February 10, 2008 by OrientSee.

I don’t think of myself as a bully quite the contrary. Yet upon encountering a small band of Canada Geese, the geese were the ones to take off. I have had personal experience with geese and they are not birds to trifle with. Some distilleries in Scotland actually use geese to guard their whiskey. Geese can be vicious and in numbers they certainly can overwhelm any human. That’s what makes it so ironic is to see these impressive birds fly away when confronted with this retired librarian. For a few seconds the old testosterone burbled up. In any case they are magnificent to watch as they take wing. The other small notes to the day. The starlings are changing over to their iridescent shark skin suits. Spring is definitely getting closer. I thought for a moment this morning that I heard a Redwing Blackbird. I’m not sure and it could have just been my overactive imagination. I didn’t see it yet it is the best sign of spring yet.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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February 9, 2008 by OrientSee.

The weather has been just ugly for a few days now. With the exception of ice pellets, we have had a chance to experience every form of precipitation possible. What makes it worse is the start/stop nature of it all. One instant it is starting to clear and then something else is falling out of the sky. So wearing glasses and carrying at least two other lenses has been a real problem in all the wet. This morning was different. It started slowly with the sun bathing even the ice with complimentary hues. The light snow left a clean slate for all the beasts and birds to amaze me with their snowprints. I can reliably figure out the coyotes and the squirrels. I think that I can recognize rabbit tracks but the rest are a mystery to me. It is reading a different language without a dictionary. The birds started to warm up and move around. There were mourning doves around and I haven’t seen much of them for over a month. The crows were busy out scavenging while a pair of cardinals were busy at something cardinalish. A song sparrow performed for a short while a Red-tail Hawk lurked off in a tree watching the pigeons and starlings. It was life giving breath of fresh air to be out. The forecast is for more nasty weather so burrowing beneath the quilt may be the only response possible.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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February 4, 2008 by OrientSee.

A pair of Downy Woodpeckers were banging away in the thicket this morning. When it is quiet, the ratatattat is a very distinctive sound. While not full of unusual birds, today was full of geese and ducks. The ponds are mostly ice free and so they are busy. The Canada geese were out vacuuming the marsh grass. It was a large flock that was methodically working its way across the wide flats. The Red-Tail and the Cooper’s Hawks were out looking for a meal. I saw what might have been a Northern Shrike but I didn’t get a good look at its bill. The cloudy skies are our advance warning of the coming two days of rain and gloom. It was good to get out before the nasty weather keeps me in for a few days.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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February 3, 2008 by OrientSee.

This picture needs some explanation. It was taken from the park looking at the Boston skyline. In the foreground are phragmites stands and in the midground is the thicket. That’s the line of bare trees that extends from left to right. At its widest it is 100 yards across but mostly it is much narrower and nearly a quarter mile long. It sits on ground slightly higher than the marsh that surrounds it and so it is a different habitat. That’s why there are trees there. There is only one path through it and it has an understory clogged with thorns bushes and dead tree debris. It is very difficult and sometimes impossible to walk off the path. It can be a place full of small colorful birds in the warmer months but now is mostly home to chickadees and a small flock of robins who are overwintering here. In most ways it is not beautiful scenery and there has been plenty of ugly dumping over the years by people. However it is a place full of surprises and quiet. Walk the path but wear boots because it is also very wet.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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