weekinreview – Page 58 – brewster's linnet . com

WIR 2/6-2/12

Wednesday 2/6: River walk: usual plus a Lesser Scaup by Elm St (suspect a young male) and a scaup sp (suspect Greater) by Shaw’s.

Thursday 2/7: Ended up at Rock Meadow (went to the duck ponds but they were working on both ponds) and nothing much of note.

Friday 2/8: Stayed in, nothing exciting in the yard.

Saturday 2/9: 3 redpolls in the yard for a second record. Usual stuff otherwise, but Hooded Mergansers and a couple coots swam into view late in the afternoon.

Sunday 2/10: No redpolls, nothing else different.

Monday 2/11: Not surprisingly, didn’t get outside.

Tuesday 2/12: Made it to the river walk. Snow made for slow going and I only had time to get to the second overlook. Lots of mergansers and a Bufflehead. Adult Cooper’s in the yard.

WIR 1/30-2/5

Wednesday 1/30: BBN had a couple bluebirds and lots of mud.

Thursday 1/31: Nothing different along the riverwalk.

Friday 2/1: Forest Grove: 2 creepers, lots of the usual ducks but too windy to search through them. About 30 coots at Norumbega.

Saturday 2/2: Started with a quick scan of Hardy Pond (nothing of note) and Cambridge Res (coyote towards the Trapelo end but no birds). Flint’s Pond was similar, so on to Farm Meadow. Nothing exciting there but a nice flock of waxwings at Codman was good. At the gardens I found a big flock of starlings and picked out a few cowbirds. Hoping for more, I started scanning but a fire engine left the station right then and everything flushed. I moved on to Lindentree and found nothing, so I continued to School St and had 5 crows. A quick stop at Norumbega (no coots) and Forest Grove (gulls, mallards, and geese) was not productive, but an adult Bald Eagle was flying over as I drove off. Quick trip from Prospect to Moody had a male Bufflehead but not much else.

Sunday 2/3: Walked to Rock Meadow and had absolutely nothing.

Monday 2/4: Prospect Hill: windy and barely any birds.

Tuesday 2/5: Couldn’t find the snipe reported yesterday at Forest Grove (and the river was frozen so I didn’t expect the scaup). A couple Red-bellies, a Hairy, and not much else.

WIR 1/23-1/29

Wednesday 1/23: Too cold to get out at the duck ponds and there was nothing in sight. No fruit trees with any birds either in a quick drive around.

Thursday 1/24: Still too cold but did manage to zip through Norumbega (which was frozen, so 3 gulls, 3 geese, and 6 pigeons).

Friday 1/25: River walk again, about the same except for a young Bald Eagle flying up Newton St.

Saturday 1/26: Quick check of the res (frozen today, was open Thursday) then a short walk around Cat Rock Park (nuthatches, a creeper, and lots of Red-bellied Woodpeckers). Forest Grove: no gulls worth getting the scope out for. Moody St: lots of gulls including the Iceland but not much else.

Sunday 1/27: WLT Duck walk. Big crowd and cold wind. Lots of mergansers and Ring-necks and a second (or even third) goldeneye.

Monday 1/28: Nothing different at the duck ponds.

Tuesday 1/29: Ended up at Beaver Brook and immediately remembered why I stopped going here. Over 20 dogs in front of the parking lot (and no more than 7 owners/handlers). Needless to say, I didn’t see much of note.

Also, only publishable didn’t refer to quality. Plenty of better photos around, but here’s a similar shot.

WIR 1/16-1/22

Wednesday 1/16: Went to the river walk in crappy weather. About 9 Ring-necks, 1 Hoodie, and 2 coots were about it.

Thursday 1/17: Nothing exciting at the duck ponds.

Friday 1/18: Moody St. again. Two Bufflehead and not much else. Gull was present and was just a Herring.

Saturday 1/19: Pretty slow at Dunback and elsewhere.

Sunday 1/20: Started with a Charles tick, 2 Canvasbacks at Norumbega. Continued to finally try for the chat behind the Kohl’s in Burlington. No luck with that but I finally got a Red Crossbill for the county flying over. Horn Pond next was fairly quiet, one flock of redpolls was about it. On to Silver Lake and hopefully another county bird. No luck with the Glaucous Gull however and not many gulls to scan through. That turned out to be good as I got to the coast just in time for the Mew Gull show, would have missed it if I had lingered at all.

