February 23 - Jamaica Plain (Carly Rocklen)  Tonight we smelled the strong odor of Striped skunk through our apartment windows and as we walked along the sidewalk. We haven't seen any skunks yet, though. Get ready to smell the same! It's skunk mating season, this month and next, and time to give those guys a wide berth. Learn more. 

February 18 - Canton (Carly Rocklen)  This afternoon, I took a walk through an unused green of the Ponkapoag Golf Course, when -- what did I see fluttering in a shaft of sunlight? A cloud of midges! What a surprise, for winter. Perhaps today's temp's in the mid-40s spawned a midge hatch in Ponkapoag Brook. I wondered who would eat these insects. Would birds catch sight of them? Which birds?

February 17 - Canton (Andy Leahy)  Stomping through the floodplains of the Neponset, in Canton today, near the Canton River, I found more evidence of otters, in our area. As I was about to cross a small stream, I noticed this bunch of prints - what seems like more otter prints, and scat. The small brownish area of melted snow is scat, and just above that, the otters' slide down into the icy brook is visible...must've just been stoppin for lunch, or a bathroom break. The scat was very similar to that found at Bird Pond, previously (fish scales, etc.).

February 15 - Jamaica Plain (Carly Rocklen)  This afternoon, I took a walk around iced-over Jamaica Pond, followed by a descent through a small woods to the more hidden Willow (Ward's) Pond, and a stroll alongside the stream that winds away from Willow, toward Leverett Pond (view a satellite image of these linked ponds).

     Ice on Jamaica Pond has been contracting and expanding, melting and refreezing -- especially evident at the edges of the pond, where the ice sheet has kicked up frozen mud and curves toward the sky. Canine and large waterfowl prints litter the ice, and a few sea gulls wing overhead. No ducks or geese are to be seen.... 

     However, a trek across the road and down through the wooded footpath to Willow (Ward's) Pond revealed a lone Canada goose standing by the edge of the water...and a gurgling stream filled with lush, green, short aquatic plants (how surreal, in the dead of winter!). Wildlife and dog prints were scattered here and there over the pond ice. 

     From Willow Pond, I followed the winding stream towards Leverett. This stream is always of great personal interest; it's in the process of being "restored". You can see the restoration efforts in the form of tubing, stakes and native plantings; people are stabilizing the banks of the stream and populating the area with native plants. The plants will provide habitat and food for local wildlife. They also will shade the stream, cooling the temperature of its water to provide more oxygen and better habitat for aquatic wildlife. -- A win-win situation for the Boston environment!

February 14 - Jamaica Plain & Dorchester (Carly Rocklen)  We took an afternoon stroll through Franklin Park on the Jamaica Plain/Dorchester town line. We entered the park through its northern tip and walking southerly for about 25 minutes until we arrived at Scarboro Pond. 

     We slowly strolled the pond's northern perimeter path, looking into the woods (and noting the impressively smooth-and-silver-skinned, big, gnarled beech trees), saying hello to the few passersby, and gazing out onto the ice- and snow-covered pond, spotted with wildlife footprints. A few people occupied park benches, chatting, and a few others strolled the path. This was such a nice, quiet, calm change of pace from walking the perimeter path of Jamaica Pond! 

     When we realized we were hearing Canada geese but not seeing any, we headed off the paved path, toward a portion of the pond that was not as iced-over. Eventually we spotted a flock of Canada geese on the surrounding golf course, and also a gaggle of ducks - mostly Mallards - perched at the edge of an ice floe. We also heard a Blue jay hollering from up above, and when we strained to find it, noticed a hawk, puffed out and perched on a branch. The Blue jay was harassing the hawk. 

     Local naturalist Stephen Baird was nestled into the roots of a nearby tree and bundled up in a big coat, his binoculars focused alternately on the ducks (he noted that besides the Mallards, there were Lesser scaup and American coots) and the Red-tail hawk. Stephen was waiting for the hawk to sail into the crowd of ducks to grab a meal (evidently a regular occurrence). Stephen mentioned that this was owl-mating season and that he'd begun to focus his binoculars on every tree cavity he could find, hoping to find an owl. He noted that dusk is the perfect time to hear Screech owls. 

     Franklin Park is here.

February 5 - Dorchester (Rob McArthur)  We were out at Bearse Avenue.... I again looked for the great blue heron carcass, but did not notice anything. Our meeting regarding the osprey platform however went very well and if we can come up with the materials to construct two of these platforms (for now), then they [NStar] will help us [DCR] to place them – one at the end of the berm that heads out from the end of Bearse Ave. to the river and a second one in Quincy off of Airport Road in the Squantum area. I did want to report that while out along the berm..., we spotted an adult bald eagle circling overhead – quite cool.

February 4 - Canton (Carly Rocklen)  During a late-afternoon walk, five or six Eastern bluebirds popped in and out of the bare Sugar maples lining the paved path from the parking lot of the Ponkapoag Golf Course to Ponkapoag Pond. [Local nature enthusiast Wilbur "Dusty" Rhodes notes, "I've been watching bluebird behavior for some time. This group has been at Ponkapoag all winter, and another in Middleboro. In the case of the Ponkapoag group: they tend to hang out with white-breasted nuthatches, flickers, downies, juncos, and a few other species. They survive by having a number of their species in the holes you see in many of the maples. It's an interesting technique, and doesn't occur every year."]

