Worcester Arboretum Project

Find and label trees around Worcester.

Sounds of Salisbury Park

A late evening scarlet tanager

The scarlet tanager sounds like a "robin with a sore throat" and looks like it has lost its way in the woods of Worcester.


As it is every year, birds pass through New England, this small stretch of flyway on their unbearably long and transnational journey from far a field like the Pampas of Argentina, forests of Panama, and the Caribbean Islands. And, each spring like those early philosophers with leather bag and paint and gun who "discovered" each bird of North America as their own, we now struggle to see and hear these visitors, amongst the new green trees.

Bird-a-thon final checklist

Well the final count for the 24 hour period was 70 species of birds. I've listed them in the order I spotted them.

May 15...

1 Gray Catbird
2 Black-capped Chickadee
3 White-breasted Nuthatch
4 Chimney Swift
5 Scarlet Tanager
6 Ovenbird
7 Veery
8 Red-eyed Vireo
9 Blue Jay
10 Wood Thrush
11 American Redstart
12 Baltimore Oriole
13 Red-bellied Woodpecker
14 Mallard
15 Pileated Woodpecker
16 Northern Cardinal
17 American Robin
18 Hairy Woodpecker
19 Canada Goose

May 16...

20 Mourning Dove
21 House Sparrow
22 Common Grackle
23 Chipping Sparrow
24 European Starling
25 Black and White Warbler
26 Common Yellowthroat
27 Rose-breasted Grosbeak
28 Solitary Vireo
29 Magnolia Warbler
30 Yellow-rumped Warbler
31 Blackburnian Warbler
32 Red-tailed Hawk
33 Rock Dove
34 Ruby-throated Hummingbird
35 Brown-headed Cowbird
36 Purple Finch
37 Great Crested Flycatcher
38 Chestnut-sided Warbler
39 Northern Mockingbird
40 Northern Flicker
41 Eastern Wood Peewee
42 Turkey Vulture
43 Swainson's Thrush
44 American Goldfinch
45 Pine Warbler
46 Black-throated Green Warbler
47 Tufted Titmouse
48 Northern Parula
49 Great Blue Heron
50 Black-throated Blue Warbler
51 Red-winged Blackbird
52 Warbling Vireo
53 Eastern Kingbird
54 Killdeer
55 Solitary Sandpiper
56 Semi-palmated Sandpiper
57 Spotted Sandpiper
58 Tree Swallow
59 Swamp Sparrow
60 Yellow Warbler
61 Song Sparrow
62 Savannah Sparrow
63 American Crow
64 Rufous-sided Towhee
65 Mute Swan
66 House Wren
67 Belted Kingfisher
68 Eastern Bluebird
69 Praire Warbler
70 Downy Woodpecker

My best David Attenborough

The plan...

The weather is iffy but, as Bird-a-thon has been rained on for the past three years, a 40% chance of precipitation is actually hopeful. I’m plotting my route in an attempt to keep my feet off pavement for the length of Worcester. I think I can make the crossing (actually a writhing “S” curve) from the west most city border with the town of Paxton to the southern border with Auburn in relative green.

I’ll strike out on the #6 WRTA bus after work arriving shortly before 6pm to begin birding in Cascades Park (looking for Pileated Woodpeckers and a variety of Thrush). I'll then make my way south-east around Patch’s and Coes Reservoirs, the Knight’s of Columbus ball field, connecting to Hawden Arboretum. From May Street I will cross the Big Y parking lot into the unnamed pass between Beaver Brook Park and a wonderful forgotten lot that is home to a healthy stand of Aspen trees and Brown Thrashers. If daylight allows I’ll climb up Newton Hill and hope to find an early nighthawk or owl. From Newton Hill / Elm Park I’ll make my way home via the Boynton for a burger and beer.

Saturday starts quite easily with a network of parks that lace the city: Elm Park, Institute Park, and Green Hill Park. From Green Hill things turn interesting. Crossing Rt 9 near UMass Medical, Google Maps shows some wonderful stretches of green along the MBTA rail line. I will follow small city streets in the hope of connecting Lake Park to Perkins Farm (a tract owned by the Greater Worcester Land Trust) popping out at Building 19 on Rt. 122. I’ll head back into the urban quiets and wend over to the Beaver Brook Trail at the north end of the Audubon Property, following familiar trail signs into the Broad Meadow Brook Sanctuary Center for 6pm.

Well… that’s the plan.