Today was one of the nicest days of this new year in Boston: sunny and around 55 °F/12 °C. Even after our mid-winter thaw the last few days, Leverett Pond was mostly frozen and its banks covered in snow. The wood ducks I had seen early in the winter are still around.
Late Saturday afternoon, we walked around Leverett Pond in Boston’s Olmsted Park, in search of a mandarin duck. I had heard this duck was on the loose from The Rambling Brambling.
Mallards abounded in the area; we saw 140 of them. Three male ring-necked ducks swam past us in a line.
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
The female looks like a large sparrow with a white, streaked breast.
Female red-winged blackbird
And I saw a juvenile in the same tree as a female.
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 Continue reading →
I saw two birds for the first time yesterday. First, a pair of double-crested cormorants were lounging in the middle of Leverett Pond, black but for their orange chins.
Double-crested cormorants bask in the sun on Leverett Pond. Continue reading →