Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

When most people see birds of prey, it's usually from a distance as they soar overhead or as we pass them on the highway, perched high on a branch waiting for their next meal. Since they are wild animals, generally they aren't too keen to stay close when they are suddenly encountered by a surprised human. A few seconds of acknowledged exchange before flushing off to the safety of the woods. On those rare occasions where they will stay still enough for one to observe them up close, they watch us with those wild eyes that distrust anything that approaches too directly. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to photograph a young red-tailed hawk ( Buteo jamaicensis ) sitting on a telephone wire in Concord, Massachusetts. The bird eyed me warily as snapped some photos, but never moved. One could interpret it as stoic pride, but at risk of anthropomorphizing my subject, it seemed more likely that it didn't want to move from it's chosen hunting post. On Sunday, Alison an...

As January comes to a close and the new year continues on, I have taken some time to look for a common bird that everyone seems to notice, but rarely talks about. No, I'm not talking about feeder birds like titmice or finches, or ducks and geese that winter on our shores, or common city birds like sparrows. This bird can be seen with regularity soaring over any farm field, scanning a highway corridor at rush hour, or sitting on a wire like this one I saw at Kaveski Farm Conservation Land in Concord, MA. It is the Red-tailed Hawk ( Buteo jamaicensis ) and while they are as easy to see as I've described, I feel like they are often overlooked as well. Maybe it's because they're so common that the people that see them so often get used to them. Even in recent years as I became more of a birder than a naturalist, I would note where a given species was and then move on to the next one I saw or heard. It wasn't until I read and then reread Lyanda Lynn Haupt's Cro...

After having an amazing weekend at Arisia 2015 in Boston where spending time with good friends and seeing amazing cosplay was the name of the game. One day after the end of the convention though, I decided to get out and see if I could do some woodland birding close to home. After all, even a nerd needs to get out and see the sunshine once in a while. I had some setbacks before getting out the door though. I had left my winter jacket at the hotel (but I did get to borrow my dad's warm ski jacket) and a snafu at the bank nearly put a damper on the day, but when I got out there, it seemed perfect. I exited the car and looked out over the stubble and grass of the community gardens and saw no real signs of life. I snapped some photos as I went and noticed a shadow overhead. I looked up to find one, no! Two! Two Red-tailed Hawks ( Buteo jamaicensis ) soaring in the winter sunshine overhead. These two beautiful adults treated me to a ten minute display of expert avian flight co...

While on a stroll the other day, I came upon one of nature's crime scenes that one glimpses every once in a while. It was absolute carnage with the only visible signs of what the prey originally was, were by its ragged and forlorn wings and a single, severed leg. I knew instantly that I'd come across several carcasses of feral pigeons* which were strewn and shredded all over the grass near where I work. While I was examining the carcasses, a guy in a pickup pulled up and shouted, "Boy! Someone was hungry!" *I don't called them "Rock Pigeons" because they have become mutts after interbreeding with domestic birds and don't carry the traditional colors of their species any more. The only "true" ones of their kind can be found in the more wild areas of the world where their stock hasn't been corrupted by the influence of other breeds "Yeah, I guess so." I was a bit startled and hadn't noticed the truck pul...