Tag Archives: Boston

Bats at Jamaica Pond

Last week, we headed to Jamaica Pond at dusk to see if we could find any bats. Two friends with a bat detector joined us. This device picks up the echolocation calls that bats use to create an image of their surroundings in the dark.

Bat detector
Bat detector

We started detecting the bats around 9:30pm on the north side of the Pond near the old Pinebank mansion. The calls got louder as the bats approached us. We even managed to see a few, although it was too dark to take photos.

We climbed the stairs and proceeded to the baseball field. More bats!

Most of the bats called at around 30 kHz which, according to this chart, makes them big brown bats. This squares with Mass Audubon, which says that big brown bats prefer urban areas.

Thanks to Kieran and Sandy for teaching us how to detect bats.

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Fourth of July Fireworks

I continued an annual tradition by biking down on the Fourth to see the fireworks display on the Charles River. The fireworks were spectacular as always. This year, they closed off Mass. Ave over the river and some of the fireworks were sent airborne from the bridge.

Security was advertised as tight and that may have kept the crowds away. I estimate the crowd at a quarter to a half of a typical Fourth.

Fireworks explode over the Charles River

Happy Independence Day!

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Urban Nature Walk: Bussey Meadow

On Sunday, Jef led a small group of us on an urban nature walk. We started at the Bussey Brook Meadow and moved on to the Arnold Arboretum, ending at the Forest Hills gate. Mosquitoes hounded us, especially in the Meadow.

Jef called the meadow a European wildflower garden. We saw some periwinkle-colored chicory flowers (Cichorium intybus) and bird’s-foot trefoil flowers (Lotus corniculatus) with orange streaks on bright yellow. These were among the many wildflowers native to Europe.

Chicory flower
Chicory flower

Bird's-foot trefoil flowers and flower buds
Bird’s-foot trefoil

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Toadflax and Spindletrees

On our Friday walk around Jamaica Pond, we came across both a plant and a tree in flower. The plant, yellow toadfloax (Linaria vulgaris), has a spike of yellow flowers with orange centers.

Orange and yellow toadflax flowers
Yellow toadflax

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Boston Naked Bike Ride 2013

Boston’s Naked Bike Ride passed by me near the Public Garden last night. About 75 people in various states of undress, some completely nude, rode their bicycles as part of a protest:

“By riding in the WNBR we face automobile traffic with our naked bodies as the best way of defending our dignity and exposing the unique dangers faced by cyclists and pedestrians as well as the negative consequences we all face due to dependence on oil, and other forms of non-renewable energy.” – ride facebook page

Semi-nude bicyclists ride near Boston's Public Garden
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Family of Red-Winged Blackbirds

It’s been a rainy June. Boston averages around three and a half inches of rain in June and we have had over ten inches of rain with more to come.

The Muddy River is starting to overflow its banks. I stopped at Willow Pond in Olmsted Park to watch a family of red-winged blackbirds. The male with its red wing-patch (partially covered in the photo below) is the most easily recognizable.

Male red-winged blackbird
Male red-winged blackbird

The female looks like a large sparrow with a white, streaked breast.

Female red-winged blackbird
Female red-winged blackbird

And I saw a juvenile in the same tree as a female.

Juvenile red-winged blackbird
Juvenile red-winged blackbird
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A Walk in the Arboretum

I took photos of a wealth of natural life at the Arnold Arboretum yesterday. Among the birds, dragonflies, frogs, and plants, only one of the subjects was accessioned: Wilson’s spiraea (Spiraea wilsonii).

Wilson's spiraea flowers
Wilson’s spiraea

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A Walk through Olmsted Park

I took a walk through Olmsted Park yesterday, a piece of the Emerald Necklace within Jamaica Plain. I saw a mother mallard duck with a dozen ducklings in tow.

A mother mallard duck with some of her dozen ducklings
A mother mallard duck with some of her dozen ducklings

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Anne Frank Sapling Planted on Boston Common

This afternoon, a living memorial to one of the more famous victims of the Holocaust was planted on Boston Common. Anne Frank, author of The Diary of a Young Girl, which chronicles her time in hiding from the Nazis, mentioned a horse chestnut tree that grew just outside the window of the Secret Annex where she was hiding.

“Nearly every morning I go to the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs. From my favorite spot on the floor, I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind…”

“The best remedy for those who are frightened, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere they can be alone, alone with the sky, nature and God. For then and only then can you feel that everything is as it should be and that God wants people to be happy amid nature’s beauty and simplicity. As long as this exists, and that should be forever, I know there will be solace for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances. I firmly believe that nature can bring comfort to all who suffer.”

Horse chestnut sapling planted
Horse chestnut sapling from the Anne Frank tree

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Black Locust Trees of JP

Black locust trees (Robinia pseudoacacia) are an invasive species in Massachusetts, but it is difficult to dislike them this time of year, when the trees perfume the air with a jasmine-like scent. The trees can no longer be legally planted. Older trees can be found in yards, but most of these trees grow in minimally-maintained spaces.

Black Locust flowers: white
Black Locust flowers

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