July 5, 2008 by OrientSee.

Hardly a spotless ceramic tub but a street pool can be a very nice bath tub. One Robin is watching as another is busy bathing.

The thicket behind New England Casket has a few older and therefore taller mulberry trees. This afternoon those trees were actually shaking as all kinds of birds were feeding on the fruit. There were Sparrows, a Baltimore Oriole, Robins, Waxwings, Starlings, and a Woodpecker. It was a show. There were a few Snowy Egrets and a Great Egret in Rosie’s pond. The flats were quiet. Two Osprey chicks were clearly visible. A very public spirited group of three people collected tidal debris into their row boat and carried it off. It is great that there are people out there caring for the marsh.

The park was especially beautiful with all the flowers waving in the breeze. This butterfly was busy and so I got a photo of it.

Along Bennington St. the lonely Catalpa tree is in bloom and is very attractive.

A good day for a walk with plenty to see and admire.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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July 3, 2008 by OrientSee.

Family news. The Osprey chicks seem fine although I could only count two today. Only one of the adults was around. The Mourning Dove is still sitting on the nest and I was marveling at her. She is in a low crotch of a fruit tree in a neighborhood filled with domestic cats who hunt in and at the edges of the marsh. She’s still safe and sound and that is a surprise.

The southeasterly wind has been fierce today. Most everything is hunkered down in the face of the blast. Even in the thickets, the only movement is down inside the thick vegetation out of the wind. There were three Snowy Egrets at Rosie’s Pond and further out in the flats one Great Egret. Over at the Overlook panne, a Snowy and some shorebirds were tucked up against the edge of the water waiting out the wind.

As I crossed over to the Boardwalk, five Glossy Ibis floated down into the Overlook panne. From a distance, the Ibis appear completely black but a closer observation shows a rich red.

These are gorgeous birds to watch and they are very social. Still on the path over to the Bordwalk, a few Saltmarsh Sparrows took their time and let me catch a photo. These small birds are so quick to move that is hard to catch sight of anything but a blur.

As you can see, this guy was on his way to another location and I was lucky to catch sight of him.

The park was quiet except for the roaring of the wind. I heard the distant lure of my A/C and so I came home lathered with bug spray and sweat but happy from another walk into Belle Isle Marsh.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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July 1, 2008 by OrientSee.

Today started off like usual. I got back from my bike ride and then suited up for a walk in the marsh. With all my stuff hanging off my neck and a thick coat of bug spray, I walked over to Rosie’s Pond and watched a Snowy Egret puttering around. The thicket didn’t yield much and so I continued on to Palermo and Lawn to see the Ospreys. One was perched on a pole and the other was up on the platform with three chicks. I almost fell over in surprise. They hatched at last. They weren’t there on Sunday but today was a bright new world. It was Christmas in July. I didn’t get this picture until later in the day when I walked over to the Winthrop bridge.

You can clearly see the three heads to the left of the adult bird. I had my scope with me in the afternoon and was able to see much closer. I was nearly giddy with delight. last year was the first time and now a year later once again more Osprey chicks.

The rest of my walk was less dramatic but nonetheless interesting. The Long Thicket was astir with Redwings, Grackles and Catbirds. The Overlook panne had a few Snowy Egrets, some ducks and three Willets. The Boardwalk was terrific. The closest panne was empty but further out there was a Great Blue Heron, two Glossy Ibis and seven Snowy Egrets. There were Crows, Terns and gulls as well. At one point an Ibis got too close to the heron and it reacted.

He displayed his full wing span and threated the Ibis who promptly flew off. It was a spectacular  display of territoriality. The park and the creek were quiet. A few Goldfinches were in an out of the sumac along Bennington St.

Today was another example of why I walk out in the marsh so often. Days go by without much happening and then Osprey chicks. It is a major victory to see these wonderful birds returning to an urban wilderness like Belle Isle. It’s especially rewarding to see them where we hauled out so much trash on the recent clean up.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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June 29, 2008 by OrientSee.

The fog blanketed marsh looks like a sugar frosted confection. The Osprey platform is in the background and unheard is the sound of fog horns bleating. I was up early hoping to catch a glimpse of the early egret crowd. Just at sunrise you can sometimes find a group of thirty or more egrets and herons. It is one of the joys of Belle Isle Marsh. Today I wasn’t early enough. The birds had already split up. One group of Snowy Egrets was at the Overlook panne along with Yellowlegs and Mallards.

They were all nearly frantic with energy darting here and there eating.  Even the ducks seemed energy charged. By the Boardwalk, there were six Great Egrets.

These two tolerated me the longest. It wasn’t even six yet.  I only wished that I had gotten up even earlier.

Fog transforms the marsh in a way that snow does not. Snow covers things, submerges the landscape and blinds your eyes with bright white. Fog lays a spider web of dew beneath a dim sky. It teases your vision and you look closer because it is harder to see. It’s a different way to see.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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June 28, 2008 by OrientSee.

This is a disturbing image. It looks like a wounded leg but is not. A mower clipped the root of a tree and damaged the bark.  I have never seen the interior of a tree that looked like this. It is an unusual sight.

The Ospreys were still by the platform. Because of the morning fog, the floodlights at the Orient Heights Train Yard were on and one of the Osprey was perched on it. All I could think of was a car seat warmer. It was enjoying the perch. It was a usual sort of morning otherwise. A small gang of Grackles was being very noisy at the entrance to the Overlook path. Not even the Redwings could challenge them for sheer volume. At the Overlook panne, the ducklings were busy feeding with a few Yellowlegs and a Snowy Egret. Quite suddenly a bird was enraged and repeatedly flew at me making a great deal of noise. It was a Willet.

