The Blue Hills Reservation is a big place, covering approximately 7,000 acres. The Fowl Meadow section, in the towns of Milton and Canton, contains the Neponset River and adjacent floodplain swamp and freshwater marsh. Bird diversity in this area is high and May is the ideal month on the calendar to cover it. 11 people enjoyed favorable weather (a mix of sun and clouds, Lgt. NE winds, 50sF).  We quickly realized that Blue-headed Vireos, Warbling Vireos, and Least Flycatchers, although singing regularly, can take a group effort to see! Most of the representative birds of this habitat were here in varying numbers with Yellow Warblers leading the way. The highlights included 4 Least Flycatchers, a Green Heron, & a grunting Virginia Rail. Full list:

Canada Goose  6
Mallard  1
Wild Turkey  1
Common Loon  1    Flyover
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Green Heron  1    Nice looks
Red-shouldered Hawk  2    Together. Most likely a pair.
Red-tailed Hawk  3
Virginia Rail  1
Herring Gull (American)  1
Mourning Dove  1
Chimney Swift  1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  2
Least Flycatcher  4    Nice looks by entire group. Evenly spread out along Burma road.
Great Crested Flycatcher  1
Blue-headed Vireo  2
Warbling Vireo  3
Blue Jay  6
American Crow  5
Black-capped Chickadee  4
Tufted Titmouse  6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  2    *Seems low
Veery  0
Wood Thrush  2
American Robin  10
Gray Catbird  12
European Starling  1
Ovenbird  3
Northern Waterthrush  2
Blue-winged Warbler  2
Black-and-white Warbler  7
Nashville Warbler  2
Common Yellowthroat  9    Very "low key" today. No good looks
Magnolia Warbler  1  
Blackburnian Warbler  1    Heard only
Yellow Warbler  20    rough estimate
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)  4
Black-throated Green Warbler  3
Eastern Towhee  1
Song Sparrow  10
Swamp Sparrow  9
White-throated Sparrow  4
Northern Cardinal  3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  8
Red-winged Blackbird  25    rough estimate
Common Grackle  25    rough estimate
Brown-headed Cowbird  10
Baltimore Oriole  7
American Goldfinch  6

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Vin Zollo