Winter

January 2 - Sharon (Faith Berkland)  I was excited today to see a bluebird right here in Sharon on Mansfield Street. They seem to like the cedar/juniper (?) berries on the tree right up the street here. 

January 4 - Lower Mills (Anne Schmalz)  This afternoon was a 'wild' time at MIlton Landing about 4 p.m. A flock of 152 crows flew over raucously as a Great blue heron flew in to roost, a kingfisher zoomed up the river and a Red fox appeared out on the ice at the bend of the river. He must have crossed over, as he was spotted coming along the shore a few minutes later. Fortunately (not for the fox!) the heron roosted in a tree and the Red-breasted mergansers and Mallards swam out of the way.

January 4 - Sharon (Faith Berkland)  We saw another bluebird at the same juniper tree yesterday (see Faith's Jan. 2 wildlife blog entry).

January 8 - Sharon (Faith Berkland)  A male and female bluebird were again sighted on Mansfield Street, Sharon @ midday eating bittersweet berries. The juniper berries are gone.

January 8 - Canton (Carly Rocklen)  Just the past week, European starlings have returned to shelter beneath the roof above my office window. Each year they maintain a nest here and raise their young, frequently flying out to forage for food and returning to feed and care for the nestlings. I find their rustling about comforting. They're here at all times of the year - when there are icicles hanging from the window, when the window's open at all times, and then when there's a boxy air conditioner hanging out of it, whirring.

January 9 - Milton (Maureen Carr)  We saw a very large bird in a tree in our yard. We abut the Neponset River Watershed near Gulliver's creek. It was bigger than the hawks that we often see. We thought that it may have been an eagle. 

January 15 - Blue Hill Ave. (Carly Rocklen)  Notes from winter morning commutes heading south on Blue Hill Ave., through Mattapan, then Milton and Canton: 

     At the Morton St./Blue Hill Ave. intersection, a crowd of sea gulls often gathers on the peaks of the police station roof, jostling one another, extending wings, vocalizing. A few more gulls float above the traffic, unsteadily. On a rare occasion a hawk perches at the top of the tall copper cross of the Baptist church. 

     As I drive further south, small groups of European starlings wing up from perches on roofs and in shrubs. Groups of pigeons flap and glide over traffic. 

     Between homes, clusters of last year's fruits are visible in silhouette at the tops of Trees-of-Heaven, against the morning sky. 

     I try to catch glimpses of the Neponset River through the trees as I drive over the bridge spanning the River in Mattapan Square, headed into Milton. 

     Rhododendron shrubs dot yards, leaves drooping and curling into themselves for protection from the cold. 

     A brown oak leaf drifts across the roadway, launched from a snow-covered limb arching over traffic. 

     The forms of the trees, bare now save for an occasional snowy blanket, look very different depending on the species and their age - maples vs. oak, ash, and hickory. I drive past a pond in the woods. 

     A small portion of the pond isn't iced over, yet, so I look for pairs of ducks, but none are visible. 

     As I approach the bridge spanning I-93 in Canton, often a hawk is perched at the top of a dead tree by the highway. Occasionally a hawk glides past, low, overhead, flashing the white of its belly and wings. Sometimes crows tumble with one another in the air on their way across an expansive corporate lawn. 

     I always look for White-tailed deer in the field (and former polluted site) at the top of the hill before I approach Crowell's convenience store at the intersection with Washington St. in Canton; however, this season I've seen none. 

     Once I enter the office and sit down at my desk, gulls criss-cross in front of my window throughout the day, gliding and flapping over the parking lot. I look up every now and again to watch the changing colors of sunlight move over the Sugar maples lining the paved path over the golf course.

