Tag: weekinreview

Tuesday 8/10: Phoebe at the end of the street in the morning was nice. Prospect Hill was still quiet.

Wednesday 8/11: Duck ponds had about the same with the addition of a Turkey Vulture.

Thursday 8/12: Lyman Pond was pretty quiet. Big miss of the day was at home, where a hummingbird made several passes (once when I was at work and once when I was upstairs, probably saw it flying off but not enough to be sure).

Friday to Sunday (8/13-15): Went to New York for the weekend. Few minutes in the Cloisters Friday and Sunday had a few butterflies but didn’t get time for much of anything else. Spent some time watching the Hudson from my cousin’s apartment but nothing beyond gulls went by.

Monday 8/16: Purgatory Cove was loaded with Barn Swallows, Chimney Swifts, and Wood Ducks. Also a Spotted Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, and Killdeer (and probably more had I taken the scope).

Tuesday 8/3: Charles had no merganser and not much else.

Wednesday 8/4: Prospect Hill was pretty quiet but a Black-shouldered Spinylegs was nice.

Thursday 8/5: Duck ponds had 2 Solitary Sandpipers and a Green Heron (site tick).

Friday 8/6: Lyman Pond had lots of Wood Duck but no shorebirds.

Saturday 8/7: Started at Dunback. Lots around including a Brown Thrasher, several Baltimore Orioles and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, many hummingbirds, and a bluebird. Moved on to Purgatory Cove where there was a Cooper’s Hawk and several Least Sandpipers. Green Heron was new to my Charles list, as was the pewee singing near the little building. Drove out to Water Row afterwards but didn’t see anything worth stopping for. Walking down Moody St. after dinner, had a Black-crowned Night-Heron below the dam (and a mallard feeding in the middle of the waterfall).

Sunday 8/8: Rock Meadow had an Ovenbird, 2 hummingbirds, 3 Indigo Buntings, and 2 Orchard Orioles. Cambridge Res was about the same. Stood around the tower at Great Meadows for 45 minutes without anything of note.

Monday 8/9: Charles had a couple Wood Ducks but nothing else different.

Tuesday 7/27: Lyman Pond for the first time in a few months. Should stop more often: 5 Wood Duck, 4 Great Blue Heron, 3 Green Heron, 3 Killdeer, 2 Spotted Sandpiper, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs. Peck’s Skipper in the yard, first one this year.

Wednesday 7/28: Prospect Hill was as quiet as I’ve ever seen it at lunch. Turkey Vulture and Osprey up the street after I got home were nice.

Thursday 7/29: River Walk had the first night-heron I’ve seen there in some time, which also brought my Waltham year list to equal my 2nd highest total (note that it’s still July). Otherwise pretty quiet.

Friday 7/30: Paine had a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a Wood Thrush and next to nothing else.

Saturday 7/31: Cambridge Res had a Green Heron, 2 Great Blues, a Great Egret, 2 Spotted Sandpiper, 2 kingfisher, several Least Sandpiper, and 2 Killdeer. Great Meadows had less than that plus a Black-crowned Night-Heron and Lesser Yellowlegs. Went searching for the Common Merganser that’s been hanging out on the Charles for the last week in the afternoon. Walked from the Stop in Shop in Watertown down to Watertown Square and then found it right at the Shaw’s. Very little otherwise.

Sunday 8/1: Helped with an insect survey in Saugus for most of the morning. Highlights here. Also 3 pheasants, 4 kestrels, etc. Quick Cambridge Res stop had 2 kingfishers beating fish against their perches.

Monday 8/2: Wandered the trail down to the YMCA. Pretty quiet but there are mudflats on Chesterbrook now. Only a killdeer on them however (one flew over the yard too). Big flocks of grackles and house sparrows flying around at night.

Tuesday 7/20: Back side of Prospect Hill was very quiet. Finally got around to checking out the vernal pool, leaning that way for the Spatterdock but will hopefully find out for sure next June.

Wednesday 7/21: Hanscom again. Very successful, we confirmed Upland Sandpiper and Grasshopper Sparrow. Fox running around was also nice. Trail behind the high school at lunch was extremely quiet.

Thursday 7/22: Paine at lunch was quiet. First of year Autumn Meadowhawk was about it.

Friday 7/23: BBN had a couple surprises. Up the hill, I found a family of towhees. Not a new confirmation for the block, but I had no idea they were in this spot. Down in the middle, I found a presumed family group of Great Crested Flycatchers, which should be a confirmation for the block. Otherwise, 1 Scarlet Tanager and many pewees. Too cloudy for bugs.

Saturday 7/24: Long walk around Great Meadows had first of year Great Egrets and a site tick Indigo Bunting along with Red-breasted Nuthatches. Very few shorebirds. A quick stop at the Cambridge Res had 4 Least Sandpipers.

Sunday 7/25: Lazed around but eventually rechecked the Cambridge Res, which had pretty much the same as yesterday. Also checked out Cranberry Hill in Lexington. Didn’t explore much but a Field Sparrow with food was nice.

Monday 7/26: Duck Ponds: Solitary Sandpiper, Lance-tipped Darner, not much else.

Back to Tuesdays apparently.

Tuesday 7/6: Didn’t get out (way too hot) but a Band-winged Meadowhawk in the yard was first of year.

Wednesday 7/7: Hardy Pond in the heat. Seemed to be common stuff around but didn’t spend much time looking.

Thursday 7/8: River walk was hotter than I realized. Most of the usual birds were around and I counted about 50 Blue-fronted Dancers between Shaw’s and Elm St.

