Birding at the Reservoir

Birds and Birders of the Arlington Reservoir.

Karsten E. Hartel, April 1999

This report is presented to establish baseline data on important aspects of the Arlington Reservoir; namely, the great abundance and diversity of bird life that can be seen in the area and use of the site by birders. This report is written to document the value of the site in these regards. 

The Town of Arlington owns the Reservoir and all of the immediate land surrounding it, including an extension along Munroe Brook. The area is under the management umbrella of the Arlington Public Works Department. The Arlington Park and Recreation Commission has jurisdiction over the swimming area. Since the Reservoir is situated in both Arlington and Lexington, its wetland status is under the jurisdiction of both Arlington and Lexington Conservation Commissions. The ecology and public use of the area points out the need for a comprehensive management plan for the area. Indeed, goals in that plan could well include enhancement of the area for wildlife. 

Birds

The Arlington Reservoir is an important migratory area for many waterbirds and the surrounding uplands provide fair to good habitat for songbirds. Nearly 150 species of birds have been seen in the immediate area (see a full list on the left). The habitat is probably the "wildest" in Arlington and its diversity attracts the birds even though the Reservoir was artificially created. 

The seasonal fluctuation in water level creates good three seasons of spectacular birds. It draws diving ducks and grebes (in the deep end) and dabbling ducks, shorebirds and herons around the weeds and mudflats (shallow end). There are no other habitats quite like these elsewhere in Arlington. At times the Reservoir draws a wider variety of waterfowl than the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord.  

Birding

Over the last ten years, birding, or in other words observing wild birds for enjoyment, has grown immensely in popularity. A recent survey shows that there are an estimated 54 million participants in this endeavor in the United States. This survey also shows that birding is participated in by more people than such traditional outdoor activities such as hiking and camping. The number of people fishing or bicycling only exceeds the number birding by three to four million participants. 

In April of 1999, a survey of subscribers to local bird listservers were asked how often they visited the Reservoir between Spring 1998 and Spring 1999. The responses show that the 76 birders spent 1060 birder visits to the Reservoir. The respondents (and the people who might have been with them) probably represent only a small portion of the birders visiting the Reservoir. Expanding the sub-sample to a total estimate is difficult, but a few thousand day visits is not out of the question over a period of a year. Surely this outnumbers the fisherpeople and maybe even the recreational walkers using the area. 

