Visiting family and college basketball games (including the Rutgers Women’s victory on Sunday afternoon, setting up yet another game against our arch rival Connecticut in the Elite 8) limited my birding this weekend.

However, on Saturday, our birdwalk group visited Dragon Field, where a Northern Shrike became my 152nd Dragon Field Patch bird – and one I had been seeking here for a long time. Meanwhile, we heard a Bohemian Waxwing (or who knows how many) call as it (they) flew overhead, #153 for the D.F.! Later in the day, a stroll at Royal River Park with Sasha produced my first Eastern Phoebe of the spring.

On Sunday morning, I only made a short stop at Yarmouth harbor. While the lone drake Ring-necked Duck is still present, the Canvasbacks have now moved on. Meanwhile, once again, feeder-watching here at the store has been particularly productive, with 20 species each day, including a newly returned Dark-eyed Junco, 3 Song Sparrows, and our resident Carolina Wren who has once again begun to sing exuberantly.

On Monday, however, I spent quite a bit more time in the field. Recently, Yarmouth came out with a handy guide to the town’s Open Space. Free, printed copies are available around town, including here at the Wild Bird Center, but it is also available online. A few of the properties were new to me, and others I had only heard about but not yet visited. While I regularly bird Bayview Preserve, Sandy Point Beach, and Royal Rover Park, and I occasionally visit Pratt’s Brook Park and Fels-Groves Preserve, I am always on the lookout for new places to bird, new patches to list, and new locations for birdwalks. With this in mind, I set out this morning less interested in bird-finding, than I was in finding places for bird-finding (although, I did find a few decent birds in the process!).

The first stop was the Sweetsir Farm Property. This small park featured mixed woods, dominated by Red Maple and Balsam Fir, with a trail that led to the Royal River. Any riparian area can produce good birding, so this place would be a good spot to check in migration, especially in early spring. Today, however, it did produce my first two Rusty Blackbirds of the season.

The Sligo Road Property intrigued me a bit more, as it seemed to hold potential for scrubby migrants. Unfortunately, it looked like many of the patches of brush were dominated by invasive buckthorn. Limited biodiversity begets limited biodiversity. However, there seemed to be enough habitat, with more useful native plants, to make this a spot worth checking. I think April and late fall – depending on their mowing regime here – would be good for sparrows. In fact, today I had 8 American Tree Sparrows – including a few in full song, something the species does not do much of on migration – and a few Dark-eyed Juncos. I also flushed an American Woodcock from a patch of exposed dirt.

The Katherine Tinker Preserve on Cousin’s Island is probably worth a check in migration, especially on days in the fall when Sandy Point is hopping. I think the same holds true for the Littlejohn Island Preserve, although this larger space may prove productive in both spring and fall – even though it was ravaged by last year’s Patriot’s Day Nor’easter. Since I was in the neighborhood, I also stopped at a few docks and access points to the water to scan for waterbirds. About 50 Purple Sandpipers and 18 Greater Scaup off of Madeleine Point were the most noteworthy sightings.

So, I have now visited all of Yarmouth’s Open Space properties, and I will definitely be back to the new additions to my birding repertoire. While Sandy Point is well established as THE place to be in the fall for migrants on the mainland, the harbor is now definitely on birder’s radar thanks to this spring’s Canvasback flock. Bayview Preserve is getting more attention – helped in part by that Seaside Sparrow that I found there last spring, and is a regular destination for our store’s birdwalks. Last fall I had a Blue Grosbeak at Fels-Groves Preserve, and we visit Pratt’s Brook Park a few times – at least once in June or July for its breeding Canada Warblers. In other words, there’s a lot of great birding right here in Yarmouth!

Speaking of great birding here in Yarmouth, the feeders at the store have once again been very active. While I had stepped out to make a seed delivery, Jeannette was watching the activity when an American Woodcock stepped out of the brush and probed its way along the edge of the garden. (And, don't forget, for those who want to see more of, and learn more about, woodcocks, join me on the evening of Saturday, April 12th for my Woodcocks Gone Wild walk at Pineland Farms. See our website for more info). The thick snow cover that we have throughout the area right now has forced woodcocks to seek open ground where ever they can find it, and the drainage seep in our garden, at the warm, sunny edge of a plowed parking lot provided such a location – to the benefit of our Yard List, which now stands at 119!