Tag: countybirds

WIR 8/13-8/19

Wednesday 8/13: Usual at Weston Station Pond, Broad-wing the most interesting.

Thursday 8/14: Redstart, bunch of yellowthroats and orioles at Dunback. Felt like there was more that I just wasn’t finding.

Friday 8/15: Decided Hobbs Brook again was the best bet. Less shorebirds off road, although most of the same variety. Walked down towards the power lines with Cliff and shortly after we got there he said “there’s a turnstone over here”. Panicked a bit, but eventually got it in the scope (it was shockingly hard to find when it wasn’t moving). County 314, ‘commute’ 260, res 185, etc. More shorebirds at this end but that was the only one of interest. Did a loop of the hill when we finished as I didn’t quite have time to check anywhere else but nothing of any note there.

Saturday 8/16: Three Baird’s remained at Winthrop Beach (Suffolk #258 plus another one off the single county only list), practically able to walk right up to them. Also a couple White-rumps, ton of Laughing Gulls, decent number of Semis. Decided to walk down to Yirrell after, had a few martins fly by about where the change is. Nothing but a nice juv Bonaparte’s at the beach though. Greenway and cemetery next. Thought I heard an RB Nuthatch pretty close to the parking but only heard one set of calls and didn’t see anything. A couple Yellows and a couple Redstarts were near the nature study area. Lots of egrets and a few peep in the channel. Made a quick pass of Morton St and then Belle Isle without anything at all.

Sunday 8/17: Heard had a few shorebirds including a Pec. Nothing at the river along the road and nothing different from the high school side.

Monday 8/18: Very quiet at Great Meadows.

Tuesday 8/19: BT Green was the most interesting bird at BBN but another weasel hunting a chipmunk was the highlight.

WIR 8/6-8/12

Wednesday 8/6: Pileated and nothing else at Prospect Hill. Lot of gulls on the res.

Thursday 8/7: Nothing much at BBN. Blue-winged, couple Night Herons, Hoodie still.

Friday 8/8: Good number of shorebirds at Hobbs Brook including first of fall Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpiper, and Semipalmated Plover plus a hummingbird. Even more gulls at the res but all Ring-billed from what I could see. Took a break midmorning and found a Red-banded Hairstreak on the inside of the kitchen window.

Saturday 8/9: Started at Delaney, as much for some Worcester county August birds as for the Trumpeter Swan. Swan was visible off the boat ramp immediately, so I worked around to the county line quickly. Picked up a few things but not a ton and nothing exciting.

From there, I went to Gate 8 at Wachusett. Minimal luck with any of the landbirds I was looking for, but I found the Bonaparte’s Gulls that had been hanging around and got a decent flyby. Continued to Sterling Peat, which had almost nothing.

Sunday 8/10: Squantum area run. Squantum Point Park had a redstart or two but not too much else. The forktail area was very dry. Marshes had peeps, semi plovers, yellowlegs, and dowitchers. Passanageset had a lot of shorebirds but they were outnumbered by mosquitos by a couple orders of magnitude. Fortunately, 4 Purple Martins flew around and then landed at the far end of the parking lot as I was leaving, long overdue for the county. Earhart on the way home didn’t have much.

Monday 8/11: About the same at BBN. Another young night heron, another hoodie, a few shorebirds.

Tuesday 8/12: Couple more of each species but the same mix at Hobbs Brook.

WIR 6/25-7/1

Wednesday 6/25: Nothing much at Falzone.

Thursday 6/26: Usual at Weston Station Pond.

Friday 6/27: Lots of swallows and an RB Nuthatch at BBN.

Saturday 6/28: Finally got out to Shirley for Grasshopper Sparrows. One or two were singing, although not visible. The field was hopping though, also had a Field Sparrow, a couple Savannahs, a meadowlark, and more. Got Shirley past 50, so moved on to Hudson. Started at Danforth Falls, which was mostly wooded and quiet in the mist. Got 5 of the 6 I needed there, so went to a trail along the Assabet. Parked at the boat launch instead of the school to avoid soccer traffic, figured no one cared with the weather. Got a few more here, so 5 towns to go for the entire county to be over 50. Best thing was a Short-tailed Weasel chasing a chipmunk around several trees. Pretty sure the chipmunk had already gotten away when the weasel saw me, but definitely at that point. Tried to find a spot in Maynard but didn’t see obvious parking, so went home.

Sunday 6/29: After seeing multiple reports of Mississippi Kite at Garden in the Woods over the last few weeks (and last year, and nearby in 2022), decided to conduct a search. Didn’t remember much open sky at the Garden, so decided to try places nearby. Started at Lyons-Cutler. Walked in from the newish Landham Rd trail, which had a nice view but nothing much. Thought I was on to something as soon as I got in the woods but it was a crow. Did the loop but other than GH Owls there wasn’t much of note.