Week of February 1 - Dorchester (Andy Leahy)  ...I went and explored the marsh area, from the entrance off of Bearse Ave. ...The trail follows between the railroad line and the river for a couple hundred yards, beside feathergrass and prime birding land, before it meets with the paved path leading into Pope John Paul. ...Saw some mergansers diving, and red tail hawks. Heard the hawks screeching, too. Crows were floating on ice drifts in the river and there was a lot of scat from birds and mammals.

End of January - Fowl Meadow (Wilbur "Dusty" Rhodes)  At Fowl Meadow, there were 60 Red-winged blackbirds near the end of January. They are considered the harbinger of Spring.

Weekend of January 30 - Jamaica Plain & Dedham (Carly Rocklen)  An early afternoon walk along the paved path that rings frozen Jamaica Pond brought into view two canine trails paralleling each other across the thin layer of snow on the thicker ice on Jamaica Pond. I gathered that the paw prints were left by a pair of fox or smaller coyote. (Almost all dogs I've ever seen walking that path with their owners are on-leash. Also, there were no human prints to accompany the canine. It has been frigidly cold, the past week, so few people have been walking around JP Pond. Finally, when I've looked up wild canine vs. domestic canine prints in the past, the gait of the creatures has been mentioned, and the prints on JP Pond matched more of a wildlife gait.) In case you also find yourself wondering about who left wildlife prints, print a wildlife track identification card and bring it along with you. I sure wish I'd had either the card or my camera!

     A mid-afternoon hike in Wilson Mountain Reservation in Dedham, brought striking views of stone outcroppings rising from a snow- and pine needle-covered forest floor. A black, white and red woodpecker squawked as it perched on one pine tree trunk and then flew to another. We startled a herd of White-tailed deer as we ascended a hill, and after one watched us for a while, pawing the ground, the group crossed the walking path and galloped into the woods, one by one. Tufted titmice called out and flitted between leafless trees around a boardwalk over a frozen (but still running!) stream. Small hills rose all around us. Such a welcome respite from the city! 

     Local nature enthusiast Anne Schmalze responds, "I read your report of the tracks at Jamaica Pond.  One thing about wild animals - coyote, fox and deer is that they do 'perfect-stepping" that is, their front and rear feet fall into the same track so that it looks like a single set of tracks instead of a 4-footed animal. Domestic dogs' footprints fall all over the place!"

Week of January 25 - Dorchester (Mary Ann Folan)  ...I walk my dogs along the Neponset River, and sometimes I turn into the gas line trail that leads down to the river -- at the end of Bearse Ave in Dorchester. About 3/4 of the way down on the left side, there was what I think was a carcass of a blue heron -- just on the other side of the little water stream. I usually see two blue herons when I am walking. If I am lucky, I see these beautiful birds take flight. ...I don't know if you or anyone investigates these matters. Thanks for all that you do -- I really enjoy the pictures -- I find the river so peaceful and serene -- especially in the winter.

January 23 - Walpole (Andy Leahy)  Here are some pictures I took today of the otter tracks at Plimpton Pond dam, and of otter scat at Bird Pond dam. I read the link you posted about them, so when I saw the poop with all the fish scales in it, I knew it had to be theirs. Still no actual sighting. Pictures: Tracks 1, Tracks 2, Tracks 3, Scat. (Editor's Note: I cropped the pictures to zoom in on the tracks and scat.)

January 20 - Walpole (Andy Leahy)  I saw river otter tracks all along the north bank of the Neponset between Bird Pond and Plimpton Pond, in Walpole, yesterday. At Plimpton Pond near the dam I could clearly see where they had been walking-walking-walking and then sliding on their stomachs. I wish I actually saw them because they're so darn cute. I'll be back there again soon, so hopefully I can furnish a snapshot sometime...

January 20 - Sharon (Paul Lauenstein)  At Knifeshop Pond in Sharon: Muscovy Duck, White-fronted goose, White-fronted goose with Canada geese, and an Eastern bluebird.

January 5 - Jamaica Plain & Canton (Carly Rocklen)  This morning, there was a flash of white and pale-cinnamon-colored feathers between multi-family houses as a hawk threaded its way in flight between 3-decker homes, narrow alleys and small backyards in Jamaica Plain.

     And from inside my car, driving along Rte. 138 in Canton during morning commute, I did a double-take at the sight of an attentive, high-stepping fox nosing through winter grasses in the snow-covered meadow at Indian Line Farm, at the top of the hill across from the Bradley Estate. Learn more about Indian Line Farm: environmental issues, public interest.

December 28 - Mattapan & Canton (Carly Rocklen)  Driving south along Rt. 138 in Mattapan, a small, predatory bird quickly slid into view, this morning - off to the west side of the roadway. It glided fast through the air, searching out prey on the ground, keeping its wings slightly bent. Learn more about urban birds of prey.

   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.

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).

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.

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 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 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 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.)

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.

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.

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 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 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 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 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!

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.

For additional Neponset Wildlife & Landscape Blog postings from 2006 - '09, visit the Neponset Wildlife & Landscape Blog Archive. 

We invite you to join the electronic mailing list of the Neponset River Watershed Association to receive announcements for upcoming events and conservation opportunities.

Questions? Contact NepRWA Outreach Director Carly Rocklen at 781-575-0354 x303 or rocklen@neponset.org.