January 19 - Jamaica Plain (Carly Rocklen)  (Though "J.P." is just outside the geographic boundaries of the Neponset River Watershed, it's in the Neponset drainage system because of the layout of its piping.) Just past noon, today, I'm sure I saw a juvenile (3rd-year) Bald eagle perched at the top of a very tall lamp-post at the corner of our road, along a sports field. It sat at the top of a cluster of lights - pale beak, pale eyes, massive body, some white feathers at its chest and the rest brown and speckled. The very large bird gazed around at our neighborhood, turning its head this way and that. The wind rustled its head feathers. I began to scrape the ice off the windshield of my car, and the bird watched me. Occasionally in the winters JP residents catch sight of a juvenile Bald eagle chasing waterfowl at Jamaica Pond; I wondered if this individual would wind up at the pond, as well -

January 20 - Jamaica Plain to Canton (Carly Rocklen)  In Jamaica Plain, this morning, House sparrows called and jumped between the canes of bare shrubs along the chain-link fence by our house. A gray squirrel clambered over the wooden fence around the yard of our neighbor-with-the-bird-feeder. During my morning commute to work, I drove past a crow perched motionless on a streetlight in the center of Blue Hill Ave., while sea gulls glided overhead. Further south along Rte. 138, a few American robins bobbed between shrubs along the roadway. (Yesterday, on a walk around one of the smaller Jamaica Plain ponds in the Emerald Necklace, I watched, startled, as a flock of robins foraged for food in the mud and leaves of a snow-less patch of hillside, and a wren darted between Japanese knotweed stems on the other side of the path. There were even green, very alive-looking aquatic plants in the bubbling brook flowing beneath the walking path!) Around noon, on a visit to a Canton home, I watched Dark-eyed juncos fly between branches just outside the homeowner's livingroom.

January 25 - (Pops)  I was driving north on the expressway approaching the Neponset River and saw a mature Bald eagle come up from the river and fly west over the expressway. His white head and white tail feathers were easily identified and his size and his "fingers" were also very visible. I had a good view because the traffic had slowed in that area as it usually does....so even poor traffic conditions can have an upside! Has anyone else reported same? (Editor's Note: For other local Bald eagle observations, see below: 1) Jan. 19 observation in Jamaica Plain - Carly Rocklen, 2) Jan. 9 observation in Milton - Maureen Carr, 3) Dec. 30 photo. - Turner's Pond, Milton - here, and 4) Dec. 24  photo - Massapoag Pond, Sharon, here.) 

January 29 - Canton (Tammy Fisher)  Here are some turkeys around the Indian Lane area. More turkeys; maybe they're on their way home. I had another picture but it was too dark of them up in a tree. 

February 17 - Stoughton (Dwight Mac Kerron)  This winter we have had a resident otter or two near us on Ames Pond in Stoughton. We have often had otters passing through and seen their tracks and slide, but this year, one or two have established something like dens in two places, with a lot of scat with fish scales left outside over the period of at least a month. Twice, I have heard them under the ice as I approached their holes, and once I saw one on the snow-covered ice, a day or two after a storm.

     In nearby woods, I have followed fisher tracks for a few miles along what appears to be a section of a hunting circuit.  A month ago the snow was excellent for tracking for several weeks. Identifying the fisher tracks is less clear-cut than the otters, but I believe that they have to be male fisher tracks. In deep snow the animal leaps in a 2-2-2-2-2 pattern.

     The broadness of the track, compared to the relative short length of the stride is distinctive, and raccoon tracks would be more oblong, I think.

     I have also seen winter bluebirds for the first time.

March 28 - Sharon (Paul Lauenstein)  I saw a Great blue heron today - first one I've seen since last fall. I've been seeing Ring-necked ducks on a nearby pond in Sharon (March 19-25). They will soon head north to the Arctic. Also, bluebirds are actively inspecting nesting sites, and woodcocks (a.k.a. timberdoodles) are doing their spectacular vertical mating flights. Today I heard Spring peepers. I also got the word that the salamanders' spawning migration happened during the rain on Thursday night. Read Paul Lauenstein's essays about White suckers or  Vernal pool animal migrations. [Editor's note: On Sat., March 28, at a vernal pool certification workshop led by the MA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, we observed the spermatophores recently laid down on the bottom of a vernal pool by male Spotted salamanders. Another rainy night would be needed before the females visited the spot as well. Learn more about these salamanders' life cycle.]

April 25 - Sharon (Paul Lauenstein)  White suckers in spawning frenzy in Beaver Brook. Note the red stripes and erect dorsal fins.

