weekinreview – Page 78 – brewster's linnet . com

WIR 1/5-1/11

Tuesday 1/5: Kestrel on the way to work. Charles again at lunch. Carolina Wren and Hairy were about the only things different.

Wednesday 1/6: Cooper’s keeping everything down in the yard before work. Paine at lunch: red-belly, creeper. Sharpie in one of the trees in the courtyard at work.

Thursday 1/7: Charles at Moody St: one tagged gull. Charles at Elm St: nothing different.

Friday 1/8: Waverly Oaks Marsh had nothing so did a quick Screech-Owl run.

Saturday 1/9: Charles again and again nothing different. The Common Merganser below did pose nicely at least. Also had 19 species in the yard.

Sunday 1/10: Pretty much stayed in, quick check for the ravens late in the afternoon (mostly to show someone where they are, saw nothing on the ride).

Monday 1/11: Beaver Brook North: Flicker, 2 Tree Sparrows, Red-belly. New Beaver Brook/Rock Meadow Patch page

WIR 12/29-1/4

Tuesday 12/29: Too cold to go out, plus free lunch at work so no reason to go out.

Wednesday 12/30: Beaver Brook Ponds: Kingfisher (don’t understand, the Charles is totally open and there’s no kingfishers but I’ve found two in the last few days in spots that I could leap over the open water).

Thursday 12/31: Took a quick trip over to the Mystic Lakes (for Great Cormorant and eagles). Not a whole lot there, a quick walk at Sandy Beach had 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, a few hoodies, and a red-wing or two. Saw some ducks on the river at the other rotary on the way home, so pulled in and stopped for a minute. More hoodies and a Ring-neck among the mallards and swans. Started snowing then, but decided to stop at Dunback anyway. Snow was much worse there and I gave up after a brief search of the pines. Only thing of note was a big flock of White-throats foraging about 15 feet up in the pines.

Friday 1/1: Goldfinch for bird #1. Did the BBC trip, Laura’s report is up. Highlights: Ipswich Sparrow, Snowy Owl, Glaucous Gull, flock of Razorbills.

Saturday 1/2: Basically snowed in but ran out for a few minutes after hearing that a raven was on the deer carcass at the Cambridge Res. Took a bit of searching to find the carcass, but the bird was still there (no spot to stop though so no pictures).

Sunday 1/3: Snowed in again, nothing different for the yard but enough to be entertaining.

Monday 1/4: Charles at lunch for the Barrow’s Goldeneye that has reappeared. No goldeneye at all but 2 swans, 7 ring-necks, and a few Hooded and Common Mergansers made it a worthwhile trip.

WIR 12/22-12/28

Tuesday 12/22: Charles by Moody St at lunch, almost totally frozen and nothing interesting among the gulls.

Wednesday 12/23: Checked the rest of the Charles: 2 goldeneye, 3 common mergansers, 2 hoodies.

Thursday 12/24: Dunback in the afternoon, nothing exciting other than robins everywhere.

Friday 12/25: Took a quick walk through Lot 1: Winter Wren, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Flicker, several woodpeckers, big flock of juncos.

Saturday 12/26: CBC, separate post sooner or later.

Sunday 12/27: Stayed in.

Monday 12/28: Sick, stayed in.

WIR 12/15-12/21

Tuesday 12/15: Paine at lunch. Lots and lots of common stuff. Most interesting bird was a junco with a hint of white wingbars.

Wednesday 12/16: Lyman Pond, nothing of note. About 110 geese at Fernald.

Thursday 12/17: Too cold to go out even though I had taken the day off for CBC scouting. Fun time at the museum a least.

Friday 12/18: Eagles! Beaver Brook North after, 1 grackle, 2 Great Blue Herons, many Tree Sparrows.

Saturday 12/19: Down the rest of the Charles, not a whole lot. Also a stop at Gore Place where the Chipping Sparrow continued and a walk around Lot 1 with lots of robins and a few red-wings.

Sunday 12/20: CBC postponed because of snowstorm. Tree Sparrow in the yard among other things.

Monday 12/21: Annual holiday lunch, so no birding.

WIR 12/8-12/14

Tuesday 12/8: Charles at lunch: 2 hoodies, very little else.

Wednesday 12/9: Too nasty out for anything.

Thursday 12/10: Lyman Pond: Double-crested Cormorant still around, Great Blue was about it otherwise. Big flock of geese on Warren Field but nothing interesting among them in a quick scan.

Friday 12/11: Paine, lot of the common stuff but nothing of real interest.

Saturday 12/12: Stayed in, 18 species in or around the yard.

Sunday 12/13: Dunback quickly: flicker was about it. Charlesbank had a coot and a ton of ducks just out of sight. Forest Grove and Purgatory Cove had 5 Wood Ducks and a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds. A quick check of the river by Cronin’s Landing found this along with a couple hoodies and many common gulls:

Monday 12/14: Green-winged Teal at the YMCA. Lot 1 had lots of birds including a grackle at the pond and some waxwings mixed in with the many, many robins.

WIR 12/1-12/7

Some things I can mention from the last week:

Golden-crowned Kinglet in the yard, Wednesday 12/2.

A single meadowhawk still flying, Friday 12/4.

Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, many mergansers (both Common and Hooded), and a kingfisher on Hardy Pond, Saturday 12/5 (and everything but the kingfisher Sunday too).

Red-breasted Nuthatch at Paine, Monday 12/7.

WIR 11/24-11/30

Tuesday 11/24: Lyman Pond at lunch: 1 heron, 2 hoodies, 2 cormorants, 100+ regular geese.

Wednesday 11/25: Had to run to the mechanic before work, so made a couple stops along the Charles. About 9 Wood Ducks along Charles River Rd and Edgewater Dr along with a Pied-billed Grebe and 3 coots. One grebe at Forest Grove (just on the Waltham side of the line). Stopped at Hardy Pond at noon, about 10 hoodies, one ruddy, and a ton of juncos.

Thursday 11/26: Out to New Salem for Thanksgiving. Odd goose at the rotary caused a detour but it appeared to be a domestic. One moth in the house was about the only thing of note, appears to be Grote’s Pinion.

Friday 11/27: Rain canceled plans to head to Otis, nothing interesting on the ride home from New Salem. Big flock of robins over the yard and starlings over Leitha late in the afternoon. Red-wing and Red-belly calling from the end of the street.

Saturday 11/28: Charles midmorning, absolutely nothing (45 minutes and I had 8 species). Heron flying down the street below the houses was interesting in the neighborhood as was this sharpie in the yard for over an hour:

Sunday 11/29: Another MacGillivray’s and a big milestone. Also 2 meadowhawks still around.

Monday 11/30: Lunch at Hardy Pond: 2 Common Mergansers, many Hooded, 1 Ruddy.

WIR 11/17-11/23

Tuesday 11/17: Beaver Brook North before work. Raven (is that notable still?), few red-wings, not a whole lot else. Paine at lunch, nothing of note.

Wednesday 11/18: Purgatory Cove at lunch looking for Green-winged Teal and Screech-Owl. Neither of those and not much else. Pied-billed Grebe on the river, heron in the cove. Ring-necked Duck popped up as I was driving off.

Thurday 11/19: Field Station at lunch. One Song Sparrow and one Tree Sparrow in the gardens so I went to Fernald to look at geese without finding anything unusual.

Friday 11/20: It was supposed to be rainy but it looked nice so I went to Prospect Hill instead of Hardy Pond and found very little. Two meadowhawks still. They’ve already survived a night in the 20’s and with nothing close to that in the forecast I wonder if one may make it to December.

Saturday 11/21: see post

Sunday 11/22: Long walk around Met State. Heard-only Winter Wren was about it other than good numbers of common stuff. Several meadowhawks still. Great Meadows later, very little there but a huge flock of grackles on the way.

Monday 11/23: Heron overhead on the way to work. Paine at lunch, checking the pines for owls so not much of anything.

WIR 11/10-16

Tuesday 11/10: goose

Wednesday 11/11: Day off, so Minuteman Trail (falcon sp, few tree sparrows), Great Meadows (2 Pied-billed Grebe, big flock of red-wings, etc), Cambridge Res (goldeneye).

Thursday 11/12: Charles, next to nothing.

Friday 11/13: Beaver Brook ponds again, no goose but a few hoodies and a kingfisher. Lots of geese at Fernald but didn’t give them a thorough check.

Saturday 11/14: Poured all day, nothing much at the feeders.

Sunday 11/15: Arlington Res with Menotomy: 6 shovelers and basically the same as last week. One meadowhawk may or may not have still been alive. Quick check of Beaver Brook (barely anything) and Fernald (only a handful of geese) and a swing around the Res (kingfisher, Wood Ducks, goldeneye).

Monday 11/16: Prospect Hill: Red-breasted Nuthatch (finally for the county this year), several Hairy Woodpeckers.

WIR 11/3-11/9

Tuesday 11/3: Started for Prospect Hill at lunch but thought there was voting and the gate was closed, so ended up circling the Cambridge Res. Of course, finally had taken the scope out of the car, so the 3 interesting blobs way out had to stay unidentified. Stopped at Hardy Pond to eat, nothing much there.

Wednesday 11/4: Went to Paine at lunch, only to discover there was a major fallout of scoters and stuff all over. Hermit Thrush, Cooper’s, many meadowhawks and a couple Shadow Darners were the best I managed.

Thursday 11/5: Tried Cambridge Res before work. While dodging traffic, a Pied-billed Grebe, 2 Bufflehead, and a big flock of sleeping scaup. Cormorant at Hardy Pond. Lunch at the duck ponds with nothing of note.

Friday 11/6: Lot 1, quiet beyond a few Hoodies.

Saturday 11/7: Cambridge Res: late Osprey. Flint’s Pond was quiet. Trail building at Beaver Brook North: Harrier. Afternoon trip around Arlington Res had good numbers of all the expected dabbling ducks, 6 Killdeer, 1 snipe

Sunday 11/8: Fresh Pond after the Menotomy trip to Dunback: 12 Canvasback, 75 Ring-necks, 1 Bufflehead, 50+ Fish Crow.

Monday 11/9: Prospect Hill: Shadow Darner, sulphur, Autumn Meadowhawk, nothing much for birds.