Nature Notes

  October 31 These puffins arrived at my porch on Halloween and I couldn't resist including them. I especially liked their orange feet. I also couldn't resist sending the photo to my colleague at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology who hosted my visit last month. In response, she sent me this picture of the bird of paradise costume she made for her son one year.  I think, but am not positive, that her costume is the Vogelkop superb bird of paradise; to really appreciate this, you need to watch a video of the male's amazing courtship display . There are 42 species of birds of paradise, all living in New Guinea and the northeastern tip of Australia; the Cornell website describes them as "the world's most spectacular birds". To get an idea of just how spectacular they are, take a look at this BBC/David Attenborough clip of their courtship dances .  November 1   Susan was keen to see the ginkos turning golden at the Arb, so we walked over to the collection at Peter...

 October 1 Fall colors starting to happen around Boston. I liked this red flare of ivy on a wall in Susan's neighborhood.  And the next day, this single tree turning color across the street from my house. The next few days were blustery and cold, some hard rain, feeling like fall is really happening. October 5 Sparrow at the Chestnut Hill mall, right by Bloomingdales. October 7 Bicycling out to Race Point on the Cape this morning, passing Herring Cove beach, flocks of blue jays, dozens and dozens of them, flew from the woods across the road.  I wondered if they were migrating as it's unusual to see so many together.  Even though we see blue jays year round in Massachusetts, it's possible that our summer birds go south and more northern ones come here for the winter. Susan's friend Christie came over this morning, all excited, having found chicken of the woods mushrooms, great sheets of them, all orange and yellow, growing on a tree right near her house.  Said ...