Late Sunday afternoon I checked a few local ponds for migrant waterfowl, really hoping some scoters might have dropped down for a rest before continuing onto the ocean, however that was not the case. The "best" water birds were two Pied-billed Grebes on Round Meadow Pond, a Common Loon on Mare Meadow Resevior and two Common Loons on Lake Wompanoag (the loons were likely lingering nesters). However thicket birding paid off with a nice variety of sparrows, numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
Swamp, Song and White-throated Sparrows were the common species found, but juncos were also present in a few spots and a Lincoln's Sparrow showed nicely in Gardner.
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| Swamp Sparrow in Westminster |
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| A handsome White-throated Sparrow |
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| Swamp Sparrow (Left) , Song Sparrow (Right) |
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| Another "Swampy" taking a gust of wind from behind. |
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| Lincoln's Sparrow (right profile) |
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| Lincoln's Sparrow (left profile) |
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| Lincoln's Sparrow (Straight on) |
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| Lincoln's Sparrow (full side view) |
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| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
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| Eastern Bluebird |
Also I checked Crystal Lake for roosting gulls near dusk, all three "common" gull species were present, but in low numbers; Ring-billed Gull (45), Herring Gull (12) and Great Black-backed Gull (11). Nothing like former years when hundreds would congregate at dusk during the fall and spring. One of my largest gull counts, at Crystal Lake, was from Nov. 24th, 2006 with 75 Ring-billed, 2200 Herring and 500 Great Black-backed Gulls. With many landfill fill closures those days are likely gone (for Herring and "Black-backs"), not a bad thing for the water treatment profession.
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