brewster's linnet . com – Page 95

Check Every Bird

Based on a discussion from today’s sightings, a couple points that are worth repeating every so often:

Check every bird
Walking around Hardy Pond today (after a 7:30 AM reverse-911 call warning of icy conditions), I watched a medium-sized hawk fly up and land on a pole. Almost certainly a Cooper’s, but I took a closer look. Hmm, Buteo. With a lot of streaking on the front. It flew into the yard across the road. Crows saw it and chased it off, but not before I got a good look at the tail, enough to say Red-shouldered. Waltham bird #190!

It wasn’t that nice out (raining a bit, although not icy, no idea what the call was for), so I easily could have said Coop and not taken a closer look.

Know the Common Birds
I’ll be honest and say that I did almost pass by the hawk (or at least wasn’t going to look until I was much closer, at which point it probably would have flown off). But something looked slightly off, so after a few steps I did stop and check it out. Without knowing Cooper’s and Red-tailed well, I wouldn’t have picked up the slightly different shape.

You don’t have to know every bird, but knowing the common ones means the less common ones stick out. For another example, see the Cerulean. Even though I didn’t recognize the song, I knew it wasn’t one of the common ones and chased it down. And of course, Harry is another example.

So, take a few minutes and check out the flock of House Sparrows at your feeders. They’re incredibly variable, spend some time comparing different individuals. Learn what they look like from every angle. There may not be a Chaffinch or other rarity (coincidentally posted today) there now, but one of these days there will and if you’re not careful it may slip right by.

WIR 12/2-12/11

Adjusting dates again as I got lazy.

Thursday 12/2-Monday 12/6: New Jersey and Delaware. Trip report in prep but highlights included thousands of geese, a few Tundra Swans, many eagles, good numbers of shorebirds, etc.

Tuesday 12/7: Prospect Hill was quiet.

Wednesday 12/8: Paine was even quieter.

Thursday 12/9: Didn’t get out.

Friday 12/10: Mother found a warbler at Government Center, I couldn’t find it. Quick run along the Charles had 5 Ring-necks, 3 Common Mergansers, a few Hoodies, and a Great Blue Heron.

Saturday 12/11: Started CBC scouting by walking through BBN. Not a whole lot but 2 Cedar Waxwings in Lot 1, many robins at the West Meadow, and about 10 Tree Sparrows at the McLaughlin building weren’t bad. Back to Government Center (no warbler), then on to the Charles. Seemed quieter than yesterday (more hoodies, a second heron, but only 1 Ring-neck and no Commons). Kingfisher was good though. On to Woerd Ave (frozen), then back to the Moody to Prospect St loop. Another ring-neck but otherwise common stuff. Attempted to go for geese but none of the flocks were in a spot that was suited for stopped, so on to Flint’s Pond (couple goldeneye, bunch of ruddy) and then the Cambridge Res. Mostly frozen but one puddle had about 25 swans, another had 8 goldeneye, and the third had several hundred ducks including 20 Wood, 20 Hooded Merganser, 7 Common Merganser, 2 Gadwall, 1 American Wigeon, and many Mallard and Black.

WIR 11/24-12/1

Day late but it works better going forward.

Wednesday 11/24: Out of work early so checked Dunback and Waltham St with pretty much nothing.

Thursday 11/25: Out to Ethan’s but nothing good on the way or at his feeders.

Friday 11/26: Too foggy and rainy to do anything outside at Ethan’s, nothing on the ride home.

Saturday 11/27: Long walk through Lot 1 to BBN. Flock of waxwings and 2 deer at the boardwalk, handful of red-wings elsewhere was about it. Afternoon walk over to Hardy Pond added Gadwall to the on-foot list, #100 for the year without much effort. Adult Cooper’s in the yard was the 3rd Accipiter of the week (Sharpie earlier, juv Cooper’s yesterday).

Sunday 11/28: Went hunting for longspurs. No luck (Meriam’s Corner, School St, Nine Acre Corner side fields). Did have a big flock of pipits and a few Horned Lark at School St and heard a Pileated at the land trust fields behind NAC. Afternoon walk around the Arlington Res was pretty quiet, one teal, 12ish ruddy.

Monday 11/29: Checked the field station briefly. Saw more rodents than birds and the rodent count was 2.

Tuesday 11/30: Lyman Pond was pretty quiet (geese and mallards).

