Wednesday 2/9: Meh
Thursday 2/10: Did Paine for the first time in a while. Will be some time before I bother again as the total list for 20 minutes walking was 1 Mourning Dove and 1 American Crow.
Friday 2/11: Rock Meadow was very quiet.
Saturday 2/12: Extended Charles plus a chipmunk in the yard.
Sunday 2/13: Dunback had lots of chickadees and Blue Jays and pretty much nothing else. Cambridge Res had nothing.
Monday 2/14: Prospect Hill, pretty quiet.
Tuesday 2/15: Too cold.
Wednesday 2/2: Snowed in.
Thursday 2/3: Managed a bit of the river walk. Two Fish Crows in the parking lot, coot at the bridge, and a couple ring-necks and mergansers. River was mostly frozen.
Friday 2/4: Duck ponds kinda sorta. One step in and I was knee-deep in snow, so didn’t walk around.
Saturday 2/5: More or less stayed home. Quick run around the Cambridge Res for the coyote show (raven show was over).
Sunday 2/6: Charles
Monday 2/7: Prospect Hill. Lots of robins and not much else. Might have had something by climbing over the snowbanks and checking the base but not on my lunch hour.
Tuesday 2/8: Charles again but it was raining so just stared at gulls (and a Fish Crow) in the parking lot.
Wednesday 1/26: Tried the Duck Ponds but they were too snowy to walk around.
Thursday 1/27: Snowed in yet again.
Friday 1/28: Checked the Charles along the Watertown line. Nothing unusual but good to be somewhere slightly different.
Saturday 1/29: See weekend post and add a Hermit Thrush at Dunback.
Sunday 1/30: See weekend post and add the usual Cape Ann birds. Original plan was to meet up with the Bloggerhead Kingbirds but the mystery gull meant I didn’t go beyond Jodrey Pier with them (well, lunch too). King Eider in the afternoon was quite nice, in binocular range this time as opposed to the black dot that others said had a blue head on Jan 1.
Monday 1/31: Beaver Brook had lots of dogs.
Tuesday 2/1: More storms…
Wednesday 1/19: Tried to hit Moody St but couldn’t find parking close enough to fit it in on my lunch break, so went to the Elm St end of the river walk. One goldeneye, 41 Ring-neck, scaup still present.
Thursday 1/20: Found space for Moody St. Almost frozen (open on the other side of Moody St and at Prospect St). Eventually dug out the wigeon at Prospect St but nothing else among the mallards, geese, and gulls.
Friday 1/21: Snowed in again. Feeders were busy all day but nothing new.
Saturday 1/22: Didn’t bother going out really. Usual feeder birds still and a big flock of robins moving through the end of the street late afternoon were it.
Sunday 1/23: Led the WLT annual duck walk. Had a good crowd, about 30, and most of the birds cooperated. All the usual stuff was around, plus recently arrived Wood Ducks and a Golden-crowned Kinglet in the Shaw’s lot. Photos of some things up sooner or later.
Monday 1/24: Too cold for anything. Drove up Woerd Ave at lunch and saw a Red-tail and a few House Sparrows.
Tuesday 1/25: Went to Beaver Brook. Peregrine flew over getting out of the car and I thought it landed on one of the radio towers by the marsh. Wandered over there and could only find 2 Red-tails. Didn’t really have time to check the rest of Beaver Brook but walked through quickly. Singing House Finches were nice.
Wednesday 1/12: Snow storm, Tree Sparrow at the feeder finally.
Thursday 1/13: Roads still too much of a mess to go out.
Friday 1/14: Charles. Found the Lesser Scaup John Hines had the other day but no Barrow’s or Red-breasted Mergansers. River was almost frozen from the railroad bridge to the opening between the overlooks. Tree Sparrow down the street was a bit unusual.
Saturday 1/15: Went to Dunback in the cold, found nothing.
Sunday 1/16: Out to Otis for something that I’m not talking about, nothing of note.
Monday 1/17: Finally got a bird in Otis when some chickadees called as we packed the car. Sharpie in Springfield on the way back was the only thing of interest.
Tuesday 1/18: Rather nasty out.
Wednesday 1/5: Lot 1 was pretty quiet. Did stop at the Y on the way over and found the pintails still there (thought it had totally frozen at some point since the CBC but maybe not). Did miss 2 Cooper’s in the yard.
Thursday 1/6: Hit the river walk as John Sharp found 2 Barrow’s yesterday. On arrival, only could see Sunday’s bird. Walked down to the other end (40! Ring-necks on the way), then found both together when I returned. New one looks like the returning bird, other’s clearly a young one (very obvious in direct comparison: lighter brown head, bill and eye aren’t as bright, etc).
