Nature Notes

March 1 I heard, and then spotted, a single male cardinal singing at the tippy top of a tree at 6:30am. With the sun just coming up, low in the sky, it glowed, looking like it was illuminated from within. Throughout the first half of March, around 20  common and a dozen or so  hooded mergansers continued at Jamaica Pond.  Some days I also saw a single  bufflehead , tipping into the water, diving and bobbing up again, over and over.  A few  ring-necked ducks hanging out at Ward's Pond.  And the screech owl has been at the tree cavity at the end of the street on and off. Mostly I see it dozing in the afternoon sun as the days get warmer.  March 3 The ice on the pond is melting; I was surprised to see this nearly perfectly circular patch of open ice. In the afternoon, at the Arb, I heard a  great horned owl near the Hunnewell building but couldn't find it. Most years there is a pair that nests at the Arb. In the evening, I went to a recepti...

January 31   I'm sneaking this into February just because I love these two photos of the waterfall at Ward's Pond and a hooded merganser in the stream that runs between Ward's Pond and Leverett Pond on such a crisp, clear day.  The hoodie had been perched on the branch lying in the water and hopped off just as I took the photo.  Went out on this walk after I posted the January notes. February 1   On my walk from Ward's Pond to Leverett Pond, saw several hoodies: a pair in the stream as it leaves Ward's Pond; two males further along the stream; and two females, where the stream flows into Leverett Pond.  On the drive back home, stopped at the Arb to walk through the conifer woods in the snow. February 2 Love the date:2/2/22.   In between running errands, stopped at Ward's Pond for a quick walk.  Half way around the pond I ran into a woman with her dog (which I had to pet). She'd spotted a muskrat, sitting on the edge of the ice, next to a small patch o...

January 2   Went on a bird walk with the Brookline Bird Club at the Arboretum this morning.  Around 30 birders, looking a lot more carefully than I usually do, we found a couple of less common birds for this area: a  red-breasted nuthatch and a  golden-crowned kinglet .  Both tiny birds: the nuthatch weighs about 1/3 of an ounce (10g) and the kinglet, a little less than 1/4 ounce (6 grams).  I like to think of bird weights in comparison to the tablespoon markings on a 4 ounce stick of butter: the kinglet weighs the same as half a tablespoon of butter.  But, even at its small size, it is not to be underestimated: this little bundle of energy migrates from its breeding grounds in northern latitudes, from British Columbia to Quebec, to winter as far south as northern Mexico. The other highlight: four  red-tailed hawks .  A juvenile near the entrance to the Arb, flying across the road where we stood to perch in a tree, then flying back over the ...