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Each year, Tree Swallows migrate back to the Museum and take up residence in the field by the parking lot and in the meadow behind the Museum. In April and May, the Tree Swallow expend their energy competing for nesting sites at our nest boxes. Enjoy this photo essay of two tree swallows and their aerial acrobatics and competition.
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This blog post is complements our weekly virtual lecture called Nature Notes for the residents of Orchard Cove. To learn more about our weekly virtual illustrated lecture series called nature notes, click here.
Hi everybody, each week I (Sean Kent – MABA’s education and camp director) deliver a live online illustrated lecture called Nature Notes for the residents of Orchard Cove in Canton. I love nature and am infinitely curious with what is going on natural world. I am an educator, naturalist, accomplished landscape and wildlife photographer, and field biologist with expertise in native bee biology, species interactions, and ecology in general.
This post contains additional resources that correspond with the lecture, but might also be of interest to readers of Taking Flight in addition to the residents of Orchard Cove. Please contact me ([email protected]) if you or your organization/residence might be interested in live online illustrated lectures, including lectures on The Secret Life of Backyard Birds and Native Bees and other Pollinators. Be well and safe.
Milly’s first bird of the day is one of her favorites, it’s the Tree Swallow! Please help Milly and her Bird-a-Thon team by visiting her fundraising page here.
Tree Swallows are one of the first migrants to return each spring and once they are here, they’re hard to miss. They are masters at flight, with dozens zooming in circles around one another over our meadow, collecting mosquitos, flies, and more with incredible aerial acrobatics. These birds put on mesmerizing flight shows all spring and summer in the meadow right behind the Museum of American Bird Art.
Milly watches these beauties fly over her sanctuary for hours. Tree Swallows are so named because like Milly, they live in trees.
However, since we have cut so many trees down, Milly and other conservationists place nest Boxes throughout fields to provide more homes for these incredible birds. Please help Milly and her Bird-a-Thon team by visiting her fundraising page here.
Owen Cunningham is MABA’s incredible property manager, Bird-a-Thon captain, and most importantly Milly’s caretaker. He is the author of Milly’s Bird of the Day posts.
The flower head of bush clover has many hairy bracts surrounding the small white flowers. After blooming the flower heads gradually turn brown. The Legume family of plants has super powers.
I grew up on a farm. My grandfather planted Lespedeza in the farm fields on a rotating basis. I learned as a kid that Lespedeza “fixes nitrogen”. Of course, I had no idea then why that was important but I loved to see the fields of clover and thought the name “lespedeza” was just a cool word to say and to write because it had a “z” in it.
Now I know why a plant that “fixes nitrogen” is so important. Inorganic nitrogen compounds are required for biosynthesis. Legumes convert nitrogen molecules in the air into chemical compounds such as amino acids and transfer them to the soil. Without this soil enrichment of Lespedeza food crops like tomatoes, beans and carrots would not grow well.
Lespedeza is also useful in Scrabble, because of that ‘Z”.
Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.
This is the answer to our Nature in a Minute: Mystery Plant Challenge. Click here to see the first post. Common Mullein is easily recognized in summer. The tall stalk with yellow flowers is distinctive along roadsides and in open areas. The leaves are large and fuzzy to the touch.
Common mullein is just as easy to spot in winter. The tall stalk is topped with dried brown seed capsules.
Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.
Plant ID challenge
Test your skill at identifying plants in winter without the help of colorful flowers and leaves. Answers will be posted on April 23.
Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.
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Photo Arizona Department of Game and Fish April 16, 2020
Wildlife biologists in Arizona have searched for bald eagles nesting in saguaro cacti for decades. The Arizona Game and Fish Department announced they finally have a photo to prove eagles will nest in these large, branched cacti.
Enjoy Barry Van Dusen’s post when he visited Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Easthampton on March 22, 2016 and painted a Bald Eagle
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Plant ID challenge
Test your skill at identifying plants in winter without the help of colorful flowers and leaves. Answers will be posted on April 23.
Plant A
Plant A seed capsule
Our guest blogger, Julianne Mehegan, is a wonderful friend of MABA, a birder and a naturalist.
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
Hi everybody, each week I (Sean Kent – MABA’s education and camp director) deliver a live online illustrated lecture called Nature Notes for the residents of Orchard Cove in Canton. I love nature and am infinitely curious with what is going on natural world. I am an educator, naturalist, accomplished landscape and wildlife photographer, and field biologist with expertise in native bee biology, species interactions, and ecology in general.
This post contains additional resources that correspond with the lecture, but might also be of interest to readers of Taking Flight in addition to the residents of Orchard Cove. Please contact me ([email protected]) if you or your organization/residence might be interested in live online illustrated lectures, including lectures on The Secret Life of Backyard Birds and Native Bees and other Pollinators. Be well and safe.
During our Nature Notes from April 10, several participants in the lecture expressed interest in learning more about how to identify bird songs. Here are a few references that will help with to learn bird songs this spring.
How To Listen To Bird Song—Tips And Examples From The Warbler Guide from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This article contains the three questions to ask about a song: (1) What Is The Sound Quality Of The Song?, (2) What Is The Pitch Of The Song?, and (3) How Many Sections Does The Song Have? It’s a really great introduction to learning bird songs along with great visualizations of bird songs.
How to Start Identifying Birds by Their Songs and Calls from National Audubon
Start Using Spectrograms to ‘Read’ Bird Songs and Calls by National Audubon
For more bird songs and visualizations, please go to the bottom of the page.
The Lyrid Meteor Shower will peak on April 21 and April 22. Here is more information from NASA.
Enjoy our Nature in a Minute about an Osprey catching lunch.
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
SUPPORT OUR WORK and Donate to the Museum of American Bird Art
As migration begins to kick into high gear, many birds are returning to Massachusetts and their summer breeding grounds. In particular, this past week many Osprey have returned. They are setting up territories, returning and rebuilding their nests, and fishing.
“…True to the season, o’er our sea-beat shore,
The sailing osprey high is seen to soar,
With broad unmoving wing, and, circling slow,
Marks each loose straggler in the deep below;
Sweeps down like lightning! plunges with a roar!
And bears his struggling victim to the shore.
The long-housed fisherman beholds with joy
The well-known signals of his rough employ;
And as he bears his nets and oars along,
Thus hails the welcome season with a song.”
~ The Fish-Hawk by T.A. Conrad
On April 16, 2020, I was walking with my three daughters at Wheaton Farm Conservation Land in Easton, Massachusetts. Each day we go exploring near our neighborhood and find peace with nature. As we were walking down the trail, I noticed a large bird circling overhead and realized it was an Osprey. We moved a little quicker to the pond and moved into a full run when I realized that it was hovering, ready to go fishing. Running full speed with a strolled while taking a camera out is a new skill that I’m well on my way to perfecting. Enjoy the photos of this amazing natural history moment.
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