WIR 9/5-9/11

Wednesday 9/5: GH Owl but not much else at BBN.

Thursday 9/6: Bunch of Semi Plovers finally at Hobbs Brook plus a few teal.

Friday 9/7: First of fall Magnolia among six warblers at Prospect Hill.

Saturday 9/8: Did a Squantum run. Squaw Rock was pretty quiet, eventually dug out a Magnolia at the tip, then had a Red-shoulder and a Prairie on the way back out. Nothing much at the marshes. Decided to head inland a bit. Milton Landing had an eagle and Osprey but no night-herons. Surprised to find the Caspian Terns still at Great Pond, although they did appear to move off. Quick scan of the gulls had me thinking one looked like a Lesser Black-back in flight, but it landed and was the same color as the adjacent bird. Further down, I watched a presumed scaup sp fly to the gulls flock and then disappear. Basically no land birds at the far end, so started back. Managed to sort of scope the Snowy Egret down by Oak St, then noticed 3 gulls on the rocks. All dark mantled and with yellow legs. Took some time to convince myself, but 3 Lesser Black-backs they were. Nothing else of note on the way out and nothing new at Hobbs Brook in a quick check (and no teal).

Lesser Black backs

Sunday 9/9: Lexington loop. Dunback was tough work but managed 40+ species including Wilson’s Warbler, earlyish Palm Warbler, and 4 Purple Finch. Waltham St had an early Yellow-rump. Same at Hobbs Brook. Finished with 60 species and with a few easy ones missing, I wouldn’t be surprised if 80 was possible (if I didn’t go home to watch the game).

Monday 9/10: Heard Farm had water level higher than I expected and no shorebirds. Did have a calling Red-shoulder right there, which was new to Wayland (4th town with all 4 ‘expected’ Buteos). Pulled over at the pond on the way home for 10 seconds and had Bank and Rough-winged Swallows.

Tuesday 9/11: Got rained on and wasn’t finding anything new at Hobbs Brook, so went to Pelham Island Rd. First wigeon of the fall and 3+ Indigo Buntings were good.

WIR 8/29-9/4

Wednesday 8/29: Forest Grove had a RB Nuthatch and a couple other more expected Charles year birds.

Thursday 8/30: Not a whole lot at Rock Meadow. No sandpipers in a quick run around the duck ponds but a waterthrush popped up across the pond on my last scan.

Friday 8/31: Very litlte at Nobscot, 2 RB Nuthatches, 3 Kingbirds, 2 Redstarts, and a Pileated about it. Stopped on Pelham Island Rd on the way home, Solitary and 2 Spotted got Wayland to 100 for the year.

Saturday 9/1: Cambridge was quiet, essentially nothing of note at Danehy. Kingbird at Alewife was about it there. Thorndike field was a complete waste. Blair Pond had 2 Least and a Spotted then 6 Killdeer flew in. Unfortunately what sounded like a Semipalmated Plover overhead didn’t call clearly enough. Raven did though. Meadowbrook had a Scarlet Tanager. Hobbs Brook was starting to show some mud, nothing terribly exciting. Good raptor show at Waltham St with a Broad-wing, Red-shoulder, Sharpie, TV or two, and 4+ Red-tails.

Sunday 9/2: Walked from home to the duck ponds. Ovenbird at Lot 1, RB Nuthatch at West Meadow, 2 BT Green at BBN, and that was about it.

Monday 9/3: Wandered a bit west. Bolton Flats had a Virginia Rail, a couple Bobolink, a redstart, and a Pileated. The farm pond just down the road had a few shorebirds next to it. Nothing at Sterling Peat. Stopped at Hobbs Brook on the way home and had both yellowlegs and a few peep.

Tuesday 9/4: Indigo Bunting, waterthrush, 2 Least plus all the shorebirds from the other day on Pelham Island Rd. Nothing at Heard Pond.

WIR 8/22-8/28

Wednesday 8/22: Too rainy. Gave Norumbega a 2 minute check without anything.

Thursday 8/23: Nobscot again was pretty quiet. Kestrel, one flock of kingbirds about it.

Friday 8/24: Chestnut-sided, B&W, Redstart at Prospect Hill.