April 28 - Jamaica Plain (Carly Rocklen)  I think the orioles may be back. I went for a late-afternoon/early-evening walk around Ward's Pond in Jamaica Plain and swear I heard one calling from the top of a tall, newly leafing oak. Certainly the grackles and Red-winged blackbirds are making a ruckus around the ponds and wetlands! Even warblers are calling in the mornings in JP. Welcome back, Spring!

May 1 - Sharon (Paul Lauenstein)  We have bluebirds nesting in our back yard. Also, the 10 SFOC birdhouses in the vicinity of the Gavins Pond soccer fields have three bluebird families with small blue eggs, and one of the new bluebird houses we installed in the field near HFY has nesting bluebirds. A group of volunteers has been formed to monitor the bluebird houses, and we are thinking of installing more bluebird houses around town. We might put up a couple near Hixson Farm. We glimpsed a fisher cat at Moose Hill on Thursday morning on a bird walk led by Christine Turnbull. She leads a walk every Thursday morning at 6:30 a.m. through the month of May. We see a lot of warblers, buntings, tanagers, flycatchers, swallows, wrens, finches, woodpeckers, gnatcatchers, phoebes, and various other interesting and unusual birds. Some of the folks who show up are quite knowledgeable. Here is a picture of Bluebirds seen at Moose Hill in late April.

May 2 - Quincy (Carly Rocklen)  Blue Spring azures flitted alongside the dirt footpath we followed through the sunlit woods, around St. Moritz Pond in the Blue Hills Reservation. A crowd of very small, dark turtles sunned themselves on a half-submerged rock and a flat of mud. A slender, tan and brown-spotted snake moved slowly across the rocky path....

Week of May 4 - Canton (Carly Rocklen)  Driving north along Rte. 138 in Canton, as I was passing the meadow of Indian Line Farm at the tip of the hill just north of Ponkapoag Golf Course -- in the lush, rich green grasses of the spring meadow, there flashed the deep-brown of a displaying Wild turkey's tail.

May 5 - Stoughton (Dwight Mac Kerron)  Yes, orioles and catbirds are back and the Flowering dogwood blossoms opened fully yesterday. In nearby woods several days ago I had a Barred owl fly off, but only for a few feet and then it hung around for a while and even flew back closer to me allowing some pictures, including one lucky shot in which I managed to get a Turkey vulture up in the sky in the background. Why this owl stayed nearby, when most do not, I have no idea. Maybe it was interested by the two dogs. Oak leaves are now 1-2 inches long, supposedly a good time to plant corn, but I never have good germination with it in the soil this early, so I start it inside. Good asparagus and rhubarb, though.

May 6 - Milton (Carly Rocklen)  On a late-afternoon trek down the Burma Rd. footpath in the Fowl Meadow wetlands (a part of the Blue Hills Reservation and Neponset River Reservation), I searched for Galerucella beetles and Purple loosestrife plants, and caught sight of spring warblers and flowers....

     The streaked, yellow breasts of Yellow warblers popped from newly leafing trees along the edges of the path. These delicate, small birds bopped between branches. One buzzed me and continued flying down the path. American goldfinches called from further out in the wetlands. Baltimore orioles chattered loudly from hidden perches in the tree tops. One very vocal male flew rapidly overhead after a female who ducked him between two trees. Solo, and still calling loudly, he returned to the other side of the wetland. I noticed how much lighter in color the female orioles are than the males. 

     Sessile bellwort, purple violas, Jack-in-the-Pulpits and Wood anemones are blooming at the edge of the Burma Rd. footpath, now.

     At Brookwood Farm (part of the Blue Hills Reservation), in a tree growing at the edge of a pond, a Baltimore oriole called loudly from a branch, flashing brilliant orange in the sun against a background of pale green new leaves, while an Orchard oriole - a rust-brown bird with a black head and chest, called quietly from its shifting perch at the opposite side of the tree.

Early-/Mid-May - Canton (Kathleen O'Connell)  I saw what I think was a fisher cat running from the Milton Hoosic Golf Course in Canton to the Bradley Estate across the road. I was in my car and stopped. It stopped to look at me, then slipped away.

