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A little murmuration in Saugus

Murmuration in Rumney Marsh

Greg Cook kayaked through Rumney Marsh in Saugus yesterday and watched thousands of swallows murmurating. He also spotted fiddler crabs. Lots and lots of fiddler crabs.

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Comments

Is Saugus now part of the Hub?

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so are Somerville, Malden, Revere, Salem, and many other towns that this blog routinely covers.

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And try again.

There are reasons why the US Census has long declared population units that are different from political units. Because cities sprawl and expand. All major cities have an MSA or metropolitan statistical area because that's how people group together.

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Maybe part of Universal Hub, but not part of the Hub. When I say I'm from Boston, I really am from Boston.

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Cool story, bro.

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The original Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr quote was calling the state house the hub of the solar system, although with the general implication that the world revolves around Boston in general being the idea. (The round dome makes it a more evocative metaphor.) With that etymology in mind it makes sense to extend it other cities and towns in at least within 128. Saugus is about as close to the state house as Hyde Park is.

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Holmes was actually being a bit insulting when he coined the phrase - he was talking about the penchant of Bostonians to think the solar system revolved around them (although he also noted that everybody in any half-sized burg thinks that about their town).

In any case, somebody who thinks I've only ever written about things that happen precisely within the municipal borders of the city of Boston is either new to the site or a troll who is, oh, maybe, perhaps, not quite as clever as they think. Our friend is not new to the site.

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It must be fiddler crab season.

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Who points out that Merriam-Webster says "murmuration" applies only to starlings. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/murmuration

Many sites suggest several different collective nouns for swallows, including kettle and gulp, but none say "murmuration."

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