A wild turkey has been spotted around Harvard Square for at least a couple of years now. Probably the same bird making an appearance on Universal Hub back in 2012, it has also been written up in Spare Change News last year and the Boston Globe this year. The Harvard College Naturalists Club posted recently about a few sightings.
This turkey was not difficult to spot. I found her dawdling just outside Wadsworth House in Harvard Yard this week.
Heavy fog rolled into Boston on the evening of Thursday, December 5. A thick blanket of darkness lay over Jamaica Pond.
Unusual warmth accompanied the fog, and winter moths (Operophtera brumata) were out in force. I saw one on a shrub covered in Christmas lights. Continue reading
Red-tailed hawks have made their nest near the top of the Maxwell Dworkin building on Harvard University’s campus.
We saw one of the hawks yesterday evening but were unable to see any of the chicks from the ground. However, Harvard SEAS has a webcam for that very purpose.
Susan Moses tells the story of the hawks on Harvard’s Campus Update Nature Watch:
“For many years a pair of red-tailed hawks had nested in a nearby tree. Two years ago, they started a new nest on the Maxwell-Dworkin building, but the female was injured so the nest (and eggs) were abandoned. I tracked her down and found out she was being treated at the Tufts Wildlife Clinic in Grafton. To make a long story short, when she healed I brought her back to Cambridge. She won back her mate who had found another partner when she had ‘disappeared.’ It was too late for them to lay more eggs that year, but last year they built a new nest on Holyoke Center on Mt. Auburn Street. They had two chicks, but I’m not sure what happened to them since I never saw or heard the juveniles once they fledged. This year the pair decided to return to the nest on the Maxwell-Dworkin building and try again.”
A Harvard staff member kept a blog on the hawks in 2010.
A thank-you to Ernest for the tip.