The weather in the Boston area has been seasonable for March, or maybe even a little on the warm side, the last few days. It was sunny today and a comfortable temperature for walking. I decided to see if the path around Cutler Pond had dried up after all the rain of the last couple of days. It had. There were a few muddy spots, but fewer than I remembered from last year. Maybe the parks commission has done something about the drainage on that path. Whatever, it was very pleasant walking with a mostly firm surface and not much ice.<\/p>\n
The birds were back, too, at least a few. The ice is about half gone from the pond. Waterfowl, having spotted the open water, are checking out all that food that’s been in the refrigerator for the last few months. There were swans chasing Canada geese out of their intended territory, gulls (I think herring gulls as well as ring-billed gulls), and fifteen or twenty common mergansers. I didn’t see any birds on the river, which is nice and high — four or six inches below the top of the old concrete bridge abutment or whatever that is.<\/p>\n
There weren’t a lot of land birds in evidence. I saw a couple of robins and my first three grackles of the year.<\/p>\n
The best bird was something I’m not sure of, a good-sized hawk that flew over the pond away from the 128 side and disappeared behind the trees on the river side. If I didn’t think it was too unlikely I’d say peregrine, but cooper’s is more reasonable. The wings looked pointed but rather broad and the tail was narrow and not really long.\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The weather in the Boston area has been seasonable for March, or maybe even a little on the warm side, the last few days. It was sunny today and a comfortable temperature for walking. I decided to see if the path around Cutler Pond had dried up after all the rain of the last couple … <\/p>\n