June 25, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

Was at Mount Auburn with Wendy on a cloudy overcast day to see what was around; I figured Warblers would be out of the question but who knows what else would be there.   We stayed around the Dell and by where the owls had been nesting; they have since fledged.   I did finally manage to get a few decent pictures of a Blue Jay; somehow I had gone the entire time of having this SLR and not getting a single good picture of one, so that’s always good.  It didn’t seem to mind our presence too much.   As we skulked around the dell we got a chance to see a turtle swimming around in the scum.  It’s always amazing how many frogs I heard splashing into the water as I approach as well.  I rarely see more than one or two, but judging by the racket they make when jumping back into the pond there must be close to 25 at any time on whatever side of the dell I happen to be on.  I guess that’s how the heron stays well fed. 

                Wendy noticed something that she seems to think is wild strawberries.  I have no idea what they are, but if she wanted to eat one I wouldn’t stop her. She passed.  I’ll put a picture in here, maybe someone can identify them.  Not sure what they are honestly, they look like small round strawberries.  I’ll see if they last the summer and ripen up more, then maybe I’ll try one.   It looks kind of like one of those red physio balls people use at the gym, but with spikes on it.  Actually the more I look at the picture that looks nothing like a strawberry. I’m definitely not eating one of them at any point.  I’ll let Wendy try one and see if she gets violently ill.  If not I guess I’ll have a bite of one.  

                We were also tailed at length by a male cardinal who was singing quite boisterously.  Cardinals will return to singing between broods of young, before they lay their next clutch of eggs.  I have seen some cardinal families trawling around the Cemetery the last time I came up here, I’m sure there are others that I have not seen yet as well.   This particular male was quite exuberant; I got some ‘action-shots’ of him flying away from us that came out kind of well.  I cannot wait until they start filling up the feeder again this autumn by the lakes; I was just learning how to use the camera this past winter; this time around I’ll be able to get some great midflight shots I hope.  Here’s the Cardinal: 

While I’m at it, here’s a picture of the turtle we saw in the dell as well.  You can see the scum that has started to coat the surface of the pond.  I’m sure someone out there is interested in turtles and can tell the difference between the species.  I could probably look up what kind this one is as well; I’ll take a guess and say painted until I look later.   Turtles are by far the easiest thing I photograph outside of plants; not too many lightning fast movements from these guys.  

Towards the end of the trip I got a ton of great pictures of a catbird that was hanging around the dell as well; perched on the Dell Path sign.  These are probably some of the clearest shots I’ve gotten with the camera.  I won’t be able to post them full-size in this document, but when I post them to the blog (birdinginboston.blogspot.com) clicking on them will bring up a full-sized picture.

Front View

 

Rounding out the trip we went around to where the owls used to have a nest; they’re gone but I wanted to see the area since Orioles frequent it, and Towhees on occasion.  As we stood there the sun came out and I noticed some birds flitting around that looked odd.  I scoped them with my binoculars and realized they were Purple Finches.   They used to be so common when I was a small child, but over the years they have come to Massachusetts with increasing irregularity.  Apparently at this point they’re considered an irruptive species.  When things up in Canada get particularly hairy for a winter there are species that will move further south and ‘erupt’ into more southern areas than you would usually see them.  What is interesting though is that this is the middle of June, so clearly these ones live here.  I only managed to get one picture before my camera battery died, but Wendy got several apparently.  Here’s my one Purple Finch photo; I had seen one last autumn and I recall saying that I was worried the winter was going to be hellacious.  Then we had the worst January ever for snow.  Fortunately it’s a bit warm for that now. So here’s the 2^nd Purple Finch I’ve seen in the last decade.  Wish I had gotten a better picture, but like I said I only had one before the camera died.

edit: On further inspection, this is a house finch.  Oh well, still a nice bird