Friday 1/7: Lyman Pond was frozen so ended up at the field station with nothing much.
Saturday 1/8: Walked to Lot 1, West Meadow, and Met State. Other than a Great Horned at Lot 1, it was pretty quiet.
Sunday 1/9: Charles
Monday 1/10: Prospect Hill: handful of creepers, not much else.
Tuesday 1/11: Beaver Brook, nothing unusual but pretty good variety for a quick walk in the cold.
Wednesday 12/29: River Walk: 16 Ring-necks, 7 Common Mergansers, Golden-crowned Kinglet.
Thursday 12/30: Scheduled but unknown power outage at work got me out for an extra hour. Wandered Dunback, nothing particularly interesting.
Friday 12/31: Started off at the Charles, 3 goldeneye plus the rest of the regulars. Moody St had a wigeon and the Lesser Black-back returning.
Saturday 1/1: BBC Trip
Sunday 1/2: Quick run down the Charles. Very little on the way down, but there was a yellow-billed goldeneye on the way back, so 3 straight winters with a Barrow’s now. Turned around to leave her and noticed a Merlin on the light poles.
Monday 1/3: Duck ponds were pretty quiet.
Tuesday 1/4: Paine, zip.
Sunday 12/19: CBC
Monday 12/20: Tired from Sunday
Tuesday 12/21: Woerd Ave boatramp had 10 Hoodies and 6 Ring-necks.
Wednesday 12/22: Charles: 5 Hoodies, 1 heron, 1 Cooper’s, 3 crows of slightly different size.
Thursday 12/23: Duck Ponds: One Great Blue, not much else.
Friday 12/24: Long walk on the Charles (Shaw’s to Woerd Ave boat ramp and back). About 10-15 hoodies, 9 Ring-necks, first goldeneye of the winter finally, 2 Fish Crow, 2 Red-winged Blackbird, 2 herons, and a flyover siskin/redpoll. Went to Dunback after for redpolls, no luck with those but 2 Fox Sparrows made it worthwhile.
Saturday 12/25: Yard was had the usual, nothing good on the way to NH.
Sunday 12/26: Snowstorm didn’t blow anything good in.
Monday 12/27: Snowstorm still didn’t blow anything good in.
Tuesday 12/28: Nothing, too windy and snowy to bother going out.
Sunday 12/12: Red-shoulder at Hardy Pond as already mentioned. Tried Dunback and the field station in the rain with nothing to show.
Monday 12/13: Lyman Pond had lots of feeder birds and not much on the water.
Tuesday 12/14: Prospect Hill had nothing.
Wednesday 12/15: Paine had a couple juncos and a creeper.
Thursday 12/16: Checked Gore Place for a change. Possible target for the CBC not found and not too much of interest.
Friday 12/17: Charles: 5 Ring-necks, 10 Hoodies, 1 Common Merganser.
Saturday 12/18: CBC scouting. Dunback was quiet (multiple sharpies contributing). Lots of geese at Fernald. Gore was birdy but nothing unusual. Pintail with the mallards and geese in front of the YMCA was nice. Afternoon buzz around Beaver St didn’t have much. Moody St. was more open than last weekend; nothing unusual on the water, but a Purple Finch was a nice surprise.
Adjusting dates again as I got lazy.
Thursday 12/2-Monday 12/6: New Jersey and Delaware. Trip report in prep but highlights included thousands of geese, a few Tundra Swans, many eagles, good numbers of shorebirds, etc.
Tuesday 12/7: Prospect Hill was quiet.
Wednesday 12/8: Paine was even quieter.
Thursday 12/9: Didn’t get out.
Friday 12/10: Mother found a warbler at Government Center, I couldn’t find it. Quick run along the Charles had 5 Ring-necks, 3 Common Mergansers, a few Hoodies, and a Great Blue Heron.
Saturday 12/11: Started CBC scouting by walking through BBN. Not a whole lot but 2 Cedar Waxwings in Lot 1, many robins at the West Meadow, and about 10 Tree Sparrows at the McLaughlin building weren’t bad. Back to Government Center (no warbler), then on to the Charles. Seemed quieter than yesterday (more hoodies, a second heron, but only 1 Ring-neck and no Commons). Kingfisher was good though. On to Woerd Ave (frozen), then back to the Moody to Prospect St loop. Another ring-neck but otherwise common stuff. Attempted to go for geese but none of the flocks were in a spot that was suited for stopped, so on to Flint’s Pond (couple goldeneye, bunch of ruddy) and then the Cambridge Res. Mostly frozen but one puddle had about 25 swans, another had 8 goldeneye, and the third had several hundred ducks including 20 Wood, 20 Hooded Merganser, 7 Common Merganser, 2 Gadwall, 1 American Wigeon, and many Mallard and Black.