Friday 7/9: Duck Ponds. Ponds were quiet (although a Great Blue and Killdeer eventually popped up at the lower one). Downhill, I had to bushwhack to the bridge (and couldn’t reach the second one). A whole bunch of birds sounded annoyed, with a redstart among them. After a few minutes scanning, I finally picked up a young Eastern Screech-Owl sitting on a branch. Patch tick!

Saturday 7/10: Joined the Concord Butterfly Count. I’d say separate post but there were very few butterflies in the hot and dry and then we got rained out in the afternoon. My Broad-winged Skippers turned out to be the best thing on the day. Still fun though.

Sunday 7/11: Tried to refind a couple things and generally found nothing. Checked the duck ponds for the owl and redstart, then Prospect Hill for saddlebags. Finally stopped at Woerd Ave as I had the camera and have wanted some Lilypad Forktail shots for awhile but couldn’t find any of those even.

Monday 7/12: Paine had the regular birds and some Somatochloras but not much else.

Monday 6/28-Tuesday 6/29: DSA Postmeeting in Jackman, ME.

Wednesday 6/30: Prospect Hill had an Indigo Bunting and a few marginally interesting dragonflies.

Thursday 7/1: Paine had a few butterflies and a good number of dragonflies although all fairly common.

Friday 7/2: Purgatory Cove was pretty quiet at lunch.

Saturday 7/3: Out to Otis for the night. Ovenbird walking next to me was about the best thing.

Sunday 7/4: Spinylegs and two uncaught Somatochloras to start the morning in Otis. On to New Salem where Ethan’s yard was quiet but I found a pair of Evening Grosbeaks up the hill.

Monday 7/5: 3 Broad-wings over Ethan’s were the best of the morning. Failed to catch the couple of Somatochloras.

Monday 6/21: Paine, not too much exciting. Couple interesting darners stayed too high to ID.

Tuesday 6/22: Didn’t get out.

Wednesday 6/23: Charles at lunch. Very few odes (few bluets, 1 baskettail, 1 slaty skimmer) but an Orchard Oriole was a nice surprise. Very early migrant or overlooked here? Also a family of mallards was running around the neighborhood in the afternoon, hope they made it across Trapelo safely.

Thursday 6/24 to Sunday 6/27: At the Dragonfly Society of the Americas annual meeting. Separate post sooner or later but highlights included getting a nemesis bird on the way up, 6 species of Ophiogomphus and 2 Neurocordulia plus various butterflies and a moose.

Monday 6/14: Paine: first Banded Hairstreak of the year plus a Painted Skimmer and Scarlet Tanagers right at the parking lot.

Tuesday 6/15: Duck ponds had a good selection of dragonflies and a kingfisher.

Wednesday 6/16: Prospect Hill was quiet (barely any bugs even).

Thursday 6/17: Charles was pretty quiet. Lots of swallows, a juvenal Wood Duck, fledgling House Wren, couple dancers that got away.

Friday 6/18: BBN had lots of the regular stuff but nothing really of note.

Saturday 6/19: Trail building at Shady Pond all day. Usual forest birds sang a bit but didn’t seem much. One interesting bluet (Skimming?).

Sunday 6/20: Didn’t really get out as had some computer things to deal with. While running up to Nashua, made brief stop in Tyngsboro to see if the Willow Flycatchers were singing. They weren’t but one of the Osprey passed over and both Green and Great Blue Herons flew over Rt. 3.

Two weeks since I forgot to post the previous one.

Monday 5/31: Main highlight, but an Ebony Jewelwing in the yard wasn’t bad either.

Tuesday 6/1: Prospect Hill was quiet. Didn’t get a good look as they went into the sun but pretty sure a Red-spotted Purple was chasing a White(ish) Admiral.

Wednesday 6/2: Looks like I didn’t do anything.

Thursday 6/3: Paine, quiet.

Friday 6/4: West Meadow. Turkey, meadowhawk, etc.

Saturday 6/5: Allergies bothering me, stayed in.

Sunday 6/6: BBC walk at Great Meadows, pretty quiet. Hooded Merganser, Pied-billed Grebe, not much else. Rained the rest of the day.

Monday 6/7: Prospect Hill, quieter than last week.

Tuesday 6/8: Prospect Hill again (base today). Not much for birds but a Familiar Bluet partway up. Small swarm of saddlebags, green darner, spot-winged glider at the base. Noticed a different looking darner among them and grabbed the net. Turned out to be the state-listed Spatterdock Darner! No camera unfortunately.

Wednesday 6/9: Day off for Minuteman Survey (nothing different, numbers seemed a bit low but tons of traffic noise). Then ran up to Dunstable where I got Bobolink within safe dates and added Savannah Sparrow as well. No luck with any Empids though.

Thursday 6/10: Purgatory Cove/Forest Grove. Cloudy and quiet.

Friday 6/11: BBN had a Wild Turkey with at least 1 robin-sized chick. Also first of year Painted Skimmer.

Saturday 6/12: Probably posting separately but northern NH. Filled in the gaps that were Bicknell’s Thrush and Black-backed Woodpecker plus Rusty Blackbird and other stuff. Also several good butterflies including Arctic Skipper.

Sunday 6/13: Made a late morning trip to Arlington Great Meadows hoping for Alder Flycatcher. No luck with that (or Willow) but the usual stuff was around. Stopped at the Waltham St. Fields on the way home and got very wet.