April 2023
Sunday April 2 Walking at Fresh Pond in the late afternoon with Susan, we spotted a single red-throated loon ; I suspect it will soon be migrating to its breeding grounds in the Arctic. Several ring-necked duck s still around; they'll be gone soon, too. Also in the spring department, a mute swan sitting on a nest on Little Fresh Pond and an eastern phoebe , a recent migrant arrival, at Black's Nook. Tuesday April 4 Tiny nano-leaves on the willows creating a faint haze of green and spring. This evening we went to Boxborough, just west of Boston, to look for woodcocks doing their strange courtship display. They usually just snuffle along the ground, in woods or in grassy areas at the edge of a wood, eating worms which they find with their long bills. But in the spring, at dusk, the males display at "singing grounds", starting with almost electric, buzzy "peent" calls, then spiraling upward in flight. As they get high off the ground, the feathers...