October 2025 Book Update, Arb talk Nov 15, Cape Cod

Publication date: April 28, 2026

The bird book is working its way through the production process! The page proofs arrived, with the text and figures laid out as they will appear in the book, and I'm going through them with a fine-tooth comb. I've sent the marketing questionnaire back to the Press, met with the publicity and marketing team and have started lining up post-publication book talks. I'm excited!

 

Also, I'm giving a free talk Built to Withstand: How Plants Resist Wind and Weight at the Arnold Arboretum Saturday November 15 at noon in the Hunnewell Visitor Center. You can register here.

 

Wednesday October 1 So sorry to hear that Jane Goodall died today. But what a life! I heard her speak (and do the chimp pant-hoot) at MIT in 1995. Some time ago, my friend Jaime sent me a box of postcards of women scientists; here's hers.

 

 

Sunday October 5 Spent the weekend in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, walking at LeCount Hollow beach on the Atlantic side (saw a small flock of sanderlings chasing retreating waves), at Great Island on the bay side, and at the Wellfleet Audubon sanctuary (great egret posing in the marsh; northern harrier flying low, hovering and diving into the grass, hunting; greater yellowlegs, a small flock of least terns (I think) flying at the water's edge, one plummeting vertically down after a fish. Gorgeous scenery, perfect weather.

 

LeCount Hollow beach

 

Wellfleet Audubon sanctuary

 

 Monday October 6 Drove back to Boston to attend a Nuttall Ornithological Club talk on bustards with their amazing courtship displays. In the parking lot, I knew I was in the right place.

 

Saturday October 11 A red-tailed hawk swooped down from a tree, heading low to the ground and then up again into another tree at the pond this morning. Later on in the afternoon, spotted a Cooper's hawk perched in a tree at Leveritt Pond. And this evening, heard a screech owl calling from my neighbor's tree (although I couldn't see it).  It was amazingly loud at first - I could hear it with all the doors and windows closed. So I went out to take this (dark) video to record the sound.

 

 

 Saturday October 18 While I was walking around the pond this morning, a juvenile bald eagle flew across the pond. Then, as I walked a little further on, I saw it take off again and land in the tall pine tree by the boathouse. When I got to the tree, it was still there, apparently tearing into something held in its talons. After a minute or so, it took off, circled over my head and then flew off along the edge of the pond.

 

 

Headed off to Lexington to meet up with Susan for the No Kings protest on the Lexington Battle Green, the site of the first battle of the American Revolution. Here we are in front of the Minuteman statue, placed facing the approach of the British on April 19, 1775.

 

 

Lots of people there, speeches by Senator Markey and Bill McKibben, among others. Music from a girl rock band from the local high school: after playing This Land is Your Land at the end of the protest, the lead singer said: "Thank you. This is our first show." Estimates of 4000 people there, not bad for a first show. Other great signs:

My friend Marisa in DC reported from the rally there: "Woman older than me in a puffy frog suit with a sign: "This granny is protesting before she croaks"."

 

Sunday October 19 Gorgeous sunrises at the pond these days. And saw another juvenile bald eagle flying over the pond. This one had a few more white feathers than the one yesterday, which means it's probably older. They don't get the full white head and tail until they're 4 or 5 years old.

 

 

 Saturday October 25 The two juvenile eagles have been hanging around the pond all week. On Monday, a friend saw both of them flying over the pond together; on Tuesday, I saw one again; on Wednesday I didn't see them, but someone walking past me stopped to show me a video she had just taken of them circling over the water and one diving down to snatch a fish out of the water; I saw one again on Thursday, perched in the pine by the boathouse, and this morning, one landed on a high branch in a tree across from the pond. So cool! Also have been seeing a kingfisher some mornings. I usually hear its cackle first, then look for where it might be perched on a branch overhanging the water.

 

Monday October 27 Gorgeous golden ginkgos showing off at the Arb.