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Wildlife

By adamg - 3/16/24 - 5:24 pm
Pair of turtles that had climbed into the sun at Jamaica Pond

This afternoon, there were at least five turtles that climbed out of the water for some sun at the traditional turtle sunning spot on the northernish side of Jamaica Pond, including these two, which got a bit more vertical than the three lazing about on a more horizontal tree branch.

By adamg - 3/16/24 - 4:54 pm
Bald Eagle perched in a tree on the Esplanade

Out for a stroll along the Esplanade today, Fuad spotted an alert bald eagle perched on a tree near the playground near the Mass. Ave. Bridge.

By adamg - 3/15/24 - 9:45 am

Around 8:45 a.m., Boston's Leslie Knope reported this potentially fowl problem on the Green Line in Brighton, but based on the lack of T alerts, the gaggle was gone by the time any trolleys pulled through.

By adamg - 3/7/24 - 6:05 pm
Green Line delay message: Train halted to save a baby duck

Update: Yes, it is a bit early for baby ducks. The duck was an adult female hooded merganser.

David Yamada took a screen capture of a Green Line delay message at 9:36 a.m. today: Read more.

By adamg - 3/5/24 - 5:04 pm
Muskrat chowing down along the Charles at Millennium Park

Mary Ellen videoed a muskrat enjoying a hearty breakfast of the choicest roots at Millennium Park in West Roxbury this morning: Read more.

By adamg - 3/2/24 - 9:49 pm
Hawk eating something in Roslindale backyard

Scott Kelley reports looking out at his Roslindale backyard today and watched a hawk finish up a meal atop a stump there. By the time he noticed what was going on, the hawk was mostly finished, so he wasn't able to discern what was on the menu. He adds:

The raptor looks to be a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk. Maybe too large for a Sharp-skinned?

By adamg - 2/28/24 - 12:39 pm
Harrier at Millennium Park

Mary Ellen spotted this northern harrier at Millennium Park the other day.

By adamg - 2/18/24 - 5:16 pm
Deer at Brook Farm in West Roxbury

Mary Ellen spotted this doe today at Brook Farm in West Roxbury, once home to a utopian, communal community.

By adamg - 2/11/24 - 1:52 pm
Dunlin at Castle Island

Mary Ellen took Dolly the dog up to Castle Island for a walk yesterday.

They spotted a plump dunlin, a flock of them and a female common eider (also purple sandpipers, which to the untrained eye look just like dunlins, only more gray than brown): Read more.

By adamg - 1/28/24 - 1:54 pm

Newhouse Wildlife Rescue recounts how a Somerville police officer and a pair of animal rescuers teamed up to save a coyote with a broken leg in a ditch near the Mystic that ran into the river when they approached:

Thankfully, it was only about two feet deep. The river was cold enough that we were worried about the coyote getting hypothermia. We got him back to the rescue, as soon as possible, and warmed him up. Jonny was also drenched but he didn’t complain.

By adamg - 1/26/24 - 1:47 pm
Blind rat with passersby

A concerned citizen filed a 311 complaint this morning about a rat that is both injured and blind and yet still managing to scare passersby on Commonwealth Avenue near Exeter Street in the Back Bay:

Rat seems to have been in a fight and is blind. Has been wandering in this area all morning scaring people and pets.

By adamg - 1/22/24 - 4:47 pm

Nichole Davis gets the scoop: The be-tuxed bird spotted moving around the harbor wasn't a penguin but a thick-billed murre, a black-and-white Arctic bird that is not completely unheard of in these parts in the winter. So it also wasn't a heron.

By adamg - 1/19/24 - 11:36 am
A young bald eagle in a tree in West Roxbury

Mary Ellen spotted a youngish bald eagle (you can tell because his head still isn't completely white) high up in a tree along the Cow Island Pond section of the Charles River on the West Roxbury/Dedham line today.

By adamg - 1/11/24 - 9:37 am
Hawk on a South End railing

Amy Weingarten Salvucci was a bit startled when she looked out her window on Washington Street near Peters Park in the South End this morning to see a hawk eyeing her right back.

By adamg - 1/11/24 - 9:34 am
Birds at dusk over Wormwood Park

The Fort Pointer watched starlings doing some synchronized flying over Wormwood Park in Fort Point at dusk the other day.

By adamg - 1/8/24 - 8:47 pm
Duck with its butt seemingly on fire

Mary Ellen headed over to Cow Island Pond - the part of the Charles off Rivermoor Road in West Roxbury - around sunset and spotted this merganser with its butt seemingly on fire in the setting sun.

Earlier:
She's just a bird and she's on FIYAH

By adamg - 1/8/24 - 3:33 pm

A scared citizen files a 311 complaint about the northbond stretch of Centre Street that is really the parkway where houses sit in front of the Arboretum just before the Giant Rotary of Doom in Jamaica Plain: Read more.

By adamg - 1/6/24 - 1:28 pm
Raccoon in a tree in Roslindale that's about to be felled

Roving UHub photographer Scott Cluett looked up at the tall pine at least partially coming down today at Selwyn and Farquhar streets in Roslindale and noticed a raccoon huddling up there, no doubt wondering about how to avoid coming down with the tree. Read more.

By David Samuel Johnson - 12/30/23 - 10:19 am
Male fiddler crabs are small, with one oversized claw

Male fiddler crabs are small, with one oversized claw. Photo by David Samuel Johnson.

Nine years ago, I stood on the muddy banks of the Great Marsh, a salt marsh an hour north of Boston, and pulled a thumb-sized crab with an absurdly large claw out of a burrow. I was looking at a fiddler crab – a species that wasn't supposed to be north of Cape Cod, let alone north of Boston.

As it turned out, the marsh I was standing in would never be the same. I was witnessing climate change in action. Read more.

By adamg - 12/23/23 - 1:05 pm
Chicken on the grass, alas

A concerned citizen filed a 311 report about a chicken, possibly injured, by the spray pad at Neponset Park off Hill Top Street in Dorchester this morning.

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