Birding in Boston: Nest

Saturday, August 27, 2011

July 24, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

Warm, sunny, 4:30ish

Decided to go back to Mount Auburn today, it’s getting into late July and I’m not expecting to see anything too exciting. I notice the board with sightings always has suspect claims this time of year “15 Philadelphia Vireos….5 Canada Warblers…250 Robins”. I’m sure the person saw a ton of Robins, but the other 2 are highly dubious, if not flat out impossible this time of year, but I digress. We walked around Willow Pond for a while and noted the turtles. There were several people on the opposite side of the pond from BF Skinner’s grave; they had easels set up. I got a picture of a father & son painting together.

After traipsing about by Willow for a while we headed over to Halcyon for a while, I wanted to find the Great Blue Heron. I’m still irritated that the memory card ate the pictures I had taken of it the day I saw the Black-Crowned Night Heron. Fortunately when we got there we spotted the Great-Blue after a few minutes of walking along the shore. Wendy is always perturbed when she encounters one. I think because they’re only slightly shorter than her, and their wingspan is greater than her’s.

I tried getting closer to it but it was having none of it, it kept creeping/flying away anytime I got within 20’ of it (The heron, not Wendy). We started wending our way around the lake after the Heron extricated itself from our presence, and as we came around to the side closest to the outside road I spotted a nest up in a tree. Andy was nearby and set up his equipment; his zoom lens is much better than the one on my camera. He got some nice pictures of what turned out to be some baby Robin’s. I got some pictures as well before my camera died, although they did not come out that great.Here’s another one, with one of the parents feeding the young one. I’ll add it to my collection of pictures of bird rear-ends.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

July 9, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

Nice day out, mild, late afternoon

So I headed back to Mount Auburn today to see if I could find the Black-Crowned Night Heron again. The cormorant was still there, however I did not get to see the heron again. I did get to see something else cool though. While by Willow Pond someone asked me if I had seen the Phoebe nest, which I had not. He directed me to where it was, at the twin ponds with the bridge over them, by the birdfeeder. So I headed out there to see what was shaking, and easily found the nest. Now let me say that this was NOT easy to photograph at all. I was on a steep bank that goes down into the pond, photographing at an angle, trying to hold myself up, and get a decent shot. Most of my early shots were not usable as they’re too dark. I ended up using a flash, which did not seem to bother the parents in the least. In fact even as I was only about 10’ away they still continued their flights in and out to feed their young hatchlings.

The nest itself was stuck to a stone wall underneath the bridge that covers the narrow span of water that joins to the two ponds. It appeared to be constructed mainly of moss and dirt. Nearby there were several stalactites that hung down from the underside of the bridge and were dripping moisture into the channel below. There were four hatchlings in there when I observed them, and the parents were coming at intervals of about 120 seconds or so. The babies were largely quiet except for one who frequently stuck his head out when not napping. I could only get a good look at two of them that were the closest to me, however the all appeared healthy at the time. The most vocal and active hatchling was getting most of the food, as is typical in these situations.

The day was quite nice even if I did not get to see the Heron again. This is my first time observing a Phoebe nest, and was pretty cool to get to watch this part of their life cycle. I have had a great stretch the last couple months with birdwatching and this just continues it. I also have a video of the nest, here.