May 11 - Milton/Mattapan (Carly Rocklen)  This morning, buzzing southward along Rt. 138 in my car, as I passed through Mattapan Sq. and into Milton; I did a double-take; a Turkey vulture was standing on the ground at the right side of the road, stationed near somebody's mailbox and a telephone pole, tentatively examining a roadkill Virginia opossum. At first I thought the large, red-headed bird was a Wild turkey. The second look determined it was a vulture. Remarkable to see one on the ground in Boston!

May 13 - Metro Boston (Carly Rocklen)  Have you noticed the the small white flowers of Garlic mustard along roadsides, walking trails, fencelines and in backyards, these days? Land managers remove this exotic, invasive plant species to conserve local biodiversity. Japanese knotweed is another exotic, invasive plant that's been growing phenomenally lately. Within the space of a few days, the knotweed growing along the fence in our backyard grew from a couple of small, reddish leaves just above the soil to plants several feet tall, with a stem diameter of almost 2 inches. I'm working at manually removing all the stems and root pieces, as I put in a flower garden. Meanwhile, my neighbor has been cutting back the Oriental bittersweet, another exotic, invasive species growing along the fence. I've also recently begun to watch the exotic, invasive Black swallow-wort burst forth from the cracks in the cement behind our house. It's grown about 4 inches in the week. I aim to remove it soon. All the while, exotic, invasive European starlings squawk and trill and flap in the trees around the neighborhood and from the eves of our house, along with the smaller House sparrows, another exotic, invasive species that bops about between fenceposts and chainlink fences, shrubs and eves, in our city neighborhood.

May 15 - Canton (Carly Rocklen)  Did you know that the walking path over Ponkapoag Pond's restructured earthen dam has re-opened? Check it out, but be advised - the experience is far different than before. 

     I went for a walk over it early this evening and found myself in the company of a frog and a human fisherman. We were joined by Grackles, Red-winged blackbirds and Baltimore orioles, which passed over us calling out loud and clear. 

     I strained to see spring warblers; this area used to be a favorite spot to sight them in the spring, and today I spotted only one beige-colored warbler hopping in the slender shrubs by the dam. 

     Some newly planted native shrubs, including a blooming Highbush blueberry, with flowers that look like bells, border the walking path. Unfurling ferns poke from the pond's surface. Male Red-winged blackbirds were perched on Cattails, and some even landed on the dirt path and poked around. 

     Past the dam and into the woods, the beautiful and delicate wildflowers Starflowers, Canada mayflower, Wild geraniums, purple violas and buttercups are blooming along the forest floor, in addition to the graceful Cinnamon fern and Interrupted fern. Unfortunately, the many tiny, white flowers and crenate leaf edges of Garlic mustard colonies also are visible. The yellow blooms of Greater celandine are also around.

     Along the paved path leading to the pond ("Maple Ave."), you can enjoy luxuriant Sugar maple foliage, and many an American robin and Chipping sparrow. Baltimore orioles call from within the trees....

May 26 - Jamaica Plain (Carly Rocklen)  Mallard ducklings and Canada geese goslings toddle in and out of the water and along the shore of Jamaica Pond, following their parents. Red-eared slider turtles and Painted turtles poke their heads from the water's surface and bask in the sun on half-submerged rocks. Sunfish hover over their clearings on the pond floor (learn why). Black locust trees flower around the pond, and Rhododendron shrubs flower in people's yards. The yellow flowers of the exotic, invasive plant Greater celandine are visible in yards and along trails and streets, as are the flowers of the exotic, invasive Oriental bittersweet and Black swallowwort. The raspy calls of the exotic, invasive fledgling European starlings come from within tree canopies and from the eaves of houses.

May 30 - Metro Boston (Carly Rocklen)  Common nighthawks cruise the urban skies and wetland meadows, making "peent"ing noises and swallowing hordes of insects with their very large mouths. You might just catch sight of the broad white bands beneath their wings.

June 8 - Canton (Carly Rocklen)  Around the edges of Ponkapoag Pond, where the soil is rich and moist, and nestled into the greenery of Sweet pepperbush, Swamp azalea and Greenbrier, the Highbush blueberry shrubs are fruiting. Look for the blueberries -- green, yet, and relatively small. See more recent sightings, here. 

