I birded Arlington Reservation this morning, and managed to find the pectoral sandpiper but not the pipits reported yesterday. Otherwise, not too interesting there. On my way home, I stopped by Blair Pond as I do several times a week.

There I was rewarded with 5 male wood ducks in breeding plumage, a pair of kingfishers bickering over territory, and a sora feeding in the open for 15 minutes. I continue to be amazed how often there is something interesting in this tiny space. And because the pond is small, the birds are never very far away so the views are good.

(Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game explains why Sora Rail
is of specific concern in the northeast United States.
www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/conservation/birds/marsh_bird_survey.htm
— Comment by Ellen Mass)

Photo of the sora from www.markrosenstein.com/gallery2/main.php/v/birds/IMG_0233.jpg.html

Canada Goose - 3
Wood Duck - 5
Mallard - 22
Great Blue Heron - 1
Sora - 1
Solitary Sandpiper - 2
Least Sandpiper - 2
Mourning Dove - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 1
American Robin - 6
Gray Catbird - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Palm Warbler - 1
Song Sparrow - 1
Lincoln's Sparrow - 1
Northern Cardinal - 1
Common Grackle - 3
House Sparrow - 12