2007

My first visit to the marsh in 2007. Salt marsh mostly frozen. Hard to walk on glare ice--had to watch every step. Extremely high tide flooded area by 11:30. A few lonely male Redwings singing over the frozen marsh.

But two flocks of robins flew by and a the waxwings were hanging around the entrance to the Park.

Last week was the big ice storm which covered everything in a thick layer of hard glare ice. Walking through the marsh I was curious to see what happened to the boards which hid the spiders, amphipods and vole nests. The marsh was completely frozen over (though with tufts of marsh grass poking through the ice) and the boards were visible through the glare ice. I have no clue where the creatures are that usually live under the boards and in the grass tunnels.

Jack Markley happened by and mentioned that yesterday, on a ramble through the marsh with Geoff Wood and a couple of other explorers, they had seen a Short-eared Owl. I looked hard but could not locate it.

Number of bird species: 17

Canada Goose 220

American Black Duck 4

Red-breasted Merganser 8

Ring-billed Gull 5

Herring Gull 5

Rock Pigeon 70

Downy Woodpecker 1

American Crow 7

American Robin 34

Northern Mockingbird 1

European Starling 1

Cedar Waxwing 15

American Tree Sparrow 4

Song Sparrow 1

Red-winged Blackbird 4

House Finch 1

House Sparrow 30

Soheil Zendeh

42 Baker Ave

Lexington, MA 02421

home phone 781-863-2392

cell phone 617-763-5637

office phone 617-528-4013