Fresh Pond

 Beautiful morning at Fresh Pond.  Got there early, the sun was bright, and the birds looked great.  Lots of yellow warblers and orioles.  

Highlight 1: Orchard Oriole

Highlight 2: First ever Wilson's Warbler

The black cap made the ID pretty easy, but I verified with the Merlin sound ID.

Acton Arboretum

 Quick loop today didn't disappoint.  Perfect views of one Scarlet Tanager and one Rose breasted Grosbeak, battling it out high in a bare tree.

Yesterday evening I took Danno to Great Meadows.

The yellow warbler did not impress him, but a blue heron fly by and the overall look of the place did.

Heald Street Orchard - Trip 2

I made a solo trip out to Heald Street Orchard Sunday.  Saw basically the same cast of characters.

Highlights included great views of both a Eastern Wood Peewee

and a male and female American Redstart.  The female was on the nest, which was cool, but only the head and tail could be seen, so I couldn't see the cool coloring.

I also learned the Field Sparrow song.  

On the Warbler front, it took some patience, but I did get good views of both the Common Yellowthroat

and Blue Winged Warbler.

Mt. Auburn - Trip 2

 The stars of the day today were the American Redstarts.  Plentiful, loud, and easy to find.

Also omnipresent, and even more vocal, were the Warbling Vireos

Another highlight, particularly for the more serious birders, was the Olive-sided Flycatcher

Great view on, as one birder put it, the only dead branch at Mt. Auburn.

Another hard to find guy we nabbed as the Eastern Peewee

Add in the Kingbirds and the Great Crested Flycatcher

 and you have a  good day for flycatchers.  

On the warbler front, saw a couple of Nashville Warblers

along with several black and white.

Two additional high value warblers were also found, but the views were partial.

A Magnolia at the start of the walk, that was mostly obscured.

And a Canadian Warbler at one of the ponds.

I could see the yellow and blue, but not the throat pattern.

I 

Scarlet Tanagers

Scarlet Tanagers spotted at Captain Sargent on Monday and Steele Farm on Tuesday.

I believe the one at Steele Farm was with his gal

I also saw a black throated green on Tuesday.  Ho Hum.

And one other I couldn't put a postive ID on.  Maybe a yellow, maybe a prairie.  Maybe something else.

Heald Street Orchard

 Lori and I hit Heald Street Orchard this morning. 

We started with a parula in the parking log

Like last time with Andy, we were surrounded by blue winged warblers.  Got our bins on two of them

The last warbler of the day was a FOY yellow

Other notables included two kingbirds

an oriole, and lots of common yellowthroats hear, but unfortunately not seen

Mt. Auburn

 Met Ross and the BBC at the world famous Mt. Auburn Cemetery.  The light wasn't great, but there were some good birds.  Good new sightings started with the prairie warbler

and the black throated blue

The white on the wing is very helpful in the ID, particularly since the overcast sky prevented the blue from standing out.  

There were a couple of blue headed warblers as well 

On the non-warbler front, a green heron, both in the water and later in a tree, was a great find

Orioles, yellow rumps, a black and white, parulas, and gnat catchers rounded out the field as far as I can recall.  I'm not sure if the BBC posts an official list.

Arboretum

 Yellow-rumps of course, an oriole, and my first of year Northern Parula's.

Steele Farm

 Made a quick trip to Steele Farm this morning.  There were lots of birds, but get my eyes on many.  I did get a good view of an oven bird

which is pretty close to a hermit thrush, isn't it?  (or a wood thrush).  But song wise, I'm pretty sure it was an oven bird.

Week in Review

 Lori and I went to the Acton Arboretum on Wednesday and Friday.

Wednesday was very quiet, though we did fine a hermit thrush

Friday was very good.  We started with a colorful collection of goldfinches, house finches, cardinals, and blue birds.

Then we found the warblers, starting with a first ever black throated green 

There was a small flock of yellow rumped warblers and one black and white

Today at NARA Lori and I saw our first Orioles of the year.  I found the female, Lori the male

Belle Isle Marsh and Stowe

Met Ross at Belle Isle Marsh this morning.   The ducks were a bit disappointing, but there were several egrets of various types.   The most interesting bird was the Greater Yellowlegs

Went to Captain Sargent in the late afternoon for a short walk and ran into a Barred Owl.

Very nice.