the yard but enough to be entertaining.
Monday 1/4: Charles at lunch for the Barrow’s Goldeneye that has reappeared. No goldeneye at all but 2 swans, 7 ring-necks, and a few Hooded and Common Mergansers made it a worthwhile trip.
Once again, taking an idea from the Canadians, here’s a December-February list for Waltham. Dates and locations are the first sighting. Birds in bold are my first Dec-Feb sighting in Waltham.
Big misses: Barrow’s Goldeneye, Tufted Duck
Cumulative total: 86
And new this year:
Once again, here’s lists for the year. Bold is yard, italics is new to Waltham.
(56 yard, 1 missing from total for now)
So I suppose I should do a review like everyone else.
Overall, 297 birds (25 lifers), 243 in state (6 new), 201 in county (9 new), and 142 in Waltham (12 new). Butterflies numbered 97 (36 new, thanks Texas), 56 in state (only 1 new), 55 in county (1 new), and 41 in Waltham (1 new). Dragonflies were 90 (16 new), 66 in state (1 new), 58 in county (2-3 new depending on how I sort out the meadowhawk mess), and 35 in Waltham (2-3 new). Also a few good tiger beetles, robber flies, moths, etc. No real complaints for the year but here’s to 2010 being better.