Wednesday 12/1: Purgatory Cove: 6 scaup (Lesser I think), 1 Gadwall, 1 Double-crested Cormorant.

Harry Day

Today’s the one year anniversary of Harry showing up. Since I never got around to writing up the banding process, I figured this would be a good time to do so.

The process began when Trevor Lloyd-Evans, banding director at Manomet, came by to drop off a couple traps. We set them out under the feeders (unarmed) and gave the birds a couple days to get used to them, hoping that the bird would hop in and then be easily captured. However, the birds didn’t like them and stayed away.

We removed the traps and headed off to Texas. On return, he was waiting, so we made some quick arrangements and Trevor came over the next day (with Marj to help document the process).

Trevor arrived and we began to set up a mist net. Fortunately, we had a fairly clear path and the ground wasn’t that frozen, so we had the net up pretty quickly. We then retreated to the house, expecting to be spending the morning plucking House Sparrows every few minutes.

Instead, we looked out and saw something in the net that had a reddish look: Harry. We rushed out and Trevor got him out and bagged him:

After stowing him away, we ran back out, plucked the couple White-throats out (no House Sparrows!) and then took the net down.

With that done, we began the banding process. We started by examining the feathers:

Note the damaged primaries.

We then took feather samples for isotope testing (belly here). Tests are still pending.

Tail clipping here.

See the contrast in the inner tail feathers, apparently a characteristic of the genus.

Next, we measured…

many different things.

And weighed him.

The band was then applied (for some reason I don’t have a photo).

And then we brought him outside for a couple more pictures.

And then he was handed to me to be let go (photo obviously by Marj).

The remaining equipment was taken down and we went inside for breakfast.

Trevor sent along his report a few days later, a very healthy bird (on the fat side actually).

For a few more photos, see Marj’s page.

WIR 11/17-11/23

Wednesday 11/17: Cambridge Res. Also Gadwall at Hardy Pond.

Thursday 11/18: Rock Meadow: zip.

Friday 11/19: Winter Wren was singing at the end of the street. Paine had a robin, 2 chickadees, and a bunch of juncos.

Saturday 11/20: Pink

Sunday 11/21: Wandered around Lincoln for a bit. Good number of Tree Sparrows and Bluebirds at Lindentree, not much else.

Monday 11/22: Duck ponds were fairly quiet.

Tuesday 11/23: BBN was on the quiet side. One sulphur(?) was good.

Pink

As promised, chased the Pink-footed Goose today. After driving around Nine Acre Corner and vicinity a bit, we finally stopped at Davis Field. Fortunately, Officer Harris pulled in right next to us and directed us to the back field. After a good bit of searching, we successfully located the goose in the back corner. Views were basically head and neck but good enough.

In the afternoon, we returned with my mother. Pulling in, we were immediately told to go across the street (Frost Farm, which is private but seemed to be open for access for now). The goose was preening on the side of the pond with much better views (if not exactly better photos).

With the White-fronted right here (actually cropped out of this shot) and a Snow back at Davis, I believe 7 geese would be possible in Massachusetts today.

250/200

Just noticed that the Canvasback last week was #250 in the state, about time I reached that number (only 80+ behind the record).

For another year milestone, I ran over to the Cambridge Res today at lunch hoping to catch up with the Horned Grebe that’s been around for a few days (thanks Marj and John). I pulled up and it was pretty much the first bird I saw, #200 for the county this year. Further down, I found the big duck/coot flock and was able to pick out 4 Greater Scaup, #201. That ties my mark from last year. With any luck, Pink-footed Goose will break it by Saturday.

WIR 11/10-11/16

Wednesday 11/10: BBN was quiet, juncos must have moved on.

Thursday 11/11: Started the day off at Dunback, where we had 2 Fox Sparrows and a Yellow-rump. On to Fresh Pond with 5 Canvasbacks, many Ring-necks and Ruddies, and a Lesser Scaup.

Friday 11/12: Charlesbank had tons of coots (35 or so) but not much else.

Saturday 11/13: Started at Cambridge Res with a big flock of Ring-necks and other stuff in awful light. Flint’s was pretty quiet, Great Meadows was very quiet beyond a Common Yellowthroat. In the afternoon, we went back around the res and succeeded in finding the Red-throated Loon that had been around (189 for Waltham) and then found a big flock of coots and wigeon with some Gadwall instead of the Ring-necks. Arlington Res was quiet.

