November 1, 2008 by OrientSee.

 Today was very mild for November and the wind was tame. Rosie’s Pond was empty mostly because it was low tide. Rosie’s Thicket had some little guys who mostly moved so fast that all I could identify were some chickadees. I did notice that there is a healthy crop of wild onion chive to be harvested. The chive is abundant in the spring and then disappears. Now it’s back and I’m a little mystified by this life cycle.

Once (last week) there was a tree here but now it has fallen. In disturbed areas like the thickets, the competition is fierce. Some plants and trees grow very quickly but are not very hardy. A little too much wind and the tree  snaps off. This was such a clean break that I first thought chainsaw but close up there were no saw marks. It was just the wind. The ground in Rosie’s Thicket is thickly littered with fallen trunks and limbs. It looks like an enormous bone yard and on a wet day is more than a little spooky.

As I walked over to Palermo St., I looked up and thought crow but that didn’t seem right. A closer look through my binoculars made me realize that I was seeing a pair of Turkey Vultures lazily soaring over the neighborhood as they moved south. Their flight is so effortless that even a gull would be jealous.

So now part two of the soaring show started. The vultures had left and then a pair of RedTail Hawks circled overhead and while bent nearly backward, I got some pictures.

RedTail number two flew past and its ragged feathers are very different from the other individual.

I walked into the little park area on Lawn and Palermo and immediately a hulking Great Blue Heron lifted off when I popped into view.

The Long Thicket had a small flock of noisy Robins and a few YellowRumps were still around. The Overlook was peaceful but empty. The Boardwalk was equally quiet until I spotted a Harrier hard at work quartering the marsh grass hunting for food. At one point it nearly spun about and stooped for some prey but it missed and moved on. It was like watching an Olympic gymnast spin in midair. It was an awesome move.

The Park was peaceful until some bird started making loud and obnoxious calls. It was a familiar sound but I couldn’t place it until a Blue Jay flew into sight. Jays are not unusual birds but I don’t see them very often at Belle Isle but their calls do draw attention.

For those of you familiar with empty nest syndrome, this empty milkweed pod might strike a resonant chord.

Out to the Bennington St. bridge and the now regular cormorant. I should just always expect to find it right next to the bridge and save myself some startle time. I saw my first Bufflehead ducks in the creek. These small ducks are divers and sleek surface flyers and will be with us most of the winter. It also means that very soon night will bring the smelt fisherman to the bridge. I enjoy smelt and might even give it a try myself.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 29, 2008 by OrientSee.

Simple pleasures. Today was near cold, blustery and filled with sharp tasting air. I was prepared and all wrapped up in layers. The wind was noisy as it rushed past me but I was warm and cozy.

Today I offer a definition of gold. Rosie’s Pond is just in back.

I was down in the flats and found this cormorant paddling about in one of the narrow drainage ditches.

There really wasn’t much about. A few gulls and a crowd of starlings. Everyone was gone or out of sight until this loud Robin made his presence known in the Long Thicket.

At the Overlook, this Great Blue Heron was hunkered down as if he was going to wait for May before he moved again.

The Boardwalk and the park were very quiet. By the Bennington St. bridge, a Great  Egret was all hunched up as well. I’m a little surprised that they are still about.

Walking back home along Bennington St. I watched a lone crow harass a RedTail Hawk. I did get to see the RedTail turn on his tormentor at one point. The crow backed off for a moment and then started in again. The pair moved off to the south with crow relentlesly pursuing the hawk.

Today was the sort of fall day that makes me glad to live here rather than in some warm place. The weather is in your face and has attitude.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 26, 2008 by OrientSee.

A wet warm (for October) overcast day. Before I even got to Rosie’s I saw these leathery locust seed pods hanging midst the thorns.

Rosie’s Pond had a Great Blue Heron which quickly flew off and a Great Egret.  A Harrier cruised the train yards and then moved south towards the airport. Rosie’s thicket was drab but these wet lichen blooms offered a contrast.

By Lawn and Leverett, this Sumac provided the definition for red.

The Long Thicket was quiet except for a brief visit from a Cooper’s Hawk. In the park I turned and caught a landscape view of the Long Thicket.

The Boardwalk was also quiet although there did seem to be some Brant way off in the creek by the cemetary.

For some reason, I keep on stumbling upon a Cormorant by the Bennington St. bridge. This this time it had breakfast in its beak.

