October 2026 Ptown, Ithaca, eagles

There have been some spectacular sunrises at the pond lately.

Saturday October 3 In Provincetown visiting Susan. On our way home from walking in the Beech Forest, we saw this fox trotting along the side of the road. It deked into the undergrowth just before it caught up to a woman walking ahead of it.

Went to Herring Cove Beach to watch the sunset. Raft after raft of hundreds and hundreds of ducks (maybe scoters) offshore.

 Monday October 5 Went foraging for mushrooms with Susan's friend Christie along the rail trail in town.  Searched along the little paths created by coyotes and foxes, off the trail. After the rain a week ago, lots of mushrooms to be had - here's the haul.

Sunday October 11 Back in Jamaica Plain. Walking near the boathouse, I watched as a juvenile Cooper's hawk chased a squirrel around and around a tree trunk. They went on like this long enough for me to get out my phone for a video. The squirrel got away.

And here's the hawk, afterwards

 

 Later on, I drove to Ithaca, NY to give a talk for the Cayuga Bird Club.

Monday October 12 On my way to do a little birding at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge at the northern tip of the Finger Lakes, I stopped at Taughannock Falls, surrounded by gorgeous fall color. The falls are higher than Niagara Falls (215' vs. 165').

 

At Montezuma, great day of birding. By the entrance, a couple of trumpeter swans were hanging out in the marsh. Migrating ducks starting to come in: green-winged teal, Northern shoveler, gadwall, wigeon, and black duck. There will be more in the next few weeks. Spotted a bald eagle high up in a dead tree overlooking the marsh, and three more perched in the tree tops further along. Also a Northern harrier flying over the marsh, causing a flock of ducks to suddenly take off from the water and veer away from it.

Dozens and dozens of great egrets; these ones were at a sluice next to a "No Fishing" sign.

 And at May's Pond, a short drive from the main part of the refuge, a real highlight: two Hudsonian godwits, the first I'd ever seen, with their long, slightly upturned bills. They're known for their remarkable migration of nearly 10,000 miles, from their breeding grounds in Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Hudson's Bay (hence the name) to the southern tip of South America. Their cousins, the bar-tailed godwits, migrate from Alaska to New Zealand and Australia; data from GPS tracking devices have revealed that some do the journey without a single stop. Birds are amazing!

Saturday October 17 At the Boston Book Festival today, I was on a panel on bird books. The other author, Tina Morris, raised bald eaglets in a man-made nest at Montezuma in the 1970s, as part of her graduate work at Cornell. At the time, with fewer than 500 pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48 states, they were in danger of becoming extinct. The bicentennial year motivated people to try to save them.  The Cornell staff built a tower at Montezuma and an "eagle" nest with a blind next to it. As eagles typically lay 3 eggs, but only 2 of the eaglets survive, the Cornell researchers took the third eaglet from a few nests in the Midwest and brought them to the Montezuma nest for Tina to raise. Over two years, she raised 7 eagles, demonstrating that this method works; since then, it was used by a number of state wildlife agencies. There are now over 70,000 pairs of bald eagles in the lower 48.

Lots of interest in my book, too - signed perhaps 20 copies after the panel. The staff at the MIT Press booth told me they sold all the copies of the book that they brought. And the Press informed me that Publishers Weekly is including Birds Up Close in their annual holiday book gift guide. So all good stuff!

Thursday October 22 Birding at Cape Ann today - windy and blustery, with big waves crashing into the rocky shoreline (waves at Bass Rocks below). A couple of dozen common eiders and a single red-throated loon at Gloucester harbor, a few white-winged scoters at Bass Rocks, Northern gannets at Halibut Point. Still too early for most of the migrating sea ducks. 

Saturday October 24 The two bald eagles were at the pond again this afternoon. I saw one fly across the pond and go into the trees near the rotary. When I walked over, there were two perched in the same tree.

 

Sunday October 25 Saw the first merganser of the fall on the pond this morning - a female common merganser. I think more will be showing up over the next couple of weeks.

Monday October 26 My neighbor Mary saw the bald eagles together at the pond. One of the ornithologists I've spoken to said she thought the bald eagles are a pair and would try to nest and mate - that would be exciting!

Mary Horst

 Wednesday October 28 The Mass Audubon staff brought a barred owl to their annual celebration tonight. 

Saturday October 31 Evening light at the pond.