March 2023

Wednesday March 1 On my morning walk with Maddie at the pond, saw a pair of mute swans take off, coming close to me, with their slow, deep, whooshing wingbeats, and then head up over the trees and away. They're so heavy, 30 pounds (14 kg), that they have to circle around the pond before they can gain enough altitude to get up over the surrounding trees.

Later in the afternoon, driving along Parkman Drive beside the pond, saw a couple of women on the footpath pointing up at something in a tree.  One of my neighbors reported seeing two bald eagles at the pond this morning, so I turned the car around, pulled over, and sure enough, there it was: a bald eagle, looking huge in the tree, its head not quite fully white.

Saturday March 4  We had a couple of inches of snow so Maddie is in her little black rubber booties to keep the salt off her paws and prevent ice balls from forming around her paw pads.  I put her booties on first, then get my winter coat, scarf, etc on. She has this cute habit of circling around the hall, kitchen and dining room, over and over, until I'm ready to go.

Sunday March 5  Susan and I walked along the Emerald Necklace, passing Jamaica Pond, Ward's Pond and Leverett Pond. Jamaica Pond still has lots of common mergansers, maybe a hundred or so, along with a few hoodies and ruddy ducks. At Ward's Pond we spotted this sign, with safe ice thicknesses for walking, snowmobiles, cars, trucks and, amusingly, T-Rex (ice 30" thick).

We checked on last spring's hawk nest near the ball field, but no action there so far.

Tuesday March 7 Went over to Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord to check on the duck situation.  Almost immediately, saw a pair of bald eagles (I think) circling together over the far end of the pond. Someone else reported seeing a bald eagle this morning on ebird. Walking along the dike separating the two ponds, I spotted about 30 common goldeneyes, the males looking especially sharp with their shimmering greenish/black heads, the thin black stripes showing against the white of their wings. At one point, they all took off, circled around and, conveniently, landed in front of me, not too far off.  On the way back, there were a dozen or so tree swallows, darting about near the surface of the water, catching insects - I always think of the arrival of the tree swallows as one of the true signs of spring.

Wednesday March 8 Went for a walk along the Charles River in Newton with Susan and our friend Ellen. Saw a green-winged teal, with its green band on the side of its cinnamon colored head, speckled grey sides and buffy wings, in the midst of a group of mallards on the bank of the river. Also red-winged blackbirds and grackles; more signs of spring. Plus this large tree being worked on by an ambitious beaver.

Thursday March 9 I had an Audubon meeting in Barnstable this morning, so we drove there and then continued on to Provincetown.  This is the view in the evening, as the sun was setting, just down the street from Susan's condo.

Friday March 10 Went to Race Point to look for birds, just a few gulls.  On the way back, right in town, saw a scrawny, scruffy red fox trotting leisurely along the side of the road before it deked into a back yard.  Later in the day, we went to the beech forest and saw a few common goldeneyes diving in one of the ponds there.

March 11, 12 Spotted a few birds from Susan's condo:  red-breasted mergansers, buffleheads, eiders, red-throated loon, common goldeneyes.  Love that I can do winter birding from the comfort of indoors.

On the drive home, we stopped at the Wellfleet Mass Audubon sanctuary. Outside the visitor center, this heather was blooming.  Grey, drizzly walk through the woods and along the edge of the marsh. Mostly gulls and crows.

Monday March 13 Amazing sunrise at Jamaica Pond.  But it only lasted briefly; by the time I got to the boathouse, the sky had turned grey.

 

Walked around the pond after breakfast: common mergansers still there in large numbers; half a dozen ruddy ducks; single pied-billed grebe. 

On Susan's morning walk around Fresh Pond in Cambridge, she saw this red-throated loon right at the edge of the pond (the red throat shows only in the summer breeding plumage).

Tuesday March 14 Rainy day, nor'easter hitting Boston. On a short walk with Maddie in the Arboretum, liked the pattern of these ginko leaves on the ground.

 And was delighted by raindrops shining on pussy willows.

 Thursday March 16 Walking around Susan's neighborhood in Cambridge, saw crocuses blooming and daffodils about to pop.

 

Friday March 17  On my early morning walk with Maddie saw two male turkeys displaying, approaching a female, their tails fanned out to show off their gold tips and their wing feathers splayed downwards to highlight the dark and light bands.  And of course, that irresistible unfeathered blue head and red wattle. But too bad for them, the female was ignoring them, choosing instead to stick her head among the plantings in a yard.

On our afternoon walk at Fresh Pond, we saw a few red-throated loons, each on its own in the water. One just floating, gradually coming closer to the shore.  Also a red-bellied woodpecker pecking on a tree. And a few ring-necked ducks.

Sunday March 19 Saw the grey screech owl in the hole in the tree at the end of my street as we drove off to go for a walk at Walden Pond in the afternoon.

And here is the site of Thoreau's cabin - people leave rock cairns in memory of him.

Thoreau took detailed, dated notes of the plants around Walden Pond during the two years that he lived there (1845-47).  Interestingly, Richard Primack of Boston University has been using Thoreau's field notes along with current data for leaf-out and flowering at the pond to study the effect of climate change on the plants at Walden. His book, Walden Warming: Climate Change Comes to Thoreau's Woods, describes his findings; for instance, highbush blueberries are now flowering three weeks earlier than in Thoreau's time.

Monday March 20 A couple of groups of common mergansers on the pond, totaling around 30; their  numbers are dwindling as they start heading north.

The late afternoon sun, streaming through my kitchen window, created this shadow of the metal silhouette woodpecker I have nailed to the post on my back porch.

March 21-27 Still about the same number of common mergansers at the pond. Pied-billed grebe still there, too.

Wednesday March 22 Muskrat swimming at the pond this morning. I often notice the wake before I see the furry little brown body swimming at its head.

Friday March 24  This morning, with a group from Mass Audubon, I visited Harvard's Concord Field Station, where Andy Biewener and his colleagues study animal locomotion. Saw their resident emu, who is a bit of a mascot for the place; the flock of guinea hens (which it turns out are good at running on a treadmill - who knew?); a pair of lovebirds, flying in the wind tunnel (the equivalent of a treadmill for flight).  This link has some videos from prior studies of cute little bipedal hopping jerboa; pigeons flying through obstacles; cockatiel flight; emu chick running on a treadmill (click on each of the photos at the link to open the videos).

Emu

Guinea hens

Lovebirds

And then there was Lily, Andy's overachieving black lab, showing off with this extra large stick.

Thursday March 30 Susan and I went to check out the larches at the Arboretum, after seeing Ned Friedman's recent report about them starting to blossom.  The most amazing were the Siberian larches, with these delicate little pink flowers, each one less than half an inch long.

Nearby were other larches: European, Polish and Golden larches, each with different shaped buds, mostly not yet open.  

At the back side of Bussey Hill, a couple of magnolias, one fully in blossom. I love seeing them in early spring, but the flowers are so delicate they never last long; some were already looking beaten up on the ground.

And another reason to visit the Arb right now is the carpet of blue scilla at the edge of the Arb by the State Public Health lab.

Friday March 31 Saw the grey screech owl in the hole in the tree at the end of my street again this morning. Hadn't seen it for a week or so and was wondering if it had moved on.  Still about 15 common mergansers at the pond.