Thanks Jonathan!
Tag: countybirds
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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.
300 part 2
304
303
Hudsonian!
Phone dinged while I was on a checkin call this morning. Cliff: “if you’re out birding, hudsonian godwit at lower mill st pond at beaver brook”. “!!!” Realized I had a couple hours before anything urgent, so I sent a quick message saying I’ll be back in an hour and ran out.
Twenty five minutes later:
Yes, on the heavily vegetated side and not the drained pond.
County 302, patch 180!
301
299!
298!
Had the day off for Veteran’s Day (just like last year). Too windy for much, so I decided on a goose/duck loop. Eagle flyover at the res but not much else. Very brief stop at Flint’s didn’t appear to have much and I wasn’t about to get out and look. School St had a decent sized flock of pipits and a few larks but no geese. Prison fields had a few geese but at a bad angle. Nine Acre had nothing, so I thought about Spy Pond and maybe the Mystic Lakes.
Continuing down 117 from Nine Acre, noticed a bunch of geese on Farrar Pond so pulled in at the Mt. Misery lot and jogged back. Fortunately the hill blocked most of the wind. Started scanning the geese but noticed a swan that appeared to have a black bill. Jogged back for the scope, looked again, and started making phone calls. First chaseable Tundra Swan in the county in 20 years (and barely any anywhere nearby recently).
Two hours later I did actually check the geese and finally left another hour after that.