There must have been a nest nearby because it was so insistent and loud.

I got something in my boot so I sat down on the stairs of the Overlook to get it out and looked up to find two Cedar Waxwings perched close by.

The park was quiet but the meadow was filled with flowers and the scents of summer.  Some one else echoed my thought that he was glad that we had this place to walk in every day and enjoy.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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June 25, 2008 by OrientSee.

It rained yesterday and the marsh was very wet.  It’s what a marsh does best (besides grow grass) is sponge up water. It was fairly quiet as the tide had gone out and was approaching low. One of the big treats has been the mulberries coming into fruit.

It’s not just the birds but also two legged observers who enjoy this fruit. At some point the floor of the thicket will be paved with dark mulberries and the canopy will be full of birds eating their fill.  Eating is a big activity today.

The Bumblebees are all over the Sumac flowers. It is obvious to see how important these insects are to flowering plants and indirectly to us all.  The ducklings and the Killdeer were out at the Overlook panne while a Glossy Ibis, three Snowy Egrets, and a Great Egret were in the Boardwalk panne.  At one point just beside Suffolk Downs station, I saw something flash across the grass and nestle against a tree trunk. It was a Field Mouse and it tried its best to turn invisible but didn’t quite succeed.

It didn’t move but it wasn’t fooling anybody but itself.

Lot’s to see and enjoy today.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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June 23, 2008 by OrientSee.

I hadn’t gone very far this morning when I noticed something in a tree. It was a weird angle so I had to walk around in order to make sense of what I saw. It was this Mourning Dove sitting on a nest. She seems so serene and calm. Doves are usually so skittish and quick to fly off but apparently not while nesting. The day was overcast and the fog had just moved back off shore. The Osprey were active around the platform but not much of anything else was moving. At the Overlook the duck family was busy eating while some Yellowlegs and Killdeer were working the edges of the panne. The Boardwalk was quiet as well. There were some Egrets in the creek by the Winthrop side but only white bits showed occasionally above the bank.  On top of the mound in the park, I watched an Ibis glide across the sky to land in the Overlook panne. The long bill in flight with the trailing legs is very distinctive. As I walked down the far side, there is a big patch of thistle and three or four Goldfinches were active.

This was a real technicolor moment. The humidity was uncomfortable and I had lathered on the bug spray while wearing long sleeves. I was uncomfortable and sweating but this bird perched on a thistle made it all worth while.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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June 22, 2008 by OrientSee.

Out at the Overlook panne, the duck family was taking a break in the sun.  There were six Yellowlegs feeding right around them. It was a busy feeding time. Out beyond the eastern dike on the edge of the creek, two Glossy Ibis were hopping about in the Spartina. The Osprey were both up in the platform for a while but Rosie’s Pond and the thickets were generally quiet except for the Redwings. The female Redwings are off the nests so I assume that they are out foraging for the young. A Cedar Waxwing did a neat little sidestep into leafy cover when it realized that I was watching. It was funny to see. A Snowy Egret landed in the Boardwalk panne while I was there but otherwise low tide and midmorning meant quiet. Out at the entrance to the park, there were a few of these giant thistle.

The flowers are very imposing and it was nice way to end my walk.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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June 19, 2008 by OrientSee.

Today was another gorgeous day.  I watched a Snowy Egret nearly dancing on top of water. Actually it was frantically chasing a small fish which it appeared to have nabbed but for a moment it looked to walking on the water’s surface. There were five or six Snowy Egrets feeding on the flats east of the Boardwalk and two more in the Overlook panne. Over there, I had an aerial observer.

One of the Ospreys was lazily soaring over the marsh and watching everything.  A few minutes later another soaring bird passed even more slowly over everything. It was a Turkey Vulture.

It was a big day for the gliding crowd. Yesterday morning I went strawberry picking with my granddaughter and my wife in Concord. While out in the field, a Kildeer started calling loudly and kept it up. I was curious and stopped to watch. A moment later the entire universe went oooooooooooo. Out from underneath a strawberry plant popped a Kildeer chick, the personification of cute. That’s why all the fuss. Mom was just protecting the kid.  The Mallard mother did something similar when she saw me today. She herded all the ducklings together and got them up on the bank and hidden in the grass while the evil two legs was around.  Mothers got to be strong.  Summer is officially here on Saturday and that will be a nice landmark for this year.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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June 17, 2008 by OrientSee.

Out at the platform, the Ospreys were fussing over the nest but no little heads were bobbing up and down. Although the tide was coming in, it was midday and so things were quiet. By Lawn Ave. a Cedar Waxwing perched for a short while and then flew off. The usual Redwings, Grackles and Robins were about but not much else in the thickets. At the Overlook panne, these two Snowy Egrets were very busy fishing while a Mallard family with 8 ducklings was busy as well. Out beyond the Boardwalk, two Great Egrets were out in the flats by the creek edge. I went looking for the Bobolink in the park grass field but no luck. A Mockingbird was acting very strange. It would walk on the grass and then fan out its wings in some sort of display and hold it for a while and then move on and do it again.

I’ve never seen this sort of display before from a Mockingbird. A few Goldfiches flew by and then leaving the park, I saw a Baltimore Oriole fly past.

I had a birding by car moment this morning. I was in Watertown by the Arsenal Mall stopped at a light. Some crows were making  a racket and when I turned and looked on the roof of a small Greek restaurant, there was young raptor (probably a Redtail) calmly sitting and ignoring the crows. The light changed and I had to move on.  Then later on my bike this afternoon while riding along Revere Beach, I finally saw the Manx Shearwaters that are drawing a lot of attention.  It was obvious that they were not your ordinary gulls. All in all, today has been a busy day full of things to see and watch.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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