I took my husky for a walk down the West Side Bypass off Jenkins Creek Rd in Cambridge between noon and 1:00 pm today, and observed the following:
Blue jay
European starlings
American robins
Northern mockingbird
Northern cardinal; singing male
American goldfinches; several
House finch; pair
Song sparrows; singing male
Eastern bluebird; pair nesting on next door neighbor's fence
Carolina wren; agitated fussing
Northern harrier; female
Bald eagles; pair being chased by a red-tail hawk.
Red-tailed hawk; screaming
I heard the red-tail scream, then the eagles call out to each other. I looked up to see the red-tail dive at the eagles. Once the hawk flew away, the eagles did an aerial display. They repeatedly and briefly locked talons while flying side by side. They were very synchronized, like feathered Blue Angels. This is usually a pair-bonding ritual, but maybe today they were High Fiving that the red-tail flew away. This may be the pair that nests somewhere in/near the City.
The harrier flushed from a small stand of cedar and pines located at the edge of the meadow near the small stream that flows through a huge culvert pipe toward Jenkins Creek.
A couple of evenings ago, we flushed woodcock along this road, and a meadowlark called out.
There is now a bermed, stormwater management/sediment trap "depression" at the far side of the field. A place that will attract sandpipers, frogs and herons. I'll have to keep an eye on it.
We had several bob white quail nesting in the tall broom sedge grasses along the bypass last year, as well as eastern meadowlark, field sparrows, and grasshopper sparrows. But the developers have mowed some of the grasses, and unfortunately, these four species will likely leave the area. In fact, they would die off if they didn't find suitable replacement habitat. A local developer has paid the State $2 million to create habitat along Egypt Road, and several meadows will be created this summer as part of that project.
Diane Cole
