Date: 5/18/25 3:51 pm From: Matt S. <accipiter22...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] May 18, 2025 Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge - Successful BBC Walk, Blackburnian, Bay-Breasted, etc.
Hi all,
I lead a Brookline Bird Club Walk to Mount Auburn this morning, we had a
big group which is always nice to see. Things were pretty quiet at first,
the Ridge, Halcyon, and Spectacle were pretty quiet, a few redstarts and
red-eyed vireo aside. The Dry Dell was a bit livelier, I think since the
day was starting to warm. We had black-throated blue and black-throated
green in there. After that we made our way to the Dell, which was much
livelier. It usually is a pretty lively spot in general for activity, but
I have noticed this year that it seems to contain 90% of what’s going on
for any given day that I have been there, my mental lists from there are
larger than the rest of the cemetery combined. Right away as we were
walking in it was clearly where the activity was centered. We had BTG,
BTB, redstarts, common yellowthroat, black-and-white, magnolia and the
palest male blackburnian warbler I have ever seen. If you did not know
blackburnians well you might assume it was a female, but it was definitely
not. The orange was there, but was almost pastel on the bird, and the wash
did not go very far down the chest before fading out completely. Even the
blacks on it were not particularly bold.
There was a lot of stuff flying around in the Dell, but after a while I
think we got most of it. Still, it’s always risky leaving an active spot
to explore another. We ascended Harvard Hill which was pretty moribund, so
we decided to try the tower, and right as we got to the path leading up we
heard a Bay-Breasted calling. It took a few minutes and the entire group
looking, but eventually the male obliged us with some great views. One
group member described the song as a laid-back redstart. There was another
bird in the same tree, it looked drab at first, but then I realized it was
actually a female bay-breasted! As soon as I made that connection the male
came in and drove it off. It was a lifer for a couple folks, which I love
helping people get so that was rewarding for me.
We had a really great group of people on this trip, which always makes a
fun experience even better, lots of folks helping other folks get on birds
and finding angles to spot stuff overhead. This was definitely important
as we are at the stage of migration where things are really leafed out at
this point.
That's all for now,
Matt s.
Newton, NH
<Accipiter22...>
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Mount Auburn Cemetery, Middlesex, Massachusetts, US
May 18, 2025 7:01 AM - 9:38 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.77 mile(s)
46 species
