WIR 7/20-7/26

Wednesday 7/20: Back side of Prospect Hill. Pretty much the usual. First Autumn Meadowhawk of the year.

Thursday 7/21: Duck ponds in the heat. Started with a Green Heron on the left pond. Scan across the right and see what appears to be a merganser. Worked over that way and found 2 juvenal Hooded Mergansers among the Mallards! Although I initially thought they were possible breeders here, I had long given up on the idea. While trying to get a photo of them (not worth showing), a Northern Waterthrush popped up behind me (first southbound one in the state?). After finishing with the mergansers, I scanned a bit more and came up with a Solitary and a Spotted Sandpiper. Not bad at all.

Friday 7/22: Too hot. Out to Ethan’s after work where I caught a couple Clamp-tipped Emeralds.

Saturday 7/23: Eventually got out after the rain stopped. Tully Lake had a few odes including several Dragonhunters. Lots of butterflies at Joe’s. Back at Ethan’s, a female American Emerald was cruising around but not much else.

Sunday 7/24: Great Meadows in the morning: several Solitary and Least Sandpipers, 2 Great Egret, Green Heron, kestrel, etc. Tried to look for the mergansers again on the way home but there were too many cars to park.

Monday 7/25: Didn’t get out.

Tuesday 7/26: Duck ponds again, pretty much the same (minus 1 merganser and Solitary Sandpiper). Went back in the afternoon as the waterthrush looked pretty white but called like a Northern. Merganser was more cooperative as well.

Hoodie and Mallard

Hoodie

WIR 7/13-7/19

Wednesday 7/13: Prospect Hill at lunch. Just about birdless but a few Dun Skippers and 2 Azure Bluets made up for it. Got all excited over a hairstreak on the way back. Thought it was too big for a Gray and must have been an Oak but pulled up photos on the Mass Butterfly Club’s website and it was obviously a Gray. It then started basking with the wings open which would have eliminated any confusion immediately. Still nice and not one I see at the park a lot.

Thursday 7/14: Nothing much.

Friday 7/15: Duck ponds: kingfisher and lots of waxwings were about it.

Saturday 7/16: Pelagic

Sunday 7/17: Tired.

Monday 7/18: Purgatory Cove: lots of Wood Ducks, young Barn Swallows, and what appeared to be a sleeping raccoon (or two).

Tuesday 7/19: BBN had lots of dragonflies and butterflies including Mocha Emerald and many Appalachian Brown and Common Wood-Nymph. Also had a thrasher a little out of place in the middle area (wandering from the other side of the hill or further away?).

WIR 6/23-7/1

Extending a bit to fit the travel schedule.

Thursday 6/23: Didn’t do much.

Friday 6/24: Still not much.

Saturday 6/25: Red-bellied in the yard.

Sunday 6/26: Walked around the Cambridge Res and office parks without much. Prospect Hill for a bit after. Highlight was a Leptogaster robber fly.

Monday 6/27: Cat Rock Park in Weston, need to go there more. Nothing particularly of note though.

Tuesday 6/28: BBN was too buggy but a Cooper’s was nice. McLean was mowed, had what looked like a Mocha Emerald or two but couldn’t get a good enough view.

Wednesday 6/29: Horn Pond Mountain in the afternoon. Eventually turned up all the expected hairstreaks beyond Acadian but very little else.

Thursday 6/30: Nothing really.

Friday 7/1: Actually worked a full day. Charles at lunch was quiet beyond the first Blue-fronted Dancers of the year.

WIR 6/16-6/22

Thursday 6/16: Final Rock Meadow survey had the usual stuff. Stopped at BBN to check for cuckoos and Black-and-white without luck but did have a family of turkeys on the parkway (unfortunately they were too small to climb the curb, hopefully they eventually got around it but I didn’t want to watch in the traffic). Finally saw the Hairy that’s been calling off and on in the yard.

