Early Season Birding in Franklin Park

I went birding in mid-march, hoping to catch the warblers coming through.    Unfortunately, I was too early for the warblers, but there were plenty of other birds filling the air.


First off, the location.   I've become very fond of Franklin Park.  The park is a short walk from the subway.  has an open field, some 'wild' forest.   And a pond.   Scarboro pond is where many of the birds like hanging out - close to ware and meadow, a walk around the pond will find you many birds.

Bridge over Scarboro pond

New growth coming from the shallow end of the pond

New pine tree brings green to the leaf-less forest

Trees aren't the only place to find birds - many forage not he ground, or hang out in brush near the pond and meadow.

Dark-Eyed Junko scavenging in the ground

Song Sparrow among the brush

Red-Bellied Woordpecker

Tifted Titmouse

Nuthatches were everywhere - they're usually rare to see, but they were on half the trees in the forst.

White-Breasted Nuthatch

Red-Winged Blackbird, singing a morning song

Black-capped chickadees were always everywhere as well.   The state bird of Massachusetts, these are fun little birds - never resting on a branch (or a feeder) for more than a moment before flying off again.  They have a nice little color scheme, and a nice variety of calls.  

This Chickadee was apparently hollowing out a nest area.  It would scrape out a mouthful then fly off somewhere else to deposit the debris, then come back for more.

The park also had its share of Red-Tailed hawks.   Unfortunately, I was often in the first when they were overhead, and the camera focused on tree branches more than the birds.   Frustrating, as some were great sights - one was circling quite low, while another seemed to be a pair flying off to their nesting area.

When I was in the open I did catch yet another one circling about.   I just raised the camera up and snapped away, not thinking I had caught anything well.  Once I got home and was able to crop and process the photos, turns out I had gotten some amazing shots!







I'll finish up with the bridge again, done in Black & White





Enjoy all my other photos on my Flickr page.

North Point North Station

There's a lot going on in Cambridge's North Point Park.   For a railfan, it offers some great views of the North Station tracks.    While I was photographing skaters at the skate park, every time a train was coming by I would go down the hill and take photos of passing trains.   The skaters seemed to get a kick out of that.

Looking towards Boston.  Always nice when you can work the Zakim into a shot

The first spot is right behind the skate park.  There's an access road the duck tours use with some parking next to it (unofficial park parking?).   There's nothing but a few jersey barriers separating the lot from the North Station approach tracks.  As long as you stay on the public side no one seems to mind.

Looking North.  You can see all the way to BET.  

(This is zoomed - I'm still on the public side of the barriers)

Nice catch - two inbound at the same time

Another spot at the same location is the pedestrian bridge over the tracks.   It gives you a nice overhead view of the same tracks, and a view into north Station.

Looking north from the ped bridge. 

In the North view (above) you can see the road and parking area, and barriers that separate the ROW from the 'public' space.   Of course, never trespass on railroad property, no matter how tempting it can seem.

The Boston view from the ped bridge

One nice things on Summer weekends - due to fewer weekend trains and lots of boats, the drawbridges are usually left in the up position until a train is ready to arrive or depart.   So you get a nice audio and visual clue that a train is coming.   (And, if you like bridges, you can see the bridges raised and lowered quite often.)

The pedestrian bridge itself is very photo worthy

If you like watching the T, this is a great hotspot to hang out at.   Lots of trains on a weekday night, and a decent number of trains on the weekend (with bridge action).

A great sky also made some photos look great in Black & White.

Inbound to Boston.   Boston Sand & Gravel in the background

Amtrak and MBTA racing into Boston.