A female Downy Woodpecker along Bennington St. It was chirping out loud as well as pecking at the bark.

Now that I’m home,  the sun has come out but I did enjoy the overcast nonetheless. Gray isn’t monotonous and the gold grass color on the flats was bright in spite of the cloudy day.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 23, 2008 by OrientSee.

As walked down to Rosie’s Pond, these ducks were colorfully framed by the autumn leaves. High tide had just passed and nearly a dozen Black Ducks were feeding in the high Spartina grass.

I walked over to Palermo St. and scanned the flats. There was a group of eight or ten Great Egrets huddled together on the Winthrop side of the creek. Suddenly something passed my field of vision. It was an adult coyote. I was very surprised to see it since it was mid-morning and not dusk or dawn. It never got closer than about 300 yards and it seemed aware of me. Strangely it did not simply take off. It tolerated my distant presence but kept checking on my movements. I had to Photoshop the image to get this.

On to the Overlook where I found this Downy Woodpecker up in a Sumac munching on something. Again I saw the coyote but never really close up.

As I walked over the flats to the Boardwalk, I found this trap set in a shallow pool. It was cylindrical about 20 inches long and 10 inches in diameter and tethered to a stake ten feet away. I can’t think what this is for. Muskrats are too big and who would want to trap rats. Any ideas?

The Boardwalk and the park were quiet although I kept wondering if all the dog people would be so casual if they knew about the coyote 400 - 500 yards away and hungry. I walked over to the Bennington St. bridge and looked down. Something swam right underneath me and at first I thought muskrat but then it popped up. It was a Cormorant. It turned and saw me. It fled. Cormorants often look like they are walking on water as they take off. It can take a lot of “steps” before it finally gets airborne which is what this picture shows.

Today was just awesome with coyotes and walking cormorants and clear cool skies.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 20, 2008 by OrientSee.

 Bundled up in my winter coat with gloves and fleece hat, I walked over to Rosie’s Pond and watched the ducks at breakfast while a nearbyRedTail watched over the flats. It was definitely cool but the air was clear and tangy like spring water.

A little further on I found a patch of dew that seemed a little suspicious. I bent down and touched it and confirmed the first frost of the season. The air temperature at my house was 36 but at the bottom of the marsh at sunrise the magic 32 produced frozen precipitation.  It’s been coming for almost three months when the first sumac leaf turned red but today there was real evidence.

Not twenty feet away, there was this collage of litter, the only litter that belongs in the marsh.

The Overlook was beautiful but empty of anything but Starlings and one Mockingbird. Walking over to the Boardwalk, I found what happens to a milkweed seed. It’s caught in some Spartina where it will probably never sprout.

The Boardwalk was very quiet as well. It was low tide and early morning so that wasn’t a real surprise. Out towards the parking lot, this Chickadee was busy preening and totally ignored my presence.

From the Bennington St. bridge, I saw this Great Egret fishing. It’s nearly the last Egret that I expect to see until next spring.  Except for an occasional Great Blue Heron all the large showy birds will be gone all fall and winter long. The ducks and geese will be here in larger numbers and hopefully a Snowy Owl or two. Different pleasures for a different season.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 17, 2008 by OrientSee.

We’ve had astronomical high tides the last few days. The results have transformed the marsh into a sort of salt water lake.  The water covers ground that is ordinarily quite dry. Rosie’s Pond is now Rosie’s Lake.

Along Palermo St., the herons and egrets were very close in to the street until I showed up.

Down by the entrance to the Overlook Path, I was startled by four Great Blue Herons and four more Great Egrets that took off with a great whoosh of wings as I peeped over the phragmites. The Overlook was gorgeous under the blue skies and puff clouds. The whole posse was there. Fifteen Great Egrets, four Great Blue Herons (probably the same ones from before) and two Snowy Egrets.

The park had a few crawly delights.

Walking out to Bennington St, I found this handsome sparrow. He had a sort of George Clooney style about him.

Further along a feral cat was stretched out in the sun watching some potential prey under the sumac. I got closer and he looked in tough shape and wouldn’t tolerate my close presence.

Finally from the Bennington St. bridge, I had my electoral campaign October Surprise.  We’re not in Vermont but there are times when the place is just beautiful.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 15, 2008 by OrientSee.