Friday 6/17: Lazy day. Hairy was around off and on, may have a nice size comparison video to post at some point.

Saturday 6/18: Repeat of Friday.

Sunday 6/19: Tried for rails along Concord Ave and at BBN early. No luck with those or cuckoos but did have a Blue-winged in a new spot and an Orchard Oriole. Great Meadows later: nice views of the Least Bittern, a Peregrine and kestrel, and some cooperative gnatcatchers. Also a bunch of first of year odes including Powdered Dancer, Marsh Bluet, Swamp and Slender Spreadwing, Blue Dasher, Eastern Amberwing, and Black Saddlebags.

Monday 6/20: Paine in the morning. Found something.

Nest owner?

Banded

 

Tuesday 6/21: Bugs

Wednesday 6/22: Went to hmm looking for huhr without luck. Probable Purple Finch and nesting Cooper’s Hawks weren’t bad.

WIR 6/9-6/15

Thursday 6/9: Rock Meadow survey. Rained heavily.

Friday 6/10: Habitat survey, about the same. Stopped at BBN on the way home. No luck with cuckoos but a Black-and-white was singing.

Saturday 6/11: Started at AGM where it was raining too heavily. Moved on to the Mary Cummings estate where I got the Alder Flycatcher that’s been around with relative ease (other than walking through thigh-high soaking wet grass). Also several Blue-wings here. Stopped at Paine on the way home, lots of young robins and Chipping Sparrows but not much else.

Sunday 6/12: Went to Great Meadows eventually. Good view of the moorhen but not much else.

Monday 6/13: Prospect Hill, bumped BT Green to Probable for Maynard 12 and added it as Possible for Boston North 3.

Tuesday 6/14: Hardy Pond had very little (but I looked very little).

Wednesday 6/15: Moody St to Prospect St was pretty quiet. Still 3 species of gulls hanging around but not much else.

WIR 6/2-6/8

Thursday 6/2: Rock Meadow survey: BB Cuckoo, BW Warbler, first hummingbird of the year finally. Monarch while mowing the lawn.

Friday 6/3: Habitat survey was pretty quiet but GH Owl and bluebird between points. Went to Great Meadows with Bob after. Got a couple second view of the Least Bittern flying and an Orchard Oriole was new for Great Meadows. Also a cooperative Marsh Wren:

Wren

Wren

Saturday 6/4: Ended up with a long walk around Prospect Hill. Tracked down John Hines’s Canada and Mourning Warblers (Mourning #194) and had several redstarts, a black-throated green (in my block?), 2 Black-billed Cuckoos, and a nice variety of butterflies and dragonflies including Dusted Skipper and presumed Swamp Darner.

Indigo

Twelve-spot

Sunday 6/5: Great Meadows

Monday 6/6: Paine: Hummer, Hairy carrying food, most of the expected summer stuff. Lots of butterflies.

Tuesday 6/7: Minuteman survey. Turkey and I think Yellow-billed Cuckoo were new, the rest was hampered by loud traffic (at 5:30AM!) and then crows mobbing me.

Wednesday 6/8: Charles was pretty quiet. Lots of Prince Baskettails and a few Orange Bluets.

WIR 5/26-6/1

Thursday 5/26: Forest Grove was pretty quiet, the Flowed Meadow trails are a bit tight for birding and not much was singing. Blackpoll near the yard this morning.

Friday 5/27: Helped with a survey at Habitat in the morning. It was pretty quiet (Black-billed Cuckoo was the most interesting) and it turns out the hummingbird nest in the parking lot is nowhere near my block. Lunch at Prospect Hill greeted me with a really loud Hooded Warbler.

Saturday 5/28: Walked through Lot 1, West Meadow, BBN. Pair of cuckoos below Avalon and lots of butterflies but not much else.

Sunday 5/29: New Salem for the day. No time to look for stuff but heard BT Blue, BT Green, etc and had a Chalk-fronted Corporal. Red-shoulder perched on the side of Rt. 2 was nice.

