Nature Notes

Wednesday January 1 Great birding at the pond this afternoon. First, walking along the Parkman Drive side of the pond, we spotted the two  common loons across the pond, near the boathouse. As I was watching, a raptor, maybe a  peregrine falcon , flew low over the water in front of them, heading towards the intersection of Parkman Drive and Perkins Street. Strange, as I think of them in the city diving to kill pigeons from downtown buildings, not flying across the water. (Outside of cities, they nest on cliffs.) As we walked on, I kept an eye out for it, and sure enough, there it was, perched high in the sycamore tree at the intersection. Very cool! I've seen one there, in the same tree, once before. The bald eagles sometimes hang out there, too, scoping out birds on the water to go after. Walking further along, Susan spotted a  great blue heron standing on the edge of the little island. At the little bay by the corner of Perkins and Pond St. we saw the usual crowd of...

Monday December 2  Sunrise this morning at Susan's place in Provincetown. We came on Friday to meet up with friends over the Thanksgiving weekend. Walking around town, I'm surprised to see flowers still blooming: mostly pansies and marigolds. Thursday December 5 Back home in JP, I ran into a dog-walker with a complete set of Labs: yellow (Hercules), chocolate (Twyla) and black (??). Hercules and Twyla know me from running into them individually with their owners and know that I'll give them lots of scroochies: head scratches, ear tickles, butt rubs. Saturday December 7 At the Museum of American Bird Art again for another drawing class, this time, with a  great horned owl . It's big, heavy enough that Chris, the naturalist, needs to take a break after holding it on his arm for half an hour or so.   Jeannie's Christmas cactus is now in full bloom, looking amazing. Picked up this little hedgehog toothpick holder this afternoon, couldn't resist it. Sunday December ...