Very quiet at Nahanton...

Impromptu Gathering

I arrived at the park at about 7:30 this morning. It was about 44 degrees. Just as I pulled up, Haynes arrived and we started around together. Ian, Mary Lou and Judy ended up joining us in the upper gardens.

As in the title, it was pretty quiet today. It  was such a lovely morning, that I actually thought it might be a little busier and the others must have thought so too since so many turned out today by coincidence.

In the lower gardens, we saw several titmice, robins, goldfinches, blue jays, chickadees, song sparrows and house finches. Flocks of grackles and then crows flew overhead. Some juncos are back, but not in the large flocks we will see later on.

In the upper gardens, were a pair of white-throated sparrows, song sparrows, more juncos, and two
very vocal and active red-bellied woodpeckers.

The soccer field, pond and river were extremely quiet and devoid of birds, although I suppose it didn't help that two fishermen on the dock were playing their radio extremely loudly.

We walked through the meadow, and though the picture of a birch tree to right doesn't do it justice, the yellow-orange leaves were quivering and dancing in the wind and looked so striking against the crisp, blue sky.

Lincoln Sparrow!

Lincoln Sparrow

I arrived at the park at 8:00. It was 49  degrees and sunny. A perfect October day!

I ran into Haynes and some other folks and we walked around together. In the lower gardens were robins and song sparrows, goldfinches, and some swamp sparrows. This lincoln sparrow was perched nearby and surprisingly got a halfway decent picture of him in his Harris tweed coat as Haynes likes to say. It was a good view of his buffy coloration near the breast. A flock of grackles flew overhead as well as some herring gulls. One of the first juncos to arrive was present joining our overwintering cardinals, blue jays and house finches.

As we headed to the upper gardens, we could hear a towhee calling "wheeeeet", although we never got to see him. I like to hope that we will have another overwintering towhee this year like we did a few years ago, but it's probably a long shot. There were some mourning doves, titmice and song sparrows. I caught a brief glimpse of a largish yellow bird which, thankfully, someone else witnessed too. After much discussion about it's yellow coloring and darkish gray wings, we finally settled on a female or young tanager. Cormorants in their "V" shape flew overhead. We saw a flicker and someone saw some black polls. Chippers foraged near the waste pile, chickadees hung upside down on sunflower heads trying to get the last of the seeds and a red-tailed hawk flew up above.

We revised the lower garden again and saw cowbirds, an eastern phoebe, yellow-rumps and a Merlin that flew quickly by, but all who saw it agreed that's what it was.

Down by the soccer field and pond area, was a red-bellied woodpecker, some nuthatches, robins, a hermit thrush (which only some saw), a female yellow-rump and a ruby-crowned kinglet!

Haynes' Fall Bird Walk sponsored by the Newton Conservators and the Friends of Nahanton Park

At 7:30 a.m., it was cloudy and 51 degrees - a good temperature to explore the park.

In the lower gardens, a few members of the group saw a blue-headed vireo which is always exciting. Unfortunately, I missed it. As we walked down the rows between the gardens, which are more floriferous than vegetable oriented at this point in the season, we saw some cowbirds, a savannah sparrow, swamp sparrows and chippers. Finally, I saw my first clay-colored sparrow which was absolutely beautiful! We saw a few yellow-rumps flitting here and there amongst the grasses and a ruby-crowned kinglet in the large, overgrown crabapple to the left of most of the plots. A red-tailed hawk was seen as well as some cedar waxwings. White-throated sparrows were present as well as some catbirds, song sparrows, chippers, blue jays, catbirds and goldfinches. A small flock of Canada geese flew overhead.

In the upper gardens. Hayes told us of a Saffron finch he had seen the previous weekend. It's not a bird anyone would ordinarily see here, as it is native to South America. What a spectacular bird! I hope it finds its way somewhere safe.

So, we didn't see the Saffron, but we did see some nuthatches, a phoebe, cardinals, chickadees, song sparrows, goodies, downies, jays and a flicker  - our normal fare - especially for this time of year.

Fun Fall Feathers

The fall sparrows are finally coming in. Yesterday in the lower garden there was a White-crowned Sparrow, several White-throated Sparrows and Swamp Sparrows, and this morning I found a nice  Clay-colored Sparrow --

Yesterday there was also a beautiful Blackpoll Warbler,

and this bird in the upper garden --

This is a Saffron Finch. I saw a lot of them in Brazil in August, but this one is much bigger and brighter than what I remember. It's from a different subspecies, probably from Peru. This is a popular cage bird, in the news

https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/02/21/finches_are_latest_victim_of_animal_based_gambling/

because they are made to fight each other.

Haynes' Brookline Bird Club Fall Bird Walk

BBC Bird Walk

I always like to arrive early and do a little scouting around before an official bird walk. At 7:30 a.m., it was foggy and about 60 degrees.

We had an interesting crew - one of the group was an American who had lived in Sweden for such a long time, that the birds here were very exciting for him.

In the lower garden, were our usual song sparrows, robins, blue jays, chickadees, goldfinches, cardinals, catbirds, but in addition we saw a hummingbird and a red-eyed vireo which is always a treat.

In the upper gardens, were two phoebes, some titmice, downies, goldfinches, a common yellowthroat male and female, flickers, chipping sparrows, cardinals, nuthatches and a nice view of a hairy woodpecker which is always nice since we don't see them that often at Nahanton.

Blue heron replaces the cormorant!

Ready, set, march!

It was sprinkling slightly and cloudy at 7:45 a.m. and about 62 degrees.

Ran into Ian and then Sabrina in the lower gardens. The catbirds are still here and lots of goldfinches and song sparrows. A hummer whizzed by. Sabrina saw a redstart, but sadly, I missed it. There were several chipping sparrows, a mockingbird, robins, blue jays and titmice.

Ready for the catch!

In the upper gardens, we saw a flicker, cardinals, a phoebe, more catbirds, goldfinches, song sparrows, robins and chickadees. A beautiful common yellowthroat female appeared. We heard the peewee calling as usual. A black & white warbler made itself known and Ian and Sabrina saw an ovenbird and a chestnut-sided warbler. We also saw a pair of nuthatches, a late staying house wren, and a very late female oriole.

When we got to the river, we saw our blue heron which had been very scarce this summer almost in the same spot as the cormorant the week before! They are such amazing, large birds. I love to watch them.

As we walked through woodcock meadow, Ian spotted what we determined to be a pine warbler on a nearby branch. So all, in all, there were more than a few warblers seen.

Hummers love honeysuckle!

Hummer indulging!

At 7:20 a.m., it was clear and sunny and 58 degrees.

Hummers may love honeysuckle, but downies in the lower garden were going crazy for the huge sunflower seed heads.

It was a beautiful day and all our regulars were out and about - goldfinches, cardinals, catbirds, chippers, robins and their young, titmice and chickadees.

The hummer shown to left was in the upper gardens and it was obsessed with the bright red honeysuckle. If you've ever tried sipping the nectar yourself, you can understand what is so appealing. It's clear nectar is sweet and delicious for us too.

Cormorant

Down by the soccer field, was a phoebe, a flicker, catbirds, another hummer, a few cedar waxwing and a peewee calling from the woods.

As I approached the river, I was most surprised to see a large bird on a rock on the other side of the Charles. It was a cormorant. I have seen them on the Charles before, but not in this location. It was a great view, as you could see the tell-tale yellow beak clearly and it's large, webbed feet.

There will be a fall bird walk led by Haynes Miller on Oct. 4th at 8:00 a.m. Meet at the Nahanton St. entrance.