From Tom Halliwell:

Hi Jon,

Late this morning (Saturday) I was surprised by a Blue Grosbeak (in female/1st-year plumage) at Willowwood Arboretum. The bird was located along a wide mowed lane at a field/forest edge. The lane is on the right side of the entry road, about one or two tenths of a mile after you have crossed the cattle guard. It is where the forest on the right gives way to the huge field. Of course, you have to park in the lot at the end of the entry road. I saw the grosbeak about two-thirds of the way down the lane (which ends at the boundary fence at Bamboo Brook preserve) when it flushed from the field on the left of the lane to a branch that extended out over the lane. After sitting nicely for a minute or so it flew into the relatively open woods and I could not find it again.

There were lots of birds at Willowwood/Bamboo Brook today including Fox Sparrows (2), Hermit Thrushes (2), Sapsucker (1), Field Sparrows (many), Towhee (1), Bluebirds (very many), Robins (abundant), Yellow-rumps (very many). At one point a kettle formed that included 11 Red-tails and 2 Red-shoulders among several Black & Turkey Vultures.

All the best,
Tom Halliwell