Sunday, April 7, 2013

First Week in April

Great Blue Heron, Home Depot Heronry, Seekonk, MA
First week in April bits and pieces. Start with an Easter Sunday excursion to see the herons behind the Home Depot in Seekonk.

Tree Swallow, Charles River Peninsula, Needham, MA
Tree swallows have returned to the Charles River Peninsula.

House Sparrow, Charles River Peninsula, Needham, MA
As have the house sparrows. Ugh. I've already pulled out a number of nests. They are invading prime bluebird boxes.

Treefall, Field View Trail, Ridge Hill Reservation, Needham, MA
Ridge Hill Reservation is still recovering from the winter. There's a clean-up scheduled for next weekend.

Now that the robins are singing, the dawn chorus has become quite robust again. Cardinals seemingly everywhere.
And then a hawk appears on the scene and everything goes quiet. Except for one robin, flat against a branch, who just can't stop.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Jeeze, an office park in Wilmington and the back lot of a Home Despot in Seekonk.

It's like an alternative to open space location snobbery.

The April migration phase is revving up.

Here's a set of short ambient clips to provide a sample of arrivals along the Cochecho River west of downtown Dover NH.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2w2-AHy3KQ

One theory I'm hearing that is making the rounds is that formerly demure and reclusive species like Herons have gradually adjusted their tolerances for proximity to human settlement, perhaps due to a decline in hunting in the case of the now ubiquitous Canada Goose.