May 2021

The highlight of May was the grey screech owl that I saw almost daily in one of the trees on the Arborway, near the traffic rotary at the end of my street, hanging out in the hole in the middle of a rotted branch that had been pruned earlier in the spring.  It was a delight every time I saw it, sometimes standing still, sometimes turning its head.  I loved seeing its feathers, mottled grey and white, with streaks of black, perfectly camouflaged against the bark of the tree.  And it was amazing how it just stayed there, day after day, in spite of the three lanes of traffic which got heavier and heavier as more and more people got vaccinated, the pandemic waned and people returned to their usual routines.  Then, in the middle of the month, the grey one was joined by a smaller, reddish one, probably a male (in raptors, the females are larger than the males).  Screech owls nest in tree cavities and I wondered if the pair had nested there.  At the beginning of June, after I'd been away for a few days, one of my neighbors reported seeing an owlet at the hole!  But after that they were all gone; I haven't seen any of them there since (although a neighbor said she heard one the other night).

At the beginning of May, I started to see chimney swifts all over JP:  over the Jamaicaway, near the pond, over the parking lot behind the Bank of America on Centre St. and even over my house and street in the evenings.  Love hearing their twittering calls and seeing them darting about catching insects.  

I went to Truro on Cape Cod with friends in the middle of the month, staying at a house belonging to friends of theirs, with a wonderful view of the bay side of the Cape.

 

One morning we went birding at Race Point Beech Forest in Provincetown, which is part of the National Seashore and has paths leading through the woods, around a couple of ponds.  Saw my first Baltimore oriole of the spring, also cedar waxwings, kingbird and a black and white warbler.

A few days later, driving to the office on Memorial Drive by the Charles River, a hawk flew across the road, right in front of me, wings fully spread, about to land on a branch, with a snake, still wriggling, in its talons.  It all happened in about 3 seconds, breath-taking.

At the end of the month went to see a selection of David Sibley's original paintings for his new book, What It's Like to be a Bird, at the Mass Audubon Museum of American Bird Art.  My favorite was his great horned owl.

And the last day of the month, at Leverett Pond, saw a great blue heron flying in, landing in the small strip of water between the main pathways and the little islands.  A bit later a red-winged blackbird started mobbing it as it stood in the shallow water, hitting its back, and following it when it flew off to another spot.  So incongruous to see such a small bird go after such a large one.  (Herons are nearly 4 feet; red-winged blackbirds are 9".)

I'm including some of my photos of spring unfolding throughout the month.

Prince St trees starting to leaf out (May 5).

Redbud (May 5)

 

 

Perfectly spherical dandelion head (May 7)

Wisteria (May 7)

My neighbor Anne's amazing azalea (May 12)

Jamaica Pond, looking serene (May 13)

Bluebells in a neighbor's yard (May 17)

Boardwalk at Ward's Pond (May 27)