June 8 - Canton (Steve Pearlman)  Steve reports that during a walk along the golf course this morning, he and Brady spotted a big Snapping turtle laying its eggs inside a sand trap!

June 10 - Hyde Park (Kathleen Driscoll)  Lots of coyotes running along the Neponset in Hyde Park. I saw a fox as well. No bears yet but I wouldn't be shocked to see one.

June 16 - Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Milton & Canton (Carly Rocklen)  Stopped in my car at an array of traffic lights this morning, I gladly saw that native sumac shrubs are now blooming by the side of the road, as are Common chicory plants and fleabane. Common milkweed is budding, too. 

     Did you know that a wide variety of local wildlife feeds on sumac (Staghorn sumac and/or Smooth sumac)? These animals feed on the fruit: Ruffed grouse, Ring-necked pheasant, Bobwhite, Wild turkey, Bluebirds, Northern cardinals, Catbirds, Common and Fish crows, Purple finches, Yellow-shafted flickers, Slate-colored juncos, Mockingbirds, Phoebes, American robins, Starlings, Scarlet tanagers, Brown thrashers, Hermit thrushes, Olive-backed thrushes, Veeries, Red-eyed and Warbling vireos, Pine warblers, and New England cottontails (also eats the bark). White-tailed deer eat sumac twigs and leaves. (Reference: American Wildlife & Plants: A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits, by A.C. Martin, H.S. Zim, A.L. Nelson, 1951.)

June 18 - Milton (Heidi Graf)  My neighbor, Gerda Conant, asked me to go down to the Adams Street bridge and get a photo of this big guy. Its shell is about 2 feet wide. It seems this is his hang-out spot. The white orb to the left is a dimpled ball of some kind. Almost looks like an egg!

July 19 - Canton (Carly Rocklen)  First chorus of cicada buzzing, today! Learn about cicadas.

July 24 - Jamaica Plain (Carly Rocklen)  The crickets are singing again. Daylilies are blooming. Cicadas are buzzing. High-summer's officially here! Learn more about how cricket song relates to the weather, and other interesting cricket tidbits.

July 28 - Canton (Carly Rocklen)  Whizzing by in the car on a humid and already hot morning, a most welcome sight came into view as I crested a hill on Rt. 138 in Canton. Standing still in the shade at the base of a tall, leafy tree in a field of tall grasses, was an adult Wild turkey and two poults (young turkeys).

Early August - Metro Boston (Carly Rocklen) Goldenrod flowers are blooming! We have many types of native goldenrod species here in New England, and they provide high-quality pollen and nectar for many native wildlife, as well as bright, showy yellow flowers. Some of our local wildlife that use Goldenrods include: the Ruffed grouse, Common goldfinch, Junco, Swamp sparrow, and Tree sparrow, which eat the seeds. The Eastern cottontail, Mearns cottontail and New England cottontail eat the leaves and the whole plants, and Meadow mice and Pine mice eat the seed heads and the leaves. (American Wildlife & Plants: A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits, by A. Martin, H. Zim, A. Nelson, Dover Publications, NY, copyright 1951.)

August 13 - Metro Boston (Carly Rocklen) Took an early evening stroll on the dirt and gravel path 'round some of Ponkapoag Pond, in Canton. The Spicebush fruits are ripening; I caught glimpses of their ovular, shiny green-ness at the side of the path. Have you noticed that some maple trees are beginning to turn color, too? There's a thin scattering of their fallen, colorful leaves along Maple Ln. that runs through the Ponkapoag Golf Course. A friend in VT reports that their maple trees are beginning to turn, too. Could this be a result of stressful weather - the month of cloudy, wet, cold weather...followed by a hot, humid, heat wave? I also spotted two water snakes sunning themselves on a mossy, muddy, fern-y mat at the base of Purple loosestrife and cattail in Ponkapoag Pond.

     In my neighbor's yard in Jamaica Plain, her Highbush blueberry plants are fruiting beneath a White pine. The fruits slowly become a rich blue from a purple-y-red. And in our yard, Asters are blooming - a late-summer/fall flower.