The morning was bright and glorious but Rosie’s Pond and Thicket were empty. A RedTail Hawk perched on a tree by the Osprey Platform gave up and moved on since nothing was moving. A cloud of Starlings and an insistent Mockingbird were all that there was to see along Lawn Ave. The Long Thicket was pretty quiet except for a very few warblers like this Yellow Rump.

At the Overlook, you could see and hear a large and loud troop of crows over in Revere at the Key. There were crow scouts everywhere including this one who just would not stop calling. I wondered what all the fuss was.

At this point, I thought that it was going to be a dull day. Then without any warning a flock of swans flew over and circled the flats before turning back to what looked like the pond in the middle of Suffolk Downs. I’m still not jaded by Belle Isle and so I deeply appreciated the sight of these birds. Some birders look down their noses at swans but not me. It was terrific to see them.

From the Boardwalk, I could see this mixed flock of Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, crows and Mallard. Some of the birds were so deep in the drainage ditches that you would never have suspected their presence except for the long necks and heads popping up once in a while.

By the Bennington St. bridge, I got down into the creek bed to get a closer look at the gorgeous golds of the Spartina grass.

I am amazed at the generous helping of beauty that this marsh has to offer every day. I am so seldom disappointed and so often surprised by some new sight.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 13, 2008 by OrientSee.

The best part of the day went without a picture.

I was walking over to the Boardwalk from the Overlook out in the marsh flats. I turned for no particular reason and saw a Harrier surf over the top of a phragmites stand and float down to the grass as if he had slid down the face of a wave. He elegantly cruised inches above the grass and then topped over the reeds on the south dike. I stood dumbfounded with the camera strapped around my neck and never once thought to use it.  William Butler Yeats would have written about gyres and grabbed your heart with his words. The marsh hawk simply flew.

I saw a lot of things along Lawn Ave. this morning.

I never noticed this tree planted in front of one house till now. It was full of bristly balls that contained nuts. The bristles were quite sharp.

The view back towards Rosie’s yielded the sight of fire in a tree. It was a bittersweet vine that had climbed up into the canopy of a mulberry tree. It looked like a fire clinging to the tree.

Near the entrance to the Overlook trail, the sun backlit a stand of foxtails.

There were six or so Great Egrets and three Great Blue Herons scattered across the flats. The Overlook panne had some shorebirds that were hard to identify in the morning glare. The creek was nearing high tide and this lone cormorant was diving for fish by the Beachmont school.

The nice weather has been great and the full moon is a cap to a terrific day.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 7, 2008 by OrientSee.

Today was a bright brilliant October day. After this morning’s walk in the marsh, I had to go out again. So I got on my bike and rode out to Deer Island. The sea air and the views of Boston Harbor were magnificent. I got home and the construction guys up the street started yelling about a hawk. I looked up and perched on a telephone pole ten feet from my third floor windows was an immature RedTail Hawk. I ditched my bike in the cellar and raced upstairs. He was still there as you can see.

He was standing on one foot with the other tucked up under his breast.

The closest shot was through a dirty window. That’s why the speckles.

It was a gift.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 7, 2008 by OrientSee.

Today once again a RedTail Hawk was at Rosie’s Pond keeping an eye on things till I showed up. Rosie’s thicket had a lot of warblers which were mostly YellowRumps. This picture clearly features the yellow rump.

Moving over to the Long Thicket, I found a delightful piece of Ikebana on display.  Better done than most that I have seen at the Flower Show.

Usually I don’t go far out into the marsh until it gets colder but today I walked out and found this black hole.  Really, it’s just a little mummichog hole.  Mummichogs are little fish  that tolerate some harsh swings in salinity and temperature and are of course the food of choice for the Egrets and Herons.  Some of these puddles still have some life in them this late in the year.

Because I was out further than usual, I could see over the edge of the marsh grass down into the creek at low tide. There were five Great Egrets, one Great Blue Heron, a  few Cormorants and a duck or two. There was no way to see them without going further into the marsh grass. Some people are now going over to the Winthrop Cemetary because of the high ground and the commanding  view.

A Northern Harrier cruised the marsh for a while but apparently found no prey and moved off towards Winthrop. Up in the park there was an amazing number of white and yellow butterflies. The night temperatures have been down into the low forties several day now. It was a surprise to see so much insect activity including bees.

The day is gorgeously clear and brisk.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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