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Wildlife

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.

By adamg - 12/3/23 - 1:43 pm

A grossed out citizen filed a 311 complaint from the fire swamp that is Commonwealth Avenue at Strathmore Road this morning:

WE'VE HAD RATS FOR A WHILE BUT THIS ONE WAS THE SIZE OF A SMALL HORSE

By adamg - 11/26/23 - 5:05 pm
Bird in puddle at sunrise

Mary Ellen found the Alicia Keys of the bird world the other day: A song sparrow in a puddle as the sun came up over Millennium Park in West Roxbury.

By adamg - 11/23/23 - 9:20 am
A lot of turkeys in Quincy

Anna spotted this turkey klatsch in Quincy the other day.

By adamg - 11/20/23 - 2:56 pm

Two at-wit's-end citizens file 311 complaints about conditions in the North End.

Let's start with the screaming veteran suicide guy and the firecracker guys on Hanover Street: Read more.

By adamg - 11/18/23 - 12:21 pm
Hooded mergansers

The hooded mergansers are back at Jamaica Pond for their annual fall visit.

By adamg - 11/4/23 - 11:00 am

It sounds like a charming children's story, but this is the T we're talking about, so it's probably chewing through the wires that keep the Blue Line running or something: A concerned citizen files a 311 complaint about the trash panda at State Street: Read more.

By adamg - 10/21/23 - 1:29 pm
Immature Cooper's hawk at Millennium Park

This immature Cooper's hawk at Millennium Park in West Roxbury stayed still long enough for Mary Ellen to compose a portrait shot yesterday.

She reports that, in addition to Younghawk, she also spotted a pair of bald eagles perched atop one of the communications towers along Rivermoor Street, where they get a clear view of the various twists of the Charles there - the first time she's spotted eagles there in awhile: Read more.

By adamg - 10/20/23 - 12:12 pm
Hawk vs. chicken

Update: Case closed, Animal Control reports "The chicken was taken to the shelter."

A concerned citizen filed a 311 complaint about a life-or-death situation at Nevada Street and Wilmington Avenue in Dorchester this morning: Read more.

By adamg - 10/19/23 - 11:10 pm
Seagull at Jamaica Pond

When you think of birds at Jamaica Pond, what normally comes to mind are ducks, geese, maybe cormorants and swans. There's usually a flock of seagulls, too, it's just they rarely get near the shore - let alone come up and stand on it, like this gull did late this afternoon.

By adamg - 10/18/23 - 12:09 pm

A grossed-out citizen filed a 311 complaint this morning about situation on A Street under Summer Street in Fort Point: Read more.

By adamg - 10/16/23 - 11:45 am

A concerned citizen files a 311 complaint about the situation at Bartlett Street and Lambert Avenue in Roxbury now that the coyotes that used to live there have moved on: Read more.

By adamg - 10/13/23 - 3:33 pm
Merlin at Millennium Park

Mary Ellen spotted this merlin, a type of falcon that's bigger than a robin but smaller than a crow, perched at Millennium Park in West Roxbury today.

By adamg - 10/7/23 - 1:14 pm
Geese on the Muddy River

Brooks Payne captured some geese in the Muddy River along the Riverway section of the Emerald Necklace.

By adamg - 10/6/23 - 11:44 am
Where the  hornets are, circled

Hornet hive entrance circled in green.

Complaints that have been bubbling up in a South End Facebook group reached 311 today when a distraught resident filed a complaint about the chaos at the southeast corner of Washington Street at its intersection with East Springfield Street: Read more.

By adamg - 10/4/23 - 8:41 pm
Mantis at Millennium

Mary Ellen got a close up of a mantis at Millennium Park in West Roxbury the other day.

By adamg - 10/2/23 - 9:17 pm
Turtles on a rock in the sun at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir

Sundaram snapped some turtles soaking in the sun at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir in Brighton today.

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