Monday 1/21: Lazy start, eventually heading to Merriam’s Corner (Red-tails everywhere but not much else) and Kaveski Farm (nothing exciting). Great Meadows after that had a few goldeneye, bufflehead, and a Ring-neck plus a very cooperative redpoll and the screech-owl was in the usual hole.

Tuesday 1/22: River walk finally had a goldeneye. Otherwise about the same (2 coots, 9 Ring-necks, 10ish Hoodies, no Common Mergansers).

WIR 1/9-1/15

Wednesday 1/9: 250 Mallards, 100 geese, 35 coots, 25 black duck, a Pied-billed Grebe, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet off Forest Grove and Purgatory Cove.

Thursday 1/10: River walk had nothing different.

Friday 1/11: Only had time for a quick stop at the Woerd Ave boat ramp, a few Ring-necks and Hoodies were it.

Saturday 1/12: No good gulls at Moody St. Purgatory Cove: 3 Ruddy, more of the same. No coots. Forest Grove: Hairy, nothing else of interest. About 11 coots at Norumbega, Charlesbank still frozen. Cambridge Res fogged in (plus I dropped the eyepiece to the scope and wouldn’t have been able to scan anyway).

Sunday 1/13: Walked to Lot 1, West Meadow, and down the parkway. Two bluebirds, 3 deer, not much else.

Monday 1/14: Nothing out of the ordinary at Rock Meadow (although I thought I heard one peep of a peeper).

Tuesday 1/15: Quick run around Moody St had a Bufflehead and an interesting 1st year gull that I need to see again.

WIR 1/2-1/8

Wednesday 1/2: River walk: coot, Bufflehead, few mergansers. Flock of finches was very interesting but got away.

Thursday 1/3: Woerd Ave: 100+ Ring-billed Gulls, mallards, geese. Moody St: same plus a few Herring Gulls.

Friday 1/4: Planned on Cambridge Res but decided it was best to avoid that, so went to Prospect Hill instead. The helicopters at the res were rather loud and I didn’t find much.

Saturday 1/5: Hit the Charles pretty hard. Started at Forest Grove where a Swamp Sparrow popped up by the pump house. Little bit of open water had lots of coots, a Ring-neck, and a Ruddy. Probably more that I couldn’t see. Creeper along the edge of Purgatory Cove was an overdue tick on the Charles (wish the thing that sounded like a pipit going over circled or something). Iceland Gull at Moody St along with a distant falcon. Mergansers and 15 Ring-necks behind Shaw’s and not much at Watertown Square rounded out the morning with 40 species.

Cambridge Res in the afternoon, hoping for an eagle or raven on a carcass. No carcass but an eagle flew over 128 as we arrived and there was a bit of open water with some scaup, Ring-necks, Ruddy, mergansers, and a Bufflehead.

Sunday 1/6: Fresh Pond had continuing everything except Redhead plus a Peregrine on the ice. The loon looked to be in bad shape, although I see later reports of it swimming so it might be ok. Spy Pond quickly had nothing and then the Mystic Lakes. Sandy Beach was quiet. I then walked from the few parking spots on the parkway down by the rotary up to the boat club. Two Pied-billed Grebes, a Red-breasted Mergansers, Great Cormorant, and 2 Greater Scaup were highlights. And a quick stop at Dunback on the way home turned up another Rusty Blackbird.

Monday 1/7: Nothing doing at the duck ponds.

Tuesday 1/8: Not much at West Meadow.

WIR 12/26-1/1

Wednesday 12/26: BBN was pretty quiet. Eventually dug up a creeper but not much else.

Thursday 12/27: Almost too nasty to check Hardy and the res and nothing of note at either.

Friday 12/28: Still one cormorant at Prospect St but not much else.

Saturday 12/29: Had to take my father to pick up his car, so started at Purgatory Cove. River was starting to freeze, but tons of Mallards flying around in addition to a big flock of Ring-necks (75 plus a Lesser Scaup), coots (40+), and a couple Ruddy and other things. Big surprise was found while trying to get a better angle on the Ring-necks: a cormorant on the far shore. First impression was that it was the Double-crested we had on the CBC on the cove, but it started to look a bit white on the belly from the side. Kept moving until I got a full view and, sure enough, it was a Great.

Then headed up to Silver Lake in Wilmington where a Glaucous Gull had been. Spent about 40 minutes scanning and didn’t find any good gulls (other than a presumed Lesser Black-back that disappeared before I got more than the back). Made a quick trip to the industrial park where Pine Grosbeaks had been seen regularly, I must have been there in between feedings and didn’t care to stay. Quick stop at the Mystic Lakes had nothing much, then more coots and Common Mergansers at Spy Pond.

