January 2021

Friday, January 1, New Year's Day  The usual ducks at Jamaica Pond: hooded mergansers, a single male common merganser, ruddy ducks, ring-necked ducks, coots.  But no eared grebe.  I'd been wondering how much longer it would stay...

Saturday, January 2  I'm no longer biking in the mornings - partly the cold, but I could no longer take the mess on my face from watering eyes, runny nose and condensation from my breath on the inside of my mask - yuk!  My new routine is to drive to Ward's Pond, just on the other side of Jamaica Pond, park and then walk around both Ward's Pond and, just a little further along, Leverett Pond.  Ward's Pond is in a little gully, with a water falling from Jamaica Pond down to Ward's Pond. We've had some heavy rainstorms recently, and this morning there was a steady drizzle, giving the little waterfall more flow. I love seeing the water turning as it falls from one rock to another, babbling along. 

In the woods between the two ponds, someone has once again installed holiday lights and decorations on a small tree.   I even noticed a small battery pack, with three AAA batteries, which must have lit up the tree earlier on, during the holidays.  (But now, the batteries were dead.)

At the southern end of Leverett Pond, just as I was thinking about last year, seeing a kingfisher perched on a branch, eating a fish, I heard the distinctive kak-kak-kak call of another (or maybe the same?) kingfisher. And there it was, perched on a branch across the end of the pond, less than 50 feet away.  It flew off and landed on another nearby branch, allowing me a good look at it.  Further along, near the bank of the pond, a pair of hooded mergansers.  Most amusingly, on top of a wood duck nesting box on a post in the water, a great blue heron, hunched down, looking ungainly and miserable in the rain.  

Later on in the morning, still drizzling, drove to Brookline to run an errand and stopped by Hall's Pond to look for the barred owl that has been hanging around there in a tall pine.  No owl, but I laughed at seeing a grey squirrel perched on top of a medium sized pumpkin by the bank of the pond. Grey everywhere - leaden grey sky, bare grey trees, darker grey of the pond, grey squirrel - punctuated by one bright orange sphere of a medium-sized pumpkin.  Driving home, saw the albino squirrel on the grassy area near the Parkman monument (sculpted by Daniel Chester French) at Jamaica Pond.

Monday January 4 For a change, drove to the Chestnut Hill reservoir, not far from Jamaica Plain.  About 15-20 hooded mergansers, diving, surfacing and diving again, right near the path. I'm always amazed at how few people walking by them notice them.  Once you know how spectacular they are, it's hard not to stop in awe.

Thursday January 7 Bright sunshine in the morning as I walked around Leverett Pond.

Later in the day, trying to calm myself after yesterday's mob at the US Capitol, I took Maddie to the Arboretum for a walk.  Took a few photos: of a nest in a forsythia bush; of one of the small ponds with bright red stems in the foreground; and of a label I only just now noticed, for the "Julia Child" rose.

Friday January 8.  Just noticed, as I was starting to think about dinner at 5 o'clock, that it isn't totally dark yet:  the days are getting ever so slightly longer. 

Saturday January 9.  Jeannie's Christmas cactus is well on its way to full bloom again.

Monday January 11.  7am at Jamaica Pond, getting light as the days gradually get longer again.

Tuesday January 12.  At Wards Pond, early in the morning, on the boardwalk, intermittent critter tracks, presumably from walking along the boardwalk, hopping down, back and forth, into the muddy streams that run under it and into the pond. 

Just as I got to Leverett Pond, a small ginger doodle puppy running excitedly along the path out of the woods, off leash.  And as I came out of the woods, 50 yards away, a woman holding a puppy-less leash, shouting its name over and over.  I managed to intercept the puppy, pointed it in her direction and watched it race off to her, jump up on her legs, beside itself to be reunited.

At the pond, a pair of hooded mergansers and a kingfisher at the same spot that I usually see it on the southern edge of the pond.

Wednesday January 13.  At Leverett Pond, 2 Northern shovellers, snuffling along by the bank of one of the small islands, with their weird shovel-like bills plowing just beneath the surface of the water.  Really great to see the shovellers - I don't see them every year.  The great blue heron perched on the nesting box again.  And the kingfisher perched at the end of a small branch overhanging the water.  

At the Arb one day this week (I lost track of when) a red-bellied woodpecker at the feeder at the side of the Hunnewell building.

Friday January 16 Heavy rain overnight.  Just as I was getting out of bed to take Maddie out, a few claps of thunder, causing Maddie to hide in the closet until noon.  Notice how I keep a dog bed in the closet for just such thunder emergencies.

