November 2023: Migrating Ducks, Eagles, Otter, Muskrat

Wednesday November 1 On my way out the door this morning, loved the color of the leaves of the fothergilla plant in my front yard.

Had a Mass Audubon meeting at the Trailside Museum in the Blue Hills today. First up: visiting the otter who was playing about in her pool, swimming underwater, twirling her body around, putting her paws on the sides of her pool, doing a backflip dive into the water. Fun to watch her. Her enclosure was renovated a few years ago to provide her with a better pool, some rocks to clamber on, grassy area to dig at, hollow log to snooze in. The Audubon staff say that in the winter, when there's snow, she toboggans down the slope on her belly flying into the pool. She's 17, old for even a captive otter (they usually live to 10-15).  Still frisky, having otter fun.

The backflip dive

One of my mechanical engineering colleagues at MIT, Peko Hosoi, has studied how otter and beaver fur keeps the animals warm when they're swimming in cold water - there's an MIT News article about this, with a short video, here. They've been looking how to use this new understanding to improve the design of wetsuits.

Friday November 3 For the past couple of weeks, I've been checking bird sightings on eBird for Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, a large wetland at the northern tip of Lake Cayuga, one of the Finger Lakes, in western New York. The refuge attracts tens of thousands of migrating ducks and geese during fall migration. About a week ago, the numbers started to really pick up. Susan and I drove there today, arriving late afternoon, in time to head around the Wildlife Drive. 

Before we even got to the main pool, we saw a Northern harrier land on some vegetation in the marsh, take off flying low over the reeds, cross the road right in front of us, fly over a side pond, hovering in the wind, right by the car, getting great views.

In the main pool, thousands of ducks - the sight of them in those numbers was impressive and even the sound of them making various kinds of chuckling noises was cool. Northern pintail, with their white breasts extending a thin white stripe up to their milk chocolate heads; American wigeon, with their buffy stripe over their foreheads and green stripe running from their eyes along the sides of their heads into their necks; gadwalls, with their greyish bodies, and black butts; Northern shoveler, with their wacky, shovel-shaped bills, swimming along, bills in the water, plowing up invertebrates; little green-winged teal, with their chestnut colored heads with green side stripe; redheads; hooded mergansers, one of my favorite ducks, elegant with their reddish sides, black and white stripes and black heads with a white crest; little pied-billed grebes, coots. On the far side of the pool, a mass of dark ducks, hard to distinguish, others reported as ring-necked ducks on eBird. 

Dozens and dozens of tundra swans, maybe a hundred or so, migrating from their breeding grounds in the high Arctic to their wintering grounds along the Atlantic coast from New Jersey to South Carolina. They don't pass through Massachusetts, so it was fun to see them. Also, I think, some trumpeter swans.

As we drove up to the north end of the pool, the ducks all took off, heading in the same direction across the water. A second later we spotted a bald eagle that had been sitting on the large tree at the north end of the pool, flying low over the water where the ducks had been. Oddly, the pied-billed grebes stayed put, perhaps secure in their ability to dive to avoid the eagle. Or perhaps they're just too small for it to bother with.

Driving further along, past the main pool, we spoke with a couple in their car, stopped at a much smaller pool - they were watching 3 sandhill cranes barely visible in the reeds as they raised and lowered their heads. We couldn't find them but were tickled just knowing they were there.

Saturday November 4 9:30am From the observation tower near the visitor center we saw a bald eagle swoop down over the north end of the main pond, over and over, going after the ducks, eventually landed in a tree. Also saw 2 northern harriers flying over the marsh close by us.

In addition to yesterday's ducks, we saw a few common mergansers on the canal next to the main pool and several short-billed dowitchers in a low point in a small pond, probing with their bills. Also talked to a guy along the roadway who had seen a Hudsonian godwit along a road near the refuge. We went to look for it and found a large pool by a dip in the road, but didn't see it.

Sunday November 5 10am Saw a pair of bald eagles in the tree at the north end of the main pond.

Thursday November 9 Walking Maddie at the pond early this morning, I saw a pied-billed grebe by the boathouse and a muskrat swimming along close to the edge of the pond and then disappearing into a drainage pipe as Maddie snuffled near it.

Tuesday November 7 Walking around Jamaica Pond this morning, I spotted 3 hooded mergansers - 2 male, 1 female - the first migrating ducks I've seen at the pond this fall.

My friend Jaime, who is on a Fulbright in Kosovo, sent me this photo of bird stamps from there.

Jaime Rubin

And Susan sent this posting she saw on Facebook, of an amazing ginkgo in China.

