Nature Notes

June 1 – on my early morning walk with Maddie, saw a house sparrow (aka lbj or little brown job in bird-speak) on the sidewalk dipping its beak into melted vanilla ice cream on the sidewalk outside of JP Licks. At the Arboretum around 8:30am saw an immature robin perched on a branch at the top of a bush, looking like it had just recently left the nest. Speckled breast, still fuzzy feathers at the top of its head, short tail feathers, in the process of growing out. Wobbly flight when it took off from the branch, still figuring out how its wings work. June 2 - During a half hour zoom meeting at 9 in the morning, sitting in the sunroom overlooking the back yard, I saw: tree swallows and chimney swifts darting about; a Baltimore oriole land in the top branches of a dead oak on the Arborway; a red-tailed hawk circling high up. Also, a chipmunk came to get a drink out of the water basin in the back yard just before the meeting. June 3 – Went out for a bike ride to the BU bridge aro...

May 2 – Went for an early morning bike ride to the BU bridge and back. Near the Longwood T station saw a group of 3 male turkeys displaying with their tails fanned out, Thanksgiving-style. Stopped at Hall’s Pond in Brookline and took a video just to record the lovely dawn chorus of birdsong. It’s amazing to hear this right in the city – you can see the 5 or 6 story apartment buildings on Beacon Street poking up above the trees behind the pond. May 4 – Walking in the Arboretum in the early morning, saw many more trilliums out along the oak path. On the way back to the entrance to the Arb I saw the first few early lilacs starting to bloom. The Arboretum has a wonderful collection of lilacs, with nearly 400 plants spreading over a hillside to create a mass of color in mid-May. May 5 – As I walked up to a neighbors’ house to return some plastic containers, a robin flew out of the wreath on the front door. When I looked more closely, I saw that it had a nest at the top ...