     At Allandale Farm in Brookline, the fruits of Highbush-cranberry (not really cranberry; it's a species of Viburnum shrub) are now a brilliant, translucent red.

     I've also noticed several strings of Canada geese fly by; I shudder to think of this as a sign of changing seasons. Instead, I'll just imagine that they're flapping to a better watery scene, elsewhere!

August 15 - Metro Boston (Carly Rocklen) These days, in our yards and by the sides of roads, are the bright yellow and red-orange, miniature dandelion-like heads of sweet-smelling Hawkweeds. Purple coneflowers (Echinacea) are blooming in gardens, along with Black-eyed Susans. And, in our wetlands (wet meadows, to be exact), Blue vervain is flowering - little blue clusters of flowers on tall candleabra-like stalks, along with the large, soft, rounded pink flower clusters of Joe-Pye weed and the bright yellow goldenrod.

August 23 - Metro Boston (Carly Rocklen) Catalpa fruits! Have you seen these long, pale green, bean-like fruits dangling from the large-leaved trees? You would probably notice this tree earlier in the growing season, with its clusters of large, white blooms.

Week of September 7 - Metro Boston (Carly Rocklen) Goldenrod and asters, spent Joe-Pye weed and bright hawkweed: it's late-summer, and here comes the fall! Earlier this week, I stood out in the backyard, watering the flower garden. An American crow squawked and a cool wind whipped the neighbor's laundry out on the line. The Pink coneflowers at my feet were fading and the petals of a few of the Black-eyed Susans not dead-headed the day before were shriveled. The sky was covered in clouds. Little bee or hoverfly activity was visible. Signs of fall!

September 13 - Sharon (Paul Lauenstein) Here's a photo from the Sharon Friends of Conservation (SFOC) hike to Borderland State Park on 9/13. She will probably remember this moment for a long, long time.

Week of September 14 - Metro Boston (Carly Rocklen) The maples are turning colors! And, grey squirrels sit at the juncture of branch and tree trunk, tail shaking, letting out a grating, repetitive call.

September 16 & 17 - Canton, Milton & Hyde Park (Carly Rocklen) Alongside a wet meadow at DCR's Brookwood Farm are the brightly colored ripening fruits of Multiflora rose, buckthorn, privet, bittersweet and dogwood (see a paler shade of dogwood fruit, here). I spotted a beautifully round wild grape today, too - alongside Meadow Rd. in Hyde Park. What a great fragrance, by bunches of them! The grapes are changing from a red-purple to a blue-purple. Poision ivy has begun to put on a great show, too. Unfortunately, on my visit to the wetlands I also spotted this.

Fall 2009 Sightings

September 24 - Neponset River Estuary [Dorchester & Quincy] (Carly Rocklen) At low tide, this morning, staff of the Neponset River Watershed Association went on an annual canoe trip, this time along the Neponset River Estuary. We parked our caravan of canoe-topped cars at the Neponset II Park off of Granite St. in Dorchester, loaded our canoes into the brackish water (in an estuary, freshwater and saltwater combine to create brackish water), and paddled downstream. We paddled past the hilly, no-trees Pope John Paul II Park where people jogged and walked their dogs. Here, my canoe-mate and I focused in on the shoreline; the salt marsh grasses and their associated peat are eye-catching in color (soft shades of green and yellows) and form. Two little birds flitted between shrubbery. A few ducks paddled along further downstream. Welcome sights especially were the delicate white herons that very occasionally flapped over our heads, and the bulkier cormorants that swooshed by, closer to us. Cormorants also were seated on wooden poles in the water, some with their wings outspread to dry. Different cormorants had different plumage; some had very light-colored chests while others were darker. Tom, my canoe-mate, mentioned the brilliant turquoise color of cormorants' eyes. Small snails (periwinkles?) and their trails were visible in the soft sediment of the shallow water along the edges of the river, as were the pale-colored, broken shells of steamer clams. Occasionally we paddled past a large clump of floating dark-colored seaweed (and we spotted the air bladders we used to try to pop, as kids). We paddled up a brackish creek, between tall office buildings, and out. We passed the Adams Inn on the Quincy side of the river, as well as the large, white Boston Scientific building and Dorchester yacht clubs. Ultimately, we beached our canoes at Squantum Point Park in Quincy, for lunch. Eventually, we paddled back upstream to Neponset II Park, this time, with the tide (phew! a lot easier to paddle). Beautiful morning on the water, with the smell of salt water in the air.