Decided to check the res before heading home. Coots were in the corner again. Huge flock of Hoodies with a few wigeon way out in the middle. Further down was a small flock in close. Expected it to be the Ring-necks and a couple of the scaup, it turned out to 32 scaup and 4 Ring-necks. The rest of the wigeon flock was way off. Trapelo end was mostly frozen.

Sunday 12/30: Stayed in with the storm.

Monday 12/31: Started at Dunback: Fox Sparrow, 3 Rusty Blackbirds, nice Sharp-shinned, flyover Redpolls. On to Rock Meadow (4 Waxwings) and BBN (Raven). Cardinal ended the year.

Tuesday 1/1: Cardinal also started the year. Annual BBC walk around Newburyport. Started with a White-winged Crossbill in the parking lot, then Red Crossbills in Salisbury. Wind got in the way after that, but a few good things. Details will be on the BBC blog eventually.

WIR 12/19-12/25

Wednesday 12/19: Not much at the duck ponds.

Thursday 12/20: Same at Hardy, although mostly frozen.

Friday 12/21: Too wet, but nothing visible from the car at Hardy.

Saturday 12/22: Started at Cambridge Res, which had the same ducks. Moved on to Wayland, where John Hines had 2 Eurasian Wigeon earlier in the week. Got uncountable views of one as it flew off. Moved on to School St. where a bunch of larks contained no other goodies before heading back to Wayland where the wigeon had not returned.

Sunday 12/23: Tried Wayland again. Marsh was frozen, river had 1 wigeon on the right and too much sun on the left. Took a quick drive further down Rt. 20, then went for a walk at Assabet River without seeing much. Another stop in Wayland and then Waltham St. without much.

Monday 12/24: Went to the Mystic Lakes in the afternoon for the redpoll show. Had 2 in poor light (1 closer for a few seconds) but no big flock.

Tuesday 12/25: Did nothing all day.

WIRs 12/5-12/18

Well the hosting move took a bit longer than I had hoped. Catching up…

Wednesday 12/5: Nothing at the duck ponds.

Thursday 12/6: Nothing different at Hardy Pond, good numbers of Red-breasted Nuthatches at the back side of Prospect Hill.

Friday 12/7: Paine Estate list was about the same as Prospect Hill.

Saturday 12/8: Huge flock of stuff on the Cambridge Res including 12 scaup (both species), 200 Ring-necks, 50 Ruddy, a Loon, 25 wigeon, and 20 coots. Nothing at Flint’s. Finally made the Fresh Pond run for Canvasback for the year.

Sunday 12/9: Waltham St. was quiet. Ran into Marj and Renee at Dunback where we had Barred and Great Horned Owls in the pines (plus I had a Rusty Blackbird before joining them). Went and twitched the Hammond Pond Redheads after, 5 Aythya within 24 hours. Gave the Res another look after and had a few more scaup, about the same of the rest plus a Bufflehead.

Monday 12/10: On the Charles by Purgatory Cove: 31 Coots, several Ring-necks, a few Hoodies, and then it got fogged in. Red-breasted Nuthatches in the trees and redpoll flew over. Drove around to Charlesbank where there were a few coots (and some ducks along Norumbega Rd that I didn’t stop for…)

Tuesday 12/11: Nothing much at Hardy or BBN.

Wednesday 12/12: Iceland Gull was very obvious off Cronin’s. Got about halfway down the path to Prospect St and heard and odd call. Looked up and watched a Pine Grosbeak fly over my head. Ran back and found it in one of the fruit trees, where it posed a bit.

Wasn’t unexpected but still a big shock and a nice bird for Waltham.

Thursday 12/13: Nothing at Hardy or Gore. Double-crested Cormorant was visible at Prospect St. as I drove by.

Friday 12/14: Decent number of Tree Sparrows at BBN and West Meadow but not much else.

Saturday 12/15: Checked Lot 1 and West Meadow in some last minute CBC scouting without much (flyover redpolls and Common Mergansers were nice). Prospect Hill was quiet in a very short check. Figured I was almost at the res, so went around. A scoter was a surprise in the middle. Female-type unfortunately, but I think I got enough to call it a White-winged.

Front spot is fairly rounded and (not visible here) the bill seemed to extend under it.

Picked up parents and we walked Moody to Prospect without much of anything. Continued up Woerd Ave where the Iceland Gull was sitting on the boat ramp.

