Sept 2026 Great Elephant Migration, Garden Landscaping, Eagles
Saturday Sept 5 The Great Elephant Migration has come to Boston: a collection of 100 life-sized elephants on the boulevard of Commonwealth Avenue in Back Bay. Adults, babies, juveniles, all heading towards the Public Garden. The elephants are made in India, from Lantana camara, to raise funds to remove this invasive shrub; the project is part of a larger international conservation effort. As I chatted with an older couple taking photos, they told me that they saw them when they lived in Thailand. I asked "Wicker elephants?" To which they responded, "No, real ones!" Sunday Sept 6 Went up to Plum Island on the North Shore to go birding. The first cool day of fall, with that crispness in the air. Not too much happening on the bird front: great and snowy egrets; greater and lesser yellowlegs; tree swallows; northern harrier; possible dowitchers. But it's glorious there, with the ocean waves rolling onto the beach and the expansive salt marsh behind the dunes...