Nature Notes

August 4 - Early morning walk with Maddie, the turkeys at the same house I usually  see them at.  They're getting considerably bigger. Walking around Ward's Pond, in the gully north of Jamaica Pond, saw a lone juvenile wood duck on the tiny, sandy, not really a beach, area by the path to the parking lot. August 5 - Back at Ward's Pond to look for the wood duck, saw an adult female with 3 juveniles, all on the same sandy bank again, busily preening themselves the entire time I watched them, and still at it after I walked around the pond (admittedly, only a 10 minute walk... it's a small pond).  Lovely to see them. Also a nuthatch on a nearby tree trunk. Big storm here yesterday, around dinner time. Huge tree limb came down near where the wood ducks were.           Walking in the Arboretum after dinner, flowers on the banks of the Bussey Brook.             And another huge tree down, not just a limb, but the ...

July 2 - Misty morning, the mist illuminating a spider web on top of a hedge.  And the mist making the pond look like it could be in Maine, rather than in the city.  After the pandemic lockdown, the city parks department is finally getting the boats ready to rent again. But just a couple of hours later, the mist has burned off and it's a beautiful, clear, sunny day.  Took some photos of the Muddy River for the out of towners to see where I bike in the mornings. July 3 - Went to Allandale Farm to pick up a few more plants for the garden.  Whenever I go there, I like to visit with Willard and Curtis, the two black Highland cattle the farm keeps.  Love their shaggy coats and long, curling horns.  In Northumberland, where my parents are from, you sometimes see herds of the more common red Highland cattle; there they are called kyloe (pronounced kai-lee).  Wikipedia says that the black ones are smaller than the reddish, or dun, colored ones, which can weigh...