Saturday 8/25: Central sweep. Loons in close at Fitchburg Res. Pretty quiet at Blood Hill, BT Green, Yellow-rump, Ovenbird, Chestnut-sided, B&W in one flock and a few RB Nuthatches at the summit about it. Cormorant in the little farm pond on the way to Watatic was #100 for Ashby (town #18 to hit 100). Watatic itself was very quiet. Ruffed Grouse and Purple Finch were the interesting birds and a porcupine was quite nice. Fitch’s Bridge Rd had a bunch of interesting bugs, 5-7 Solitary Sandpipers, and little else.

Porcupine

Tiger

Sunday 8/26: Joined the MBC walk at Horn Pond. Broad-wing there finally plus a few Redstarts and Black-and-whites. Continued to Sandy Beach where I had a Canada Warbler and Renee’s waterthrush. South end of the lakes had 3 Cooper’s, 4 ravens, and an eagle. Draw Seven had some Semipalmated Sandpipers.

Monday 8/27: Turkey Vulture on the water tower, Red-shoulder along the parkway at BBN.

Tuesday 8/28: Least Flycatcher, waterthrush, etc at Dunback.

WIR 8/15-8/21

Wednesday 8/15: Nothing much at BBN. Lot of odes flying around, but nothing landing.

Thursday 8/16: College Pond had 3+ Indigo Buntings, a redstart, a Chestnut-sided Warbler (finally for Weston), and a good number of other things.

Friday 8/17: No Olive-sided at Nobscot but 25+ kingbirds, a redstart, and a Black-and-white among others.

Saturday 8/18: Last Cranberry Bog ode walk of the season. Went to Nashoba Brook first, hoping to get the Westford list from 0 to 20 or 30. Barely managed 10 in steamy conditions. Cleared up as the walk started although we didn’t have anything exciting.

Sunday 8/19: Started at Draw Seven but the tide was still way up. Bobolink flying around was nice. Went over to Station Landing as I realized I still needed Common Tern for Medford. Got that, plus Great Egret and about 30 in total. Continued to Belle Isle, which was pretty quiet beyond some fly by GW Teal. The Key did have shorebirds including my first White-rumped Sandpipers for Suffolk. Revere Beach had a few Bonaparte’s Gulls but it was too windy to find anything on the water. Returned to Earhart where one interesting shorebird flew by but little else. Rechecked Draw Seven and only had 2 distant peep. Blair Pond had one Least, 30 waxwings but no shorebirds at Beaver Brook, and nothing at BBN.

Monday 8/20: RB Nuthatch and about nothing else at BBN.

Tuesday 8/21: Not much at Lot 1. Enough time to walk down to the West Meadow boardwalk. Quiet there but a Least Flycatcher popped up on the way back.

WIR 8/8-8/14

Wednesday 8/8: 3 Least, 1 Solitary, 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper at Blair Pond. Two more Least at BBN were overdue there (hopefully to be followed by a few other shorebirds this year).

Thursday 8/9: Solitary at BBN, but less of the rest (Cooper’s moving around didn’t help). Woods were 99% mosquitos.

Friday 8/10: Greater Yellowlegs, Solitary, not a whole lot else at Hobbs Brook.

Saturday 8/11: Beat the rain at Horn Pond. Nothing terribly exciting, Hooded Merganser and BC Night-Heron about it. Tried for any storm birds at Great Meadows but the rain didn’t make it there for a good hour even though it was pouring on 128 on the way over. Three Pileateds about it. Nothing at Flint’s, the res, or Hardy.

Sunday 8/12: Attempted Squantum. Very foggy, so started at Squaw Rock Park. Got about 30 feet and it started pouring, so retreated to the car. Eventually it stopped enough to loop around, nothing of interest. Marshes next, lots of peep including a White-rump off the hummock. Fog started to roll in again and I barely checked the pans (and now see that I missed a Stilt Sandpiper…). Decided to try Great Pond instead hoping that inland would have better visibility. It did, although it was a bit rainy. Ovenbird was a pretty nice bird for the spot, nothing else terribly exciting. Got halfway across the causeway and got a text about a Black Tern in Concord. Didn’t run back but didn’t continue either. An hour later and the tern was showing well, if distantly. None at the res and water level was back up a bit at Hobbs Brook.

Monday 8/13: Gnatcatcher and fog at Dunback.

Tuesday 8/14: More fog. Tried the Old Rt. 27 bridge, nothing much moving there and it’s a bit grown up for a good view right now. Had time, so ran over to Heard. A few yellowlegs flew around, an Osprey hunted, and a harrier passed over.

