Every winter, the Boston Fire Department cuts a hole or two in the frozen surface of Jamaica Pond so its divers can practice some cold-weather rescuing. The pond never really froze up this winter, except thinly during that brief weekend freeze, but divers were out in the cold water today anyway.

Despite the lack of ice it is important to maintain efficiency .

Last November, somebody noticed a problem with the "elbow tree," a distinctive birch tree near the Jamaica Pond boathouse with a prominent limb pointing downward at the water, rather than up - its trunk had begun to split open. That's a sign of impending death and the person attached a couple of small notebooks and a pencil to the tree both so that people could measure the crack as it spread and to say goodbye to the longtime pondside attraction. Read more.

About to walk down from Perkins Street to the path around this pond this afternoon when I spotted this guy alighting on some of the scrub between the road and the path.

Visitors to Jamaica Pond in recent days have noticed that the water along the edges of the pond has cleared remarkably when compared to just a couple weeks ago, but the water's not yet clear enough of toxic blue-green algae to allow boating and other recreational activities, such as letting dogs go for a swim, the Boston Public Health Commission said today. Read more.

Male bluegills have been busy of late building communal nests at several locations along the Jamaica Pond shoreline, such as this collection on the southern edge of the pond, to the left of the boathouse. Read more.

The Boston Public Health Commission announced yesterday that a bloom of toxic blue-green algae means Jamaica Pond's water is no longer safe to go in or fish in. Read more.

The turtles were out in force at Jamaica Pond today. In addition to the premium location on the branches near the northern end of the pond, like the guys above, there were turtles along the parkway and even on a bunch of downed branches along Parkman Drive that geese had made their own - until today, at least.

All the equipment parked at the northern end of Jamaica Pond is so Boston firefighters can do their annual training on how to rescue people who don't listen to them and go out on the ice anyway and then fall in: Read more.

Mike Howlett was walking along Jamaica Pond yesterday when he spotted an eagle chowing down on a freshly caught herring gull (see it larger).

Nature's Zeitgeist also captured the brunching, reports: "The crime scene was pretty extensive with lots of white feathers scattered over a wide area on the pond ice."