Sunday 11/14: Horn Pond was on the quiet side. Highlights were a Great Blue Heron sitting at eye level, a White-throated Sparrow chasing a moth around almost at our feet, and a Great Horned Owl (in the open, yet I still walked by it repeatedly even knowing it was around).

Monday 11/15: Out doing chaperone duty at Harvard in Kenmore Square, so ran through the Victory Gardens while I waited. Probably 3 individual Blackpolls, an Orange-crowned, and a Baltimore Oriole made for a decent hour.

Tuesday 11/16: Back end of Prospect Hill. Didn’t stumble across any owls or Pileated but a raven flew over calling, first I’ve had there in quite some time. Also pretty sure a couple peepers were calling by the vernal pool.

WIR 11/3-11/9

Wednesday 11/3: Tried Cambridge Res and Flint’s in the morning. Barely light and they had a layer of fog which made it really hard to see. Four goldeneye at the res were the only things I picked out. With extra time, stopped at Hardy Pond as well with 1 Bufflehead, many Ruddy, and a cormorant that appeared to be in the process of getting pulled underwater by something.

Thursday 11/4: Went to the riverwalk at lunch but the rain picked up, so I saw 15 Ring-billed Gulls.

Friday 11/5: Tried Cambridge Res again in the morning, too dark and not much. Went back to the riverwalk which was pretty quiet.

Saturday 11/6: Started with a Cambridge Res/Flint’s Pond loop. A female-type Black Scoter and an adult Bald Eagle at the res got my Waltham yearlist to 150. Flint’s had a female Surf or White-winged Scoter that was way too far out. On to Meriam’s corner which was pretty quiet (few pipits, lots of flyover robins and stuff but nothing of real interest). After lunch, I went back to Flint’s and spent 30 minutes wandering the woods before I found the scoter slightly closer and confirmed it as a Surf. Also had 9 Bufflehead, 7 Common Goldeneye, 6 Common Merganser, and 15 Hooded Merganser. Then went around the Arlington Res. Five shovelers and four coots were the only interesting things on the water. Busa was loaded with juncos and I managed a Fox (res bird #140) and White-crowned Sparrow among them.

Sunday 11/7: Went on the BBC trip to the NH coast. Stopped at Plum on the way home to finally get Cattle Egret onto my state list (not exciting enough a bird to chase and I’ve never been in the area of one until now somehow).

Monday 11/8: Somehow got out during the sunny break. Ran over to Purgatory Cove. Not much in the cove, but scanning across the river towards Edgewater Drive, I found 4 Gadwall, 3 Pied-billed Grebe, and about 5 each Ring-necked and Ruddy Ducks. John Hines had seen those and much more over the last week mostly further up the river, so it was nice to get them in Waltham.

Tuesday 11/9: Prospect Hill was pretty quiet beyond a Hairy Woodpecker destroying a tree (the falling pieces looked like they’d hurt if someone got hit). Not sure why they close the road on 10/29 for the winter.

WIR 10/27-11/2

Wednesday 10/27: Tried Great Meadows again before work for Le Conte’s and Nelson’s Sparrows. No luck with those but 2 Rusty Blackbirds and another bittern were good. Hardy Pond had over 55 Ruddies at lunch.

Thursday 10/28: Beaver Brook and Waverly Oaks Marsh for a change. Not a whole lot.

Friday 10/29: Flint’s Pond before work: Blackpoll, Hooded Merganser. BBN at lunch: nothing.

Saturday 10/30: Great Meadows in the morning. No luck with any Ammodramus but a meadowlark flew over (#171 for the refuge) along with a Horned Lark (flyover, only realized after another birder asked if that’s what it was) and a Rusty Blackbird. Purgatory Cove in the afternoon was fairly quiet.

Sunday 10/31: Rock Meadow and BBN. Highlights were a flyover pipit and a BT Blue at Rock Meadow and a Peregrine at the West Meadow. Quick check of the north end of the Cambridge Res after (1 Song Sparrow, 1 Blue Jay) and then Waltham St. Fields (1 snipe, 6 flyover siskins).

Monday 11/1: Paine was quiet beyond a couple meadowhawks still around.

Tuesday 11/2: Duck Ponds were quiet. Rusty Blackbird at the end of Leitha, 2 away from 150 in Waltham for the year.