After an hour or so there was a break in the rain and off I went for my walk, leaving Maddie in the closet.  Hooded mergansers everywhere: a dozen or so at Jamaica Pond, a pair at tiny Willow Pond, right near the bank of the pond by the footpath I was walking along, and yet more at Leverett Pond.  The kingfisher again at Leverett Pond - I heard it first, then saw it on a branch right near me. It then flew off to perch on a snag half way across the pond.  As I was walking on the more wooded side of the pond, a red-tailed hawk swooped down in front of me, maybe 15' off the ground before arcing up and landing on a tree branch.  Wonderful!

Sunday January 17.  Curved patterns of melting ice on Ward's Pond; we've had some mild days recently.

At the end of the wooded path between Ward's Pond and Leverett Pond, I heard a hawk screeching and looked up to see a red-tail.  As I followed it over the field by the pond, I realized there were 3 of them, all soaring, buffetted by the wind, lurching in the air with each shift of their wings.  The kingfisher on a snag; with the binoculars I could see it had a small fish in its bill.  Walking back along the wooded path, saw a red-bellied woodpecker, pecking a few times at a branch, flitting down to a lower branch, a few more pecks, then off again.  Nuthatches, chickadees, juncos, too.

 Monday January 18  The lone pansy remaining in the back yard, still persevering.

Tuesday January 19 I was able to walk up close to the pair of Northern shovellers at the water's edge at Leverett Pond and watch them plowing their bills through the water, right next to a great blue heron standing in the water, fishing.  Elsewhere in the pond, a pair of hooded mergansers.

On our afternoon neighborhood walk, the turkey perched on top of a car roof rack, keeping an eye on everything.

Wednesday Jan 20. Leverett Pond Kingfisher, 3 hooded mergansers.  Later on in the morning, a group of about 20 turkeys at a small park in Brookline, several males displaying, females looking uninterested.

Inauguration Day.  Watched with immense relief and joy that there are adults in the White House once more.  

Afternoon walk in the Arb, noticed tiny shoots (snowdrops?) coming up.  It's been a remarkably mild January with temperatures often in near 40 (5C) and virtually no snow all month.

Thursday January 21 Willow Pond - a tiny pond in between Ward's Pond and Leverett Pond - usually has only a few mallards swimming about but this morning there were 3 hooded mergansers, right near the edge of the pond by the footpath, so I got a great look at them up close.   At Leverett Pond, the kingfisher perched on a branch, not making a sound, looking at the water, raising and folding its spikey blue crest.

Friday January 22 A tiny snow squall yesterday, leaving about a millimeter of snow on the ground, nevertheless coated the ice on Ward's Pond, leaving it a pristine white.

At Leverett Pond, the kingfisher and a single female hoodie.

Saturday, January 23.  Leverett Pond: a pair of hoodies, 2 male wood ducks perched on the branches of a shrub on one of the islands, overhanging the water. I often see wood ducks there, I think perhaps hiding from hawks flying overhead.  The wood ducks are so small that a hawk could grab them on the open water.  And a few minutes later, a red-tailed hawk overhead, landed on an inclined tree trunk, hanging on with its yellow talons, looking around.  It took off, buffeted by the wind, banking this way and that.

Sunday January 24.   My neighbour, Sue, sent a video of the ice shards tinkling at the shore of Jamaica Pond, sounding like wind chimes.

Tuesday January 26.  The waterfall at Ward's Pond, coming down the hill from Jamaica Pond, starting to ice up along its edges.

At tiny Willow Pond, between Ward's Pond and Leverett Pond, the water very low, just mud in places, but lots of mallards dabbling in the shallows, finding food to eat.  Walking by, I thought I heard a hawk screeching, but when I looked up, it was a pair of blue jays high up in the treetops, doing their best hawk imitation.  As I turned to look at the pond,  the kingfisher flew onto an overhanging branch across the pond.  At the northern end of Leverett Pond, a pair of wood ducks.

Wednesday January 27. A small snowfall, about 3-4 inches, but enough to magically turn the greys and browns of winter to white.  The same shot of the waterfall...

Driving along Parkman Drive to run an errand, snow dusting the branches forming an arch over the roadway, turning it into a snow-trimmed tree tunnel.

At Leverett Pond, a pair of hoodies, along with 2 males.  And the kingfisher again at the southern tip of the pond.

Jeannie's Christmas cactus now in full bloom.  All I do is water it twice a week and that seems to keep it happy.

 

Friday January 29 At dawn, full moon glowing behind the tree tops behind my house. Frigid temperatures, 9F (-13C) with 30mph winds, making for a wind chill of -9F (-23C), reminding me of the one winter I spent in Calgary.  Very short walks with Maddie.  The days are getting longer: sunrise at 6:58am, sunset at 4:56pm.