Monday 5/30: Dunback was too buggy. Arlington Great Meadows was quiet.

Tuesday 5/31: Prospect Hill was quiet. No warbler, no ravens. First Spicebush Swallowtail of the year was it.

Wednesday 6/1: See yesterday but substitute River Walk for Prospect Hill, White-fronted Goose for birds, and Stream Bluet for the bugs.

WIR 5/19-5/25

Thursday 5/19: Home and away.

Friday 5/20: Travel day.

Saturday 5/21: Cousin’s graduation. Kingfisher flew over mid-ceremony. Afternoon walk around the FDR estate had first Spot-winged Glider of the year.

Sunday 5/22:

Black

Stopped at Bartholomew’s Cobble on the way home. Now 1 for 1 on Black Vulture. Also heard a Bay-breasted and a few other warblers. Plus got Black Vulture in New York on the way as well, would have been nice to get a Connecticut one too.

Monday 5/23: Paine, forgot about the science field trips so ended up working down the hill. BT Green, yb cuckoo, sharpie, etc. Swamp Sparrow was probably the oddest bird.

Tuesday 5/24: BBN had the usual summer birds. Those include Blue-winged Warbler, turkey, many grosbeaks, Indigo Bunting, etc. Plus Cherry Gall Azure, American Lady, and a few other butterflies.

Wednesday 5/25: BBN again before work. Same as yesterday minus the turkey plus site tick Red-breasted Nuthatch along with Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, Magnolia, Ovenbird, and Solitary Sandpiper, and a Question Mark. Duck ponds at lunch added Orchard Oriole and first patch odes of the year (many forktails, 1 baskettail, and a tandem pair of green darners).

WIR 5/12-5/18

Thursday 5/12: BBN: BT Blue, Parula, nothing too exciting.

Friday 5/13: Paine: YB Cuckoo, Nashville, probable Springtime Darner.

Saturday 5/14: Combined Birdathon/Menotomy Century Run. Ended up with 105 species ranging from Vine Brook Marsh to the Brooks Estate, Fells, Horn Pond, Horn Pond Mountain, Hanscom, Great Meadows, Lindentree Farms, Nine Acre Corner, White Pond, and the Charles.

Sunday 5/15: Led the BBC Mt. Auburn trip. It was raining for most of the time and no one showed, which didn’t bother me much. Ended up with 11 warblers and a few other things in an hour.

Monday 5/16: Duck ponds: swan was back, parula and yellowthroat were it otherwise.

Tuesday 5/17: Nothing much at Hardy Pond. Spotted Sandpiper flying across Cambridge Res. No storm-blown birds.

Wednesday 5/18: Great Meadows before work: 2 Hooded Merganser, lots of swallows including a few Cliff. Ravens at Prospect Hill (and a Fish Crow).

WIR 5/5-5/11

Thursday 5/5: Duck ponds had a few warblers, a grosbeak, and a Green Heron.

Friday 5/6: White-fronted still along the Charles, pretty quiet otherwise.

Saturday 5/7: Complete loop at Prospect Hill. Good number of warblers including Blackburnian and Northern Waterthrush. Also a sapsucker, 3 deer, Field Sparrow, many Indigo Buntings and tanagers, etc.

Sunday 5/8: Oxbow with Josh Rose and Tom Murray. Successfully found a couple Ringed Boghaunters, plus a few baskettails and a whiteface. Also a nice mix of Spring and Cherry Gall Azures, a Question Mark, and 40ish species of birds including Yellow-throated Vireo and drumming Ruffed Grouse.

Monday 5/9: Beaver Brook was very quiet (too windy?). BT Green, couple Yellow-rumps, and a Savannah Sparrow were about it.

Tuesday 5/10: Hardy Pond had 2 Ruddy and lots of swallows but they were all Tree and Barn.

Wednesday 5/11: Purgatory Cove was quiet.