Friday November 10  Went on a Mass Audubon trip to Cape Ann, north of Boston. At the northern tip of the Cape, at Halibut Point and Andrews Point, we saw a special treat: harlequin ducks, with their spectacular slate blue bodies and heads, with burgundy sides and black and white highlights on their heads and wings. Also saw a black guillemot, red-throated loon, black scoters flying in small groups close to the shore, common eiders and, on the rocks, snow buntings.

Monday November 13 My niece, Annie, was visiting from Toronto so we went up to Crane Beach, in Ipswich, north of Boston, to see the Atlantic. It's a spectacular location, with miles of sandy beach, and a remarkable history. The property was originally the home of the Crane family, the owners of the Crane plumbing fixture company, who donated it to the Trustees of Reservations, a Massachusetts conservation non-profit, in a remarkable act of generosity.  Here's what the Crane Beach website says about the history:

"In 1910, Richard T. Crane, Jr., purchased 800 acres on and around Castle Hill – the first of many family land acquisitions that eventually formed the 2,100-acre Crane Estate. Following Mr. Crane’s death in 1945, the family gave 1,000 acres, comprising most of Crane Beach and the dunes of Castle Neck, to The Trustees. When Richard’s wife Florence died in 1949, her bequest added another 350 acres, the Great House, and most of Castle Hill. A quarter-century later, her daughter-in-law, Miné S. Crane, added the 680-acre Crane Wildlife Refuge."

Walking along the beach we spotted two red-throated loons and two horned grebes with their yarmulke-like black caps at the top of their heads, standing out against their white cheeks and necks. A seal was surfacing and diving close to the shore - Annie was excited as she'd never seen one in the wild before. We walked back through the dune paths, enjoying views of the ocean on one side and an inlet on the other. 

Tuesday November 14 Saw a pied-billed grebe at Jamaica Pond and a hooded merganser at the pond at Allendale Farm this morning.

 

Wednesday November 15 The ginkgos at the Arb dropped their leaves in the last few days, turning the ground beneath them gold.

And the dawn redwoods, the emblem of the Arboretum, have turned to gold, too.

Thursday November 16 As a member of Mass Audubon's Board of Directors, I've learned more about Audubon's Museum of American Bird Art in Canton, MA, just south of Boston. The museum has recently put photos of many of their pieces online. It's quite impressive - lithographs by John James Audubon, paintings by Charley Harper, a print by the Inuit artist, Kananginak Pootoogook, field guide plates by David Sibley, a silkscreen of a bald eagle by Andy Warhol. You can browse through the collection here.

 

Friday, November 17 A dozen hooded mergansers at Jamaica Pond, swimming and diving together. Roughly half males and half females.

 

Saturday November 18 Heading out along my street to take Maddie to the pond this morning, we spotted a rather plump opossum on one of my neighbor's gardens. When it saw us, it hid under their car.  I crouched down and saw it wrapped  up into a ball, white face looking straight at me. As I moved, it scuttled across the street at a fast shuffle and disappeared into another neighbor's shrubs.

At the pond, I spotted a muskrat swimming in the midst of a group of Canada geese. As I watched, I realized that it was chasing the geese, who swam away. Wasn't expecting that!

Also saw a pied-billed grebe swimming near the boathouse. Action packed morning. And Maddie wants to report that she made a new cookie-friend.

Tuesday November 21  Love how hemispherical this nest is, lying on my neighbor's lawn. 

Friday November 24 Honeysuckle on my neighbor's fence, looking delicate even after it's finished blooming.

Drove to Provincetown this morning. Gorgeous sunset from Susan's condo, looking over the harbor and the Pilgrim monument, this evening.

Saturday November 25 There have been recent reports of thousands of seabirds at Race Point, so I went there this morning. Walking down to the beach, saw lots of birds flying by fast, not too far offshore. Others bobbing up and down on the high waves. I couldn't identify everything with the wind vibrating my telescope, but I did see: Northern gannets flying by and diving from high up, torpedo-like, into the water; red-breasted mergansers; long-tailed ducks; common eiders; dozens and dozens of small groups of razorbills, little black and white alcids, in the same family as puffins, flying past amazingly fast. Afterwards, I drove around to Herring Cove beach to see what was happening there. Even from the parking lot I could see what looked like hundreds if not thousands of birds - hundreds of eiders in the water; hundreds of gulls circling around in the air, others crowding a sand bar along with cormorants; some red-breasted mergansers.

Another amazing sunset.

Tuesday November 28 Yesterday, on her way home to Cambridge, Susan saw someone with a spotting scope looking at the hole where the screech owls had nested in the past. And this morning, I saw it, too!