I remember Laughing Brook during the 1970s. I especially remember the gift shop, where my family apparently bought the postcard below.
Mother West Wind and her taxidermy animal friends |
Post card description |
Crossing the Laughing Brook
I remember Laughing Brook during the 1970s. I especially remember the gift shop, where my family apparently bought the postcard below.
Mother West Wind and her taxidermy animal friends |
Post card description |
Burgess Trail, Laughing Brook Wildlife Sanctuary, Hamden, MA. |
In December I stopped by Laughing Brook on the way to Springfield, where I planned to collect the final texts I needed to finish the Collected Writings of Thornton W. Burgess, 1895-1911.
Rituals observed included: Deep listening to the brook as it laughed;
Immersion of boots in said brook;
Greetings to woodland characters. Hello, Chatterer!
Red Squirrel (blurry) |
Sign: Why are there so many dead trees? |
Cooper's Hawk, Cutler Park |
Crow sees hawk |
Crow attacks hawk |
Crow and hawk hang out for a moment |
Crow goes after hawk again |
Hawk goes after crow |
Crow gains upper position again |
Hawk finally driven off |
Bald Eagle |
Bald Eagle takes off |
Bald Eagle flies off |
Cutler Park, Needham/Dedham |
The Great Ditch (labeled "Charles River") via Google Maps |
The Great Ditch |
Not today. No ducks. Indeed, no eagles, ravens, or otters, either. Just an unseen beaver slapping the water to make sure I knew I wasn't alone. This would be a day for smaller encounters.
Black-capped chickadee |
American tree sparrows |
White-Tailed Deer, Charles River, Needham |
Inspired by Noah Strycker's Birding Without Borders, I decided to be a little more adventurous this morning. Instead of my normal patch, I would visit a newly acquired but not fully public (gasp!) property just upstream of the Charles River Peninsula.
Common Crow |
Approaching the river, I heard crow commotion and some raptorish sounds. A large black bird flew up to a nearby tree. A raven? No, a crow sentinel.
Bald Eagle |
River Otter |
Charles River Peninsula, Needham, MA |
Inspired by Priyanka Kumar's Conversations with Birds, I headed out shortly after dawn to my regular patch, ready for deeper encounters with the winter regulars, secretly hoping that the merlin reported the previous day was still hanging around. (It wasn't).
Beaver Lodge, Charles River Peninsula |
Light snow covered the ground but it wasn't too cold. Chickadees were singing, six bluebirds flew overhead, the resident pileated woodpecker was chuckling across the river, hooded mergansers glided and dived. It was exactly what I expected and needed.
Charles River Peninsula, Needham, Massachusetts |
This stockpile seems a bit too close to the neighboring vegetated wetland. |
Dorothy brand fireworks |
Dogs must be leashed April 1 to August 15 |