Assabet

 Biked to Assabet yesterday (Sunday) morning.  Nice views of a common yellowthroat and a Carolina wren.  Best sighting was a pair of blue gray gnatcatchers.

 

I also think I saw a female oriole, though I'm not 100% sure.  It was yellow with blackish wings.  The head was also yellow and the size was too big for a warbler or vireo.  Oriole is my best guess.

Newburyport

 

Parker River Refuge boat trip with the Brookline Birding Club.

Highlights included many ospreys, yellow legs, willets.  And some reasonable looks at bobolinks and salt marsh sparrows.  

And one surprise juvenile green heron sighting on the way back into dock

The next morning, we went back to the refuge by land and saw swarms of plovers and sandpipers.

Jenks

Went to Jenks for the first time in a while.  Not much, but I did find a male/female pair of indigos chirping at each other.  I don't see the females too often, so we'll call it a successful morning. 

I think the following picture better shows the female's wingbar.

Yellow Throated Vireo

Hit Assabet with Gui on Friday.  Plenty of birds, highlight was the yellow throated vireo.  Certainly, it was the best look I've ever had of one.

We also saw a prairie warbler near the "drop zone"

Veery

I got a good close-up look at a veery this morning.  The bird makes a great sound, thrush like metallic with its own echo.  

Captain Sargent

Mostly catbirds and red-winged blackbirds but did get good looks at two yellow warblers and heard another couple.

Also, when I pulled into the parking lot, there were two large male deer.

Fourth of July at Assabet

 Another good day at Assabet.  I finally found a couple of the prairie warblers that I was told about.  They were at the meadow section.

Plus, I had good looks at a couple of black and whites.

And of course there were indigos and towhees and the other usual suspects.

Kennebunkport

Birding was pretty slow on our Maine trip to Kennebunkport, even at the Rachel Carson Preserve.  Fortunately, I got a good break on the last morning and took my bins to Dock Square and got a clear, if not particularly close, view of a bald eagle.

Assabet

Another morning bike ride to Assabet.  Another good set of birds.  Indigos, cedar waxwings, towhees and a blue wing.  The cedar waxwings were particularly handsome today.

Brewster's Woods Concord

I visited Brewster's Woods the last two weekends in search of a reported prothonotary warbler. No luck, but I did see a barred owl on my first visit there.

Sandwich , Cape of Cod

Did a one-night stay in Sandwich to see Josh Simpson at the Glass Museum.   

Took the opportunity to do some beach birding.  Highlights included the following:

Many Least Terns

Willet (this is my picture).

These are good Willet pictures

Common Eider

Piping Plover (including babies)

 

Bike and Bird

A combined bike and bird trip to Assabet paid off this morning.

Got my first good look this year at a Rose-breasted Grosbeak 

Other highlights were a female American Redstart and 2 Baltimore Orioles

Memorial Day Weekend

 Lots of Memorial Day Weekend non-birding activity.  Hosted Ronnie on Thursday night and had dinner with the Wyman's. Had lunch with June and Donna.  Hosted Vernick on Sunday night and went to Gillette to see Cornell win the Lax national championship.  

And went birding with Gui on Friday followed by a happy hour in our backyard.   Another Indigo Bunting and a Towhee were the highlights.