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See & Share Sightings

Please share your reports of interesting happenings at Hall’s Pond Sanctuary and enjoy reading others’ posts. Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Some ideas of things to share: animals, birds, flowers, trees, a cool rock, a tree shape, a strange fungus; a change you noticed from one visit to the next or over a period of time; snippets of overheard conversation about the Sanctuary; kids’ reactions. Write up something you find curious or awesome. Ask questions about something you saw or heard, or anything that HPS make you wonder about.

Things that cannot be posted:  “Sightings” is meant to share our appreciation of Hall’s Pond Sanctuary nature: flora, fauna and landscape. We cannot post photos of people, even if their faces aren’t visible, and even if it’s a selfie. There are too many thorny issues arising from internet postings. Also, please no photos of political campaign items.

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279 Sightings

  • David

    Hermit Thrush

  • David

    Yellow-rumped Warbler

  • David

    Blue-headed Vireo

  • David

    Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

  • Indigo Bunting still in Knyvet Park on Wednesday from 11AM to 12:30 [across Amory St from Hall’s Pond]. Best to park near spot 20 and use your car as a blind. Also a Veery and several House Finches, plus very noisy Chipping Sparrows. The birds go between the 2 stands of forsythias. Stay safe and be well. [from Fran Perler]

  • fred bouchard

    Alert, Hall’s Pond naturalists! Maybe we should be expanding our observing range extralimitally! Fred B

    Mass-Bird report from: Mon, 25 Apr 2022 20:03:17
    From: Paul Peterson
    Subject: Indigo Bunting at Hall’s Pond Area in Brookline NOW

    Hi! As of 3:50, there is a stunning Indigo Bunting at Knyvet Square. This is
    just on the other side of Amory St. The bird is feeding in the grass
    near the cluster of forsythias that is in line with garages lettered R,
    S, T. (these garages are in alphabetical order, and border one side of
    this square. — Paul Peterson

  • Fred Bouchard

    Hall’s Pond & Amory Woods, Norfolk, Massachusetts, US
    Apr 26, 2022 7:05 AM – 9:10 AM
    Traveling 1.1 mile(s)
    Comments: Hail, the gang and robins were all here! But not the warblers. Gray, 50F, E breeze.
    30 species

    Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 2
    Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) 3 second female in the tilted duck box?
    Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 2
    Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) 1 amory st and/or cottage farm
    Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 3
    Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) 2 squawk and dive at redtail
    Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 1 spooked, perched, and eventually left by 7:30
    Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1
    Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 1
    Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 1
    Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 3
    Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) 0 half a song, no visual
    Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 3 late arrivals
    American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 1
    Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 1
    Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Corthylio calendula) 1 formal garden apple blossoms; maybe two
    White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 1
    Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) 1 around large maple at platform, early and late
    Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 1
    European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 6
    Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) 2 formal garden
    American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 25 ruling the roost and field, as usual
    House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 5
    House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 1 amory st
    American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 6 bright and vocal
    White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) 2 in amory woods swale with towhee
    Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) 1
    Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 2
    Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) 2
    Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 15
    Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 3

    View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S108109366

  • David

    Brown Creeper

  • David

    Eastern Towhee

  • Fred Bouchard

    I forgot to add the kinglets (pond side, 7:45am): 1 ruby-crowned, 3 golden-crowned.

  • Fred Bouchard

    Hall’s Pond & Amory Woods, Norfolk, Massachusetts, US
    Apr 19, 2022 7:05 AM – 9:10 AM
    Protocol: Traveling 1.1 mile(s)
    Checklist Comments: Light rain to drizzle to p/c, 50F, moderate S wind abates. John, Jim, Brenda, Ellen.
    28 species

    Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 4
    Wood Duck (Aix sponsa) 5 Jim reported third male
    Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 1 male; female on eggs?
    Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) 4 2 dummer st, 2 cottage farm st [1 hops turnpike fence @ comm av]
    Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral Pigeon)) 2 1120 beacon
    Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 1 amory rooftop!
    Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) 1
    Double-crested Cormorant (Nannopterum auritum) 1
    Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) 1 flew in at 7, roosted in budding willow, stayed on pond by platform
    Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) 1 roosted high over pond, flew off to Charles @ 7:15
    Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) 1 harassed by grackles
    Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 2
    Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 2
    Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 2
    Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius) 0 half a song, no visual
    Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 5
    American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 2
    Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 2
    Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 2
    Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 1
    European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 4 infield no-fly rule
    Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) 1 2′ serenade from high over stucco garage, good look, flew north
    American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 20 low estimate, omnipresent
    White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) 4 only new entry on last sunny circuit
    Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 1
    Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 2 males
    Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) 1
    Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 16
    Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 2

    View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S107458738

  • Fred Bouchard

    Hall’s Pond & Amory Woods, Norfolk, Massachusetts, US
    Apr 5, 2022 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
    Traveling: 0.5 mile(s)
    Checklist Comments: Sunny, 58F. White-throat popped up as we sat on bench in formal garden. [Golden-crowned Kinglet also reported at 7am.]
    19 species

    Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) 2
    Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 2
    Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) 2 beacon street
    Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral Pigeon)) 3
    Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 2
    Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 1
    Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 2
    Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1
    Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 3
    Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) 2
    European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) 1
    American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 18 widespread, esp. amory mud-patch
    House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 6
    House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 2
    White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) 1
    Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 1
    Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) 1
    Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 11
    Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 4

    View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S106387189

  • JOHN SHREFFLER

    Amory Woods snowdrops

  • JOHN SHREFFLER

    First snowdrops in Amory Woods

  • Fred Bouchard

    Hall’s Pond & Amory Woods, Norfolk, Massachusetts, US [E-bird posting]
    Feb 28, 2022 11:30 AM – 12:05 PM
    Protocol: Traveling 0.7 miles
    Comments: Brilliant sun, 27F. All passerines huddled by cattail culvert; pond frozen. Amory Woods not walked. Boardwalk iced. Nothing flying. 10 species

    Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 6
    Barred Owl (Strix varia) 1 beige, smallish (male) 15″ in pine by stucco garage sleepily surveyed us
    Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 1 heard
    Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 1
    Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 1 heard
    American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