Next up was Raymond Reservation, where the 2022 record was from. Parked (in the shade) at Feeley and walked over. Bushwhacked in to check for gallinules and stuff, but it was just swallows, geese, and blackbirds. Worked around without much more, so backtracked to the paved bit, walked to the end, and started scanning. Wasn’t too long before I had a few Red-tails, which were the first raptors up I had seen for the day. Continuing to scan, I picked up something different way out. Looked interesting shape wise, but it was so far out that I was struggling to get the camera to focus. Eventually got one shot that suggested my initial thought was good, but it was extremely tiny in frame (and once home I found it even smaller in a couple others). Decided I better get the scope, so ran back and gave up the sun to park at the pulloff. Back with the scope, it wasn’t long before I picked up the bird again a bit closer. On it quickly, I got the flash of pale secondaries that I wanted. In a bit of shock that my search actually succeeded, I gave it a few minutes (during which it came close enough for identifiable photos), got it posted, and then spent another half hour waiting for a return. That didn’t happen and it was getting hot, so off I went.

Monday 6/30: Went to Prospect Hill, mostly to check on the tiger beetles. Pretty much the usual birds and not much for butterflies or dragonflies but did have a pair of Red-bellies so a success.

Tuesday 7/1: Had to take the car in, so only had a short bit of time at BBN. Circled the parkway marsh and the hill by the apartments without much of anything. Car only took an hour so I sat at Hardy Pond, also nothing terribly exciting.

Swainson’s!!

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After a pretty quiet morning Sunday, I made one last stop at the greenhouse side of the Waltham St. fields. The back corner has been good for Connecticut Warbler in the past, so I made a bit of a beeline there. Just a House Wren and a couple phoebes in the veggies. Working the back side, I saw one of the farm workers pull in. Waved hello, said hi to the dog, and worked my way to the front.

Still wasn’t seeing much of anything as I worked my way out when a hawk flew up from the ground in the plowed section. It seemed a bit odd shapewise and looked pretty dark, so I went for the camera and started firing away. It went up and circled a bit before drifting off.

Swainson s

Looked down at the photos and it was pretty clearly not something I was expecting around here. I quickly checked Sibley, the HWI app, and a few Macaulay photos and found nothing to go against Swainson’s. Still not believing, I sent a back of camera photo out (should have captioned “talk me down” instead of just “thoughts?”).

No immediate response and with the bird apparently having drifted off, I decided going home and looking at photos on screen was the best thing. Got the first confirmation back before I got to the computer and that was enough to send out the messages and emails.

Unfortunately the weather deteriorated and despite people spread out, it didn’t reappear.

WIR 11/3-11/9

Wednesday 11/3: Tried for a Cattle Egret at Farm Meadow but the cows were gone. Ran over to Lindentree too, nothing exciting there. Did get GC Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, and Purple Finch between the two sites, so that’s town #7 to 100. 

Thursday 11/4: Remembered to check my monthly targets and realized Lesser Yellowlegs was on them so off to Arlington Res. Lots of ducks, a Blackpoll at the farm (and a European Goldfinch), and eventually found the yellowlegs in the corner. Got a text about scoters at Nagog, so decided rather than fight the sun, I should check the res. Got there and had 60 Black Scoter and 20 Bufflehead. Another four scoter at Flint’s later. Probably should have run out in the evening…

Friday 11/5: Stork stayed and I beat the rehabbers, so mission accomplished. Also a sapsucker, 2 Winter Wrens, a few other Woburn year birds.

Saturday 11/6: Wanted to do a Nahanton check but figured since it wouldn’t be sunny in the gardens early, starting at Millennium was a good idea. Turned out ok with a White-crowned Sparrow almost immediately out of the car (joined by a second when I got back). Also a few bluebirds, a Virginia Rail or two, and a Rusty or two. Wish the lark and Snow Bunting calls were heard a bit better. Nahanton turned out to be a bit of a bust, nothing different, meadowhawk the only thing of any note. Zipped through Norumbega on the way home and had a pair of wigeon, new to Weston and town #8 to 100. Afternoon res loop had 125 Ring-necks finally.

Sunday 11/7: Didn’t have a ton of time, so went to Dunback (fortunately the clock change means early mornings are easier for a few weeks). Started fairly quiet, but a siskin calling over the marsh was nice (although I later realized I had one here January 1st so it was pretty meaningless). Way at the end of Bacon St, I had an Orange-crowned Warbler (finally) and while waiting for better views a second popped up along with a Palm. Nothing particularly unexpected but that’s 5 warblers for the month now. Not much the rest of the way around. Waltham St. had lots of birds, although other than a single Rusty in with the Red-wings and another(?) siskin there wasn’t much of interest.

Monday 11/8: Hanscom was a good change. Lots of bluebirds and a shrike started chasing them (unfortunately while looking straight into the sun and then at long distance). Also a few sparrows and other little birds. Gaining Ground was pretty busy too in the few minutes it took to get over to the Massport Trail and a meadowhawk was around on the way out.

End of month update: Realized the shrike was Middlesex town tick #4800!

Tuesday 11/9: Fairly quiet at BBN, a sharpie on the way out was about it.