WIR 8/1-8/7

Wednesday 8/1: Usual at Lot 1.

Thursday 8/2-Sunday 8/5: DSA regional meeting, separate post soon

Monday 8/6: Juv Towhee at BBN.

Tuesday 8/7: Nothing at the duck ponds.

WIR 7/25-7/31

Wednesday 7/25: No shorebirds or much of anything at the duck ponds or BBN.

Thursday 7/26: Nothing particularly exciting at Farm Pond.

Friday 7/27: Usual at Forest Grove, House Wren was a river year bird.

Saturday 7/28: Nothing at Nine Acre. Ospreys had fledged at Knox Trail. Ayer section of Oxbow NWR had a Tennessee Warbler and a good number of other things. And lots of mosquitos.

Sunday 7/29: Great Egret and not much else at Draw Seven/Earhart. Showed Karsten and a visitor around Hanscom, got just about everything expected other than Prairie Warbler.

Monday 7/30: Parula, 2 Redstarts, probably more at BBN.

Parula

Tuesday 7/31: Tried for another early warbler at Nobscot but settled for a woodcock.

WIR 7/18-7/24

Wednesday 7/18: RB Nuthatch at Dunback.

Thursday 7/19: Usual at Lot 1. Hummingbird at Pease and a flock of ibis over 95 were interesting.

Friday 7/20: Pair of Pileateds among the usual at Heard.

Saturday 7/21: Went down to Westport for the day. Gooseberry was nice, although would have been nicer if the King Eider and any of the seabirds showed up. Did have a few shorebirds, some other oversummering ducks, the Great Cormorant, and a few other things. Couldn’t turn up Seaside Sparrows at Allen’s Pond but had a bunch of Saltmarsh, a White-eyed Vireo, and a bit more. Finished with 14 Bristol county birds. Stopped at Draw Seven (4-6 Common Terns, no shorebirds) and Blair Pond (2 Least Sandpipers) on the way home.

Sunday 7/22: Too rainy, quick pond loop had the 2 loons at Flint’s but little else.

Monday 7/23: Distant Least Bittern at Great Meadows, not much else.

Tuesday 7/24: Marsh Wren, Osprey, FOY Lance-tipped Darner at Round Hill.

WIR 7/11-7/17

Wednesday 7/11: Eagle among the usual at Forest Grove.

Thursday 7/12: Green Heron and not a whole lot else at Lindentree.

Friday 7/13: Clamp-tipped Emerald about it at BBN.

Saturday 7/14: Did a coastal swing. No migrants at Deer Island, did get a handful of new site birds but none were exactly exciting. Big feeding flock off the tip had me go all the way back for the scope, but couldn’t pull anything besides common gulls and terns. Belle Isle had a few shorebirds. Tide too high at Draw Seven.

Sunday 7/15: Lazy so just got eaten by mosquitos at BBN/West Meadow/duck ponds. Got scared by a turkey and had a Black-shouldered Spinylegs at the ponds, not much else.

Monday 7/16: Quiet at Kaveski/Meriam’s.

Tuesday 7/17: Prairie Warbler and little else at Hobbs Brook, water level way too high still (and another inch and a half of rain in the afternoon can’t help).

WIR 7/4-7/10

Wednesday 7/4: Sandy Beach had an event, so straight to Draw Seven. Few terns and the rest of the usual. Same at Sylvester Baxter and Earhart. Too hot for anything else.

Thursday 7/5: Two woodcock would have been the highlight at BBN except for this Lawrence’s Warbler:

Lawrence s

Friday 7/6: Quiet at the duck ponds.

Saturday 7/7: Concord 4th of July butterfly count, very quiet. Black Dash was about the best butterfly, nothing exciting for odes or birds.

Sunday 7/8: Tried to refind the Lawrence’s with no luck (no Blue-wings either). Several Mocha Emeralds and a Black-tipped Darner were nice. Carlisle walk had a Sweetflag Spreadwing and the usual.

Monday 7/9: Had College Pond to myself thanks to construction. Barred Owl was calling as I walked in, Mocha Emeralds everywhere and probably a Spatterdock Darner too.

Tuesday 7/10: Day trip to NJ, a Broad-wing over the Pike and Fish Crows in the neighborhood were the only things of note.