October 5 - Canton (Carly Rocklen) In the early evening, along the green dot trail around the perimeter of Ponkapoag Pond, a continuous, bumpy carpet of large, red-brown acorns and brown and yellow fallen leaves covered the path. Alongside the trail and throughout the forest floor were the yellowing leaves of wild groundcover plants like Wild sarsparilla, sedges, loosestrife and more. The berries of wild Viburnum shrubs have ripened to a deep purple-blue, the berries of Jack-in-the-pulpit are a brilliant red, and Wintergreen berries are reddening too. Witch-hazel is sporting flowers again! Crickets softly chorus. In the White-cedar bog, a flock (or two) of American robins, loud, social, are feeding off trees from amidst a now scanty covering of reddened leaves. For a while, I stood quietly and watched them from the split-log boardwalk. Waxwings had gathered on the slim, grey tree branches, too, far smaller in size and number than the robins, and far quieter. I wondered what other bird species would pass through Ponkapoag on their fall migration. Here's an idea!

October 8 - Canton & Milton (Carly Rocklen) The exotic, invasive plant Mile-a-Minute now is growing in the Fowl Meadow Area of Critical Environmental Concern by Greenlodge St. in Canton. Right now, the plant is fruiting. The MA Dept. of Conservation and Recreation - South Region has been hard at work to remove this climbing vine. Help DCR fight it! Call the DCR Forestry Assistant at 617-727-4573 ext 219, to lend a hand. On a more calming note, asters are the main flowers now blooming in the wet meadow at Brookwood Farm. The bees, butterflies and flies are busy visiting the blooms for food.

October 12 & 13 - Canton & Milton (Carly Rocklen) The lush foliage of Sugar maples is easing into red-oranges, brown-reds and olive-greens along the paved trail from the Ponkapoag Golf Course parking lot up through the greens, to Ponkapoag Pond. Bright-red-and-yellow leaves litter the ground along the Fowl Meadow wetland trails as the Red maples let go of their leaves. Canada geese fly overhead in large Vs, honking, appearing overhead far more frequently now than they have in many a month. Asters and goldenrods are the last native wildflowers continuing to bloom. Many a winged insect visits the flowers, harvesting nectar and pollen. We paused to watch a variety of bumblebees climbing over both types of flowers along the Burma Rd. trail in Fowl Meadow. Poison ivy and Virginia creeper vines are putting on a brilliant show of autumn reds, deep-oranges and yellows. Wild grapes are beginning to ferment on their vines, sending a hauntingly sweet smell in moist-soiled areas along walking trails and roadsides.

October 19 - Milton (Carly Rocklen) This morning's commute brought the first wintry sight of the year ~ snow, in patches on the ground of the rocky, wooded slopes of the Blue Hills Reservation, along Rte. 138.

October 21 - Milton (Carly Rocklen) The loud chattering of a very large flock of birds hidden in the trees along Rte. 138 in Milton provided musical accompaniment to the morning commute.

October 22 - Canton (Carly Rocklen) Early this evening, just past sunset, I walked out to the lake adjacent to the Ponkapoag Golf Course and set down by the water's edge. Darkness crept over the sky. Small birds winged in from the woods to settle into the blanket of bog plants. A few bats swooped above. Aquatic animals came up for air. The scent of mud and plants enriched the night air. Light faded incrementally in the sky, and the colors of the landscape changed to deep purples, blues and grays. I listened to the lake, wetland and woods around me. The sounds of the highway crept in. I remained still, watching, until almost all the light had gone. Eventually the lone fisherman who'd stood quietly, further down the dam, packed-up. He headed home slowly along the stone path, and I soon followed.