BIRD LIST from the Arlington Reservoir

American Bittern	American Black	American Coot
American Crow	American Goldfinch	American Kestrel
American Pipit	American Redstart	American Robin
American Tree Sparrow	American Widgeon	American Woodcock
Baltimore Oriole	Bank Swallow	Barn Swallow
Belted Kingfisher	Black-and-white Warbler	Blackburnian Warbler
Black-capped Chickadee	Black-crowned Night-Heron	Blackpoll Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler	Black-throated Green Warbler	Blue Grosbeak
Blue Jay	Blue-headed Vireo	Blue-winged Teal
Broad-winged Hawk	Brown Creeper	Brown Thrasher
Brown-headed Cowbird	Bufflehead	Canada Goose
Canvasback	Carolina Wren	Cedar Waxwing
Chestnut-sided Warbler	Chimney Swift	Chipping Sparrow
Cliff Swallow	Common Goldeneye	Common Grackle
Common Merganser	Common Nighthawk	Common Snipe
Common Yellowthroat	Cooper's Hawk	Dark-eyed Junco
Double-crested Cormorant	Downy Woodpecker	Dunlin
Eastern Kingbird	Eastern Phoebe	Eastern Towhee
Eurasian Widgeon	European Starling	Field Sparrow
Forster's Tern	Fox Sparrow	Gadwall
Golden-crowned Kinglet	Great Black-backed Gull	Great Blue Heron
Great Crested Flycatcher	Great Egret	Greater Scaup
Greater White-fronted Goose	Greater Yellowlegs	Green Heron
Green-winged Teal	Grey Catbird	Hairy Woodpecker
Herring Gull	Hooded Merganser	House Finch
House Sparrow	House Wren	Hudsonian Godwit
Iceland Gull	Indigo Bunting	Killdeer
Least Sandpiper	Lesser Golden Plover	Lesser Scaup
Lesser Yellowlegs	Lincoln's Sparrow	Magnolia Warbler
Mallard	Merlin	Mourning Dove
Mute Swan	Nashville Warbler	No. Rough-winged Swallow
Northern Cardinal	Northern Flicker	Northern Mockingbird
Northern Parula	Northern Pintail	Northern Shoveler
Northern Waterthrush	Orchard Oriole	Osprey
Palm Warbler	Pectoral Sandpiper	Pied-billed Grebe
Purple Martin	Red-breasted Merganser	Red-eyed Vireo
Redhead	Red-shouldered Hawk	Red-tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird	Ring-billed Gull	Ring-necked Duck
Rock Dove	Rose-breasted Grosbeak	Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-throated Hummingbird	Ruddy Duck	Ruffed Grouse
Rusty Blackbird	Sanderling	Savannah Sparrow
Scarlet Tanager	Semipalmated Plover	Semipalmated Sandpiper
Sharp-shinned Hawk	Snow Goose	Solitary Sandpiper
Song Sparrow	Spotted Sandpiper	Swamp Sparrow
Tree Swallow	Tufted Titmouse	Turkey Vulture
Vesper Sparrow	Warbling Vireo	Western Sandpiper
White-breasted Nuthatch	White-crowned Sparrow	White-rumped Sandpiper
White-throated Sparrow	Willow Flycatcher	Wilson's Warbler
Wood Duck	Yellow Warbler	Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Yellow-rumped Warbler

Autumn Birding at the Arlington Reservoir.

Elizabeth Karpati, 2004

The Reservoir Comes to Life

The water level in the Res is rising, and so is the bird population.

There are some large rocks on the emerging sandspit opposite the beach. One day last week a Great Blue Heron stood tall on the biggest rock, like a sentinel watching over the crowd of Mallards, Canada Geese, and gulls resting on the sand and occasionally slipping into the water.

In the shallows at the northern end of the Res another Great Blue stood in water almost up to his heels (which are in the middle of his long legs), fishing. On the mudflats along the berm two Ring-billed Gulls were engaged in a shouting match which eventually got physical: they seemed to be trying to bite each other’s bills until one gave up and flew away. A fat Herring Gull stood nearby, ignoring the combatants completely.

Noisy Killdeer were running back and forth among more resting Mallards. A few American Wigeons mixed with more Mallards and Black Ducks in the water. Tiny drab ducks swam among them, and one flashed an emerald wingpatch, confirming my suspicion that they were Green-winged Teal out of breeding plumage. Two oddballs stood out on the mudflat: duck-shaped but distinctly larger, all black with a hint of green sheen on their heads. Probably strays of some domestic breed, or hybrid descendants of strays.

Off to one side a beautiful Yellowlegs was foraging, unperturbed by my slow progress along the berm. I couldn’t tell whether it was a Greater or a Lesser, but its legs were certainly bright yellow.

The final treat was a young Green Heron fishing near the end of the swimming area. Every feather was clearly visible in the sunshine: the dark greenish head, rusty-brown sides of the neck, streaked throat and breast, slightly speckled sides, and dull gray back which seemed to belie its name. Its feathers may have fallen short of adult coloring, but it was already an effective hunter: it gobbled up three small fish in quick succession, zip-zip-zip, then strutted about a bit before catching a slightly larger one. It was fishing in an oval patch where the outflow from a drainpipe had pushed away the floating vegetation. The water in this patch looked strange – almost milky in one area, brownish in the other. I hope there was no contaminant in it to spoil the young heron’s lunch.

Peterson’s field guide devotes two pages to pictures of “confusing fall warblers.” Amen to that characterization. It’s fun to meet the challenge of identifying tricky birds, but it is also fun just to observe the easy ones that conveniently parade before you.