Hello all,

I spent the late afternoon at Alewife Reservation in Cambridge , partly to solve the mystery of what's happened to the Woodcocks that were present early in the season but apparently disappeared, just in time for the Friends of Alewife Reservation Woodcock Walk on 4/4, and haven't been seen since by anyone visiting at sunset (thanks Paul H for your updates).

The good news is that Woodcocks are still there: I flushed two from the grass just off the cinder path (where they were supposed to be on the 4th) and another near the Silver Maple Forest to the west during daylight. The bad news is that they're not doing their courtship thing. I had one fly by at dusk at the cinder path but not doing a courtship flight and not a single "peent". I have no idea what's going on - perhaps the males that were present early in the season have gone but I'm running into females that remain?

The Grackle and etc. roost is still happening but continues to diminish in size - down to several hundred from a peak of 3000+ about three weeks ago. A Wood Duck pair and singleton were pleasant surprises.

The list: 10 Canada Goose - two nests on Little River, one on Little Pond
2 Mute Swan - Little Pond
3 WOOD DUCK - a pair perched in a tree over the Little River, one flyby Perch Pond
1 American Black Duck - paired with a Mallard drake
9 Mallard
1 Double-crested Cormorant - Little Pond
1 Great Blue Heron
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Cooper's Hawk - imm
3 Red-tailed Hawk - two adults clearly paired, plus resident imm
2 Killdeer
3 AMERICAN WOODCOCK - flushed one at Silver Maple Forest, two at cinder path, assume one at path at dusk one of two flushed earlier
1 Ring-billed Gull
1 Herring Gull
14 Rock Pigeon
6 Mourning Dove
1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
4 Downy Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker
3 Eastern Phoebe
3 Blue Jay
5 American Crow
3 Tree Swallow - circling but not entering nest boxes
6 Black-capped Chickadee
3 Tufted Titmouse
1 Golden-crowned Kinglet
34 American Robin
1 Northern Mockingbird
2 European Starling
11 Song Sparrow
3 White-throated Sparrow
6 Northern Cardinal
14 Red-winged Blackbird
40 Common Grackle
2 Brown-headed Cowbird
2 House Finch
5 American Goldfinch
45 House Sparrow

Plus:
29 Eastern Painted Turtles
3 Mourning Cloak Butterflies - Silver Maple Forest
1 White-tailed Deer - doe on South side
1 American Toad - singing from small swale south of cinder path

Addenda:
- thanks to Ellen Mass of Friends of Alewife Reservation http://friendsofalewifereservation.org/homepage.htm for her company while covering the south portions of the reservation and showing me some great new spots there.

- last year I had Woodcocks peent-ing as late as May 6 so it's reasonable to think they'd still be at it this year in mid-April.

- the pair of Killdeer flew from and returned to the roof of the flat-topped building at 165 Cambridge Park Dr. Killdeer sometimes nest on rooftops so that's a spot worth keeping an eye on.

- the Grackle and other icterid and starling totals don't include numbers from the roost.

Tim Factor
Still in Boston

Links and club information at: http://mrines.com/Birds/Arlington/