Late October/Early November - Jamaica Plain (Carly Rocklen)  On the occasional weekend walk around Jamaica Pond, we've been looking for the return of our favorite winter waterfowl ~ American coots. We may have seen a small fleet of them paddling past, in the middle of the pond.

November 15 - Jamaica Plain (Carly Rocklen)  Who was floating on Jamaica Pond, this warm, sunny afternoon? Canada geese, Mallard ducks, American coots, Ruddy ducks, Hooded mergansers, and Mute swans. There even may have been more species, but I didn't bring a pair of binoculars! This variety of waterfowl is indicative of this time of year; we see these guys most every fall and winter on the Pond. Note that in autumn, a variety of waterfowl species grace the Pond, whereas in summer, only a few species are visible. Thus, we're pretty excited when autumn rolls around, each year. Over the winter, I'm looking forward to spotting Bufflehead, Bald eagles, Wood ducks and Northern pintails, among other waterfowl on the Pond. (Note that Mute swans are an exotic species; Trumpeter swans are native to North America. How can you tell these swans apart? Take a good look at the beaks; the Mute swans have a large bump at the top of their orange and black beaks, whereas the Trumpeter swans have smooth, black beaks.)

November 17 - Canton (Carly Rocklen)  Berries seen along a walk at the edge of the woods and golf course: the small, red berries on a leafless Multifllora rose shrub, the blue-black berries of a now-leafless Common buckthorn shrub, and the red and yellow fruits of bittersweet.

November 19 - Route 138 (Carly Rocklen)  Most trees being leafless, these days, spotting wildlife nests is easy. On the drive into work, nests were visible everywhere - large, messy, leafy clusters high up in deciduous trees. Whose homes are these? These are the nests of Grey squirrels. Learn about tree squirrel nest-making.

November 23 - Neponset River Watershed (Carly Rocklen)  Have you noticed that some pine cones are open and some are not, right now? For instance, now that it's late November, the cones on the White pine in our backyard are open. But, the cones on the spruces I pass along the road while driving are not. Pine and spruce trees have different cone growth cycles - pine cones take a different number of years to mature than spruce cones. Learn more about cones. And, for better visualization: compare a variety of cones. Now, here's a cone of a Colorado blue spruce (people often plant these trees in their yards). While walking in the Neponset River Watershed, you'll also probably see the cones of Eastern hemlocks; they're tiny, about the size of your thumbnail and dangle from branches. You might also see a larch tree (also known as a "tamarack") - for instance, at the Boston Nature Center in Mattapan. Larches have tiny cones that stand upright. 

November 30 - Neponset River Watershed (Carly Rocklen)  All those moths that gathering on your front door or beneath the porch light at night - 'wonder what they are and why you don't remember them from childhood? Learn more.

December 6 - Fowl Meadow (Carly Rocklen)  Walking in the thin blanket of snow left the night before, we spent a couple of hours traveling the Burma Rd. path in Fowl Meadow (a part of the Blue Hills Reservation that parallels the Neponset River and is accessible at the junction of Brush Hill Rd. and Neponset Valley Pkwy. in Milton). The stalks and feathery crests of Common reed (also called "Phragmites') were golden against the blue sky, and the slender branches of native dogwood shrubs were a remarkable deep red against the white of the snow. The sun felt warm on our faces as we walked along, and the snow compacted quietly beneath our feet. A chickadee would flit across our path every now and again, to alight in a tree and call out. We heard small woodpeckers, too - Hairy or Down woodpeckers (very similar in appearance) - tapping against the highest portions of bare trees in the wooded swamp, and we caught sight of one of the woodpeckers, once - high up in a tree, with black and white spotted plumage that made me walking partner smile (what a beautiful bird).

December 11 - Stoughton (Ardis Johnston)  River otters at Muddy Pond, at the headwaters of Steep Hill Brook!

   A walk along the edge of the woods at the Ponkapoag Golf Course in Canton brought rabbit scat into sight in the manicured grass, and deer scat in the woods. Bird scat also was visible beneath the reddened canes of Rubus species (berry plants) and Multiflora rose. More scat showed that a small animal had been feeding on the fruits of bittersweet vines. Learn more about tracking animals in Massachusetts.