First of all, after scheduling this walk a month or so back, I learned that Environment for the Americas, along with a multitude of local conservation groups was holding a big World Migratory Bird Day event at Walden Ponds on the same day. Nevertheless, knowing that the Walden Ponds area is fairly extensive, I kept it as our proposed destination, and, despite the number of informational tables set out, we ended up having a great walk away from the masses (for the most part).

As I occasionally like to do, let’s start with what we didn’t see.  Given all the ponds there – 17 or so – one would expect, and did expect, to see some ducks, grebes, coots, etc.  We had to settle for Canada Geese and Mallards.  High water just about everywhere kept shorebirds to a minimum with only a few Killdeer and a single Spotted Sandpiper.  Flycatchers were minimal with only a single Say’s Phoebe and three Eastern Kingbirds.  We had no Western Kingbirds.  While we had some American Goldfinches, House Finches, and Song Sparrows, we had no other sparrows, e.g. no Spotted Towhee.  Finally, I was personally looking forward to some Western Tanagers.  On May 18, 2019 my Walden Ponds group recorded 24 – this year we had none.  Also, on that same 2019 walk we had over 40 Yellow-rumped Warblers – again, none this year.

Moving on to what we were able to see.  We did have a few other water-related species: Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, American White Pelican, and two piscivorous raptors – Osprey and Bald Eagle.  And we had three other raptors – Cooper’s Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, and American Kestrel.  The Icterids (New World blackbirds) were well represented by six species – Yellow-headed Blackbird, Bullock’s Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle, and Great-tailed Grackle.  Forty percent of our birds were icterids, and almost 25 percent were Common Grackles.  Finally, we had good numbers of Yellow Warblers and a few Common Yellowthroats.  One could rightfully expect to see a few more warbler species, but warbler numbers have been worrisomely low this spring.

Walden Ponds, May 17, 2025
45 species
7 participants

Canada Goose  34
Mallard  6
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  30
Eurasian Collared-Dove  3
Mourning Dove  22
Broad-tailed Hummingbird  1
Killdeer  5
Double-crested Cormorant  7
Great Blue Heron  6
American White Pelican  5
Osprey  7
Cooper’s Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  1
Red-tailed Hawk  4
Downy Woodpecker (Eastern)  2
Hairy Woodpecker (Rocky Mts.)  1
Northern Flicker  4
American Kestrel  1
Say’s Phoebe  1
Eastern Kingbird  3
Warbling Vireo  2
Blue Jay  6
Black-billed Magpie  2
Common Raven  5
Black-capped Chickadee  8
Northern Rough-winged Swallow  1
Barn Swallow  3
Cliff Swallow  4
Northern House Wren  9
European Starling  18
American Robin  16
Cedar Waxwing  2
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  21
Song Sparrow  6
Yellow-breasted Chat  3
Yellow-headed Blackbird  1
Bullock’s Oriole  3
Red-winged Blackbird  110
Brown-headed Cowbird  30
Common Grackle  40
Great-tailed Grackle  3
Common Yellowthroat  4
Yellow Warbler  31