Opposite Purgatory Cove were a few scaup, a Gadwall, and a few of the more usual stuff. We continued around to Norumbega where I easily found the Eurasian Teal John Hines had found earlier in the week (see Monday to see why I’m kicking myself).

Based on some correspondence via Massbrd, it appears to be the Newton City Hall bird (which means it moved outside the CBC circle).

Sunday 12/16: Greater Boston CBC. Started owling, first walking to Graverson, then driving to BBN (and skipping as there was a police car parked) and Paine. No response anywhere. Met the group and we were at Dunback by 7:30. No luck in the pines. We decided to check the gardens quickly but some screaming crows sent us down the back side where Eric quickly picked up the Barred Owl (I’d learn later that it was actively hunting). After enjoying that, we worked our way out. Most of the way back, someone picked up a big flock of small birds flying back and forth. I was pretty sure I saw enough of a white flash to say Snow Buntings, but we hurried to Waltham St. to be sure. A quick pass didn’t find them (and we figured 50 birds couldn’t hide so didn’t walk every bit of field), but just as we got ready to leave, they started circling again and eventually landed. Didn’t get much in photos, but I used this one to actually count them (and almost doubled the 50 I guessed with 86):

We split up and I took the Metropolitan Parkway, UMass Field Station, Paine, and Lyman Pond bit. Weather was getting a bit worse and it was pretty quiet at most of those. Only highlight (other than 4 blackbirds that got away but were probably Rusties) was a Sharp-shinned at Lyman and hearing a couple people working at the field station talk about people looking for Blue Grosbeak.

Lunch at Burger King beat Wendy’s. We headed to Moody St where it was quite nasty out and didn’t see much beyond the cormorant.

And a leucistic robin

Went to check the boat ramp for the gull only to find a boat being launched, so on to Purgatory Cove. Lots of gulls but no Iceland and not much else (but a second DC Cormorant was on one of the docks as we drove off). Back to the river walk, starting at Elm St. where there was a Red-tail, a Great Blue, and a few Hoodies. We moved on to Shaw’s, got out to the bridge and decided not to bother. Got back to the cars and thanked everyone. A few gulls were flying over and Christine said “there’s your Iceland” (jokingly I think). And there it was. It circled a couple times and then landed on one of the light poles, so everyone got good views.

That pretty much ended the count, although I took a quick walk down Hardy Pond Rd and added a kingfisher and another heron. And a Great Horned flew in front of the car on the way to Habitat.

Monday 12/17: Raining and tired, didn’t bother going out.

Tuesday 12/18: Usual at Hardy. Tons of Hoodies in the middle of the res, nothing else good though.

WIR 11/29-12/4

Wednesday 11/28: Didn’t get out other than a brief stop at Hardy Pond which appeared to have the same Ruddy/Hooded Merganser flock (scope still packed).

Thursday 11/29: Prospect Hill: Pileated and a bunch of redpolls.

Friday 11/30: Common Mergansers at Hardy. Hermit Thrush at BBN, Red-wing at West Meadow.

Saturday 12/1: Cambridge Res: 4 Greater Scaup, 1 Wigeon, various mergansers, Ring-necks, etc. Eagle nice and close. Dunback was quiet. A few larks but not many geese at School St (they were all in the unscanable side field at the prison). More geese along Sudbury Rd and Nine Acre Corner but nothing good. No chat at Drumlin. More of the same ducks at Flint’s.

Sunday 12/2: Walked to BBN. Winter Wren at Lot 1 and a Swamp Sparrow at the West Meadow was it for the first couple hours. Walked up to Gaebler, mostly hoping for finches on the way but no luck with that. However, a Yellow-rump near the Blue-wing spot was a nice start. Reaching field itself, I found it loaded with birds. Mostly juncos and goldfinches but several flickers, tree sparrows, and a Fox Sparrow. Back down to the parkway, where I stopped for a Red-breasted Nuthatch and immediately heard a catbird behind me. After doubling back for that, I found 2 Rusty Blackbirds a few feet further. No sign of the Hermit Thrush but another big flock of juncos and tree sparrows at the basketball court.

Rest of the loop back was pretty slow. Afternoon walk over to Hardy Pond found the usual mergansers and stuff plus a nice Cooper’s.

Monday 12/3: Moody to Prospect St was pretty quiet. One bird in the fruit trees: a robin. A cormorant on the concrete blocks looked interesting but it was just a Double-crested.

Tuesday 12/4: River walk was dead.