My favorite spot in the city.

Ward's pond, often featured here and at cottonmanifesto's journal, is tucked away in Olmsted Park, a linear stretch of green between major roads in Boston and Brookline. It's hard to believe this tranquil pond is just a few steps from the roar of traffic on the Jamaicaway.



( a few more )

Spider plant

Spider plant festooned with ironic Agelenopsis webs.

( more webs, no spiders )

Evidence of subnivean activity

When the snow began to melt at work last week, these vole trails were revealed.

( little vole footyprints )

For my own reference

Birds seen in 2006 ( just a list )

Urban species #003: Canada Goose

At least two factors of human origin have conspired to transform this unlikely bird into an urban species. Before the twentieth century, Canada geese were symbols of wildness, and of the changing seasons. They were only seen in New England as part of the migration, flying overhead in their v formation, or perhaps stopping at a pond or lake to rest and eat, before continuing on to plains or tundra.

But forests were cut down to make lawns, parks, golf courses, cemeteries, and so on, creating tundra-like and plains-like landscapes, usually conveniently located next to still water. Thus were Canada geese encouraged to linger in places that they historically flew by.

Also, in former years Canada geese were hunted enthusiastically. Hunters used a variety of techniques to induce them to descend to ponds for easier shooting, including decoys made of wood, and live decoys. Live decoys were large semi-domestic Canada geese (hybridized with large midwestern subspecies) that were used to lure wild waterfowl into a false sense of safety. Early in the twentieth century the practice was abandoned and outlawed, and the live decoys were left to become feral.

Between the changing of the landscape to resemble their feeding and breeding grounds, and the interbreeding with sedentary live decoy geese, eastern cities have year-round populations of millions of Canada geese. Few urban animals are capable of preying on an adult goose (though a bald eagle took one on the ice of Jamaica Pond a few years back), and so they continue to multiply unabated. Many people, especially those who manage parks and golf courses, see Canada geese as a serious pest. Many city dwellers appreciate the opportunity to interact with these large and beautiful, but no longer exotic, animals.