A Great Meadows Saturday

You need to take advantage of sunny days. Today, I jumped out of bed at 5:30 and rushed up to Great Meadows in Concord.

One goal: to take a decent photo of a marsh wren. I'm getting there. This one was singing out in the open for a while this morning.


Great Blue Herons in great abundance. I even got to see a little territoriality battle (though I failed to get the tremendous echoing squawking on record).


The highlight of the day was a visit by an osprey family, three of them--junior peeping away.


Also, cedar waxwings. At least twice one of the young'uns looked like it was about to land on my hat.

Franklin Park Zoo

Lily and I took a Thursday outing to the Franklin Park Zoo. A perfect opportunity for lovely butterfly shots and gigantic duck (and swan) close-ups. No species IDs necessary: these ducks are individuals. Look at the wear on their bills.







There is a Hollywood movie filming at the zoo over the next few months. A large section is fenced off, though you can see the emerging set. (A Kevin James comedy, I read).


And just this morning the Globe reports that the State is planning to cut back funding and force the zoo to close next year. Extraordinarily short-sighted.

Butterflies and Bobolinks

On the most beautiful summer day in the history of the universe, I took a very slow walk (nursing a cold) through the CRP. (The parking lot was practically full--a day for kayaks and canoes.) Very few birds chose to show themselves in my presence, except for a turkey and another I will speak about in a moment. In July the observer affects the observed.

But butterflies galore. Many silver-spotted skippers gracing the milkweed.


Along with fast-flying combative fritillaries.


And monarchs in the process of making more monarchs.


And lo and behold, the return of the bobolink. He's just not singing anymore. I spotted him with a butterfly in his mouth, which I take as a good sign. He observed me observing me and flew into the trees. I'm interested to know whether there's a bobolink nest at the CRP or whether he has nested at a nearby farm and just forages at the CRP.

A return to bug time!

It is officially bug season, from butterflies to biting flies. I'm not getting good bird shots at the CRP these days (the foliage is too thick and the birds are too skulky) so it's time to aim the camera at any old moving thing. Including carrion beetles, click bugs, or whatever.


That said, there is enough bird life to keep one happy. There was a large group of cedar waxwings this afternoon, as well as a grumpy kingfisher. The red-winged blackbirds are now spending their time in the meadow, flushing at what seems like every step I take. I like the coloration of the young 'uns.


And I can't get enough of the resident grosbeaks. The male provides such a tropical vibe, particularly when flying up into the canopy displaying his wing spots. Today was my first good look at the resident female.

Urban Deer at Neponset Reservation

Lily had a birthday party at a home in Milton, so I dropped her off and headed over to the Neponset Reservation for a little while. It was my first time on that section of the Neponset trail and it was nicer than I expected. The trail forks at the tunnel (above) and if you take the grassy path to the left you will end up walking through the estuary to the banks of the Neponset (lots of fishermen out today).

On my way back, I practically ran into this white-tail, grazing at the end of the grassy trail. It knew I was there but didn't really seem to care. And it seemed fine with the joggers and bicyclists on the bike trail.








I finally got tired of waiting for it so I moved in closer, expecting it would leap into the rushes toward the estuary. Instead it trotted on through the tunnel. I wonder if showed up at a Milton business district.

Oh, and here was a exciting moment. LOOK OUT!

Luckily the idiot using the estuary as a speed boat circuit saw the paddling fisherman in time, circled and sped off back towards the ocean.

Kennebunk Plains

While the girls were seeing a matinee at the Ogunquit Playhouse, I scooted up to Kennebunk Plains, a Nature Conservancy property. I only had about an hour to explore. I want to go back.

Kennebunk Plains is a unique grassland habitat that attracts a special constellation of birds. The soundscape is punctuated with high pitched buzzes and whistles, including grasshopper sparrows and real grasshoppers. Eastern meadowlarks, field sparrows (with meadowlark), prairie warblers.


Savannah sparrows take a leading role, perching in the open, and they follow you around making metronomic chips (as if they were chipmunks or something). And in this special environment, their song is not inferior to the song sparrow's but fittingly fragile and soft-spoken.


There are vesper and clay-colored sparrows there too, but color-blind me is not going to be making quick IDs. Especially during juvenile season. See challenge below.



The undisputed diva of the Kennebunk Plains is the upland sandpiper. Watch him as he rushes up into the air, hovers, and then drops down while making a sound most bird books aptly describe as "spooky." (Here's a taste).

Or watch him as he stands on a pole, or a fence post, or a stake in the ground.

It was rather windy so I had a lot of recording marred by wind noise. I also didn't have time to be patient and wait for shots (I can do much better than the sandpiper shot above). So I'm coming back. I just have to wait until there's another matinee the girls want to see at the Ogunquit Playhouse.

Quick! While the sun is shining!

The most dismal June in Massachusetts on record and it's not supposed to get better before July. So when the sun is out, you gotta grab the chance. This I did yesterday in Marblehead during my lunch-break. And then found that Marblehead Neck was all fogged in. Nevertheless, forged ahead to the sanctuary, made a quick walk through the trail, took the sad robin photo above and then slipped on a wet rock (totally my fault) and gashed up my elbow (blood streaming down my arm as I walked to the car. People, carry first aid kits in your nature bag!).

Today, a few moments of sun. I rushed to the CRP when my wife came home.

The oriole children are out in public these days.

Momma's looking pretty good.


Junior's still at that awkward phase...


And a painted turtle out on the gravel path. I assume she's trying to lay eggs. Is it possible on such a hard surface?


By the way, the bobolink effort at the CRP seems to have failed again this year. I haven't seen our guy around for a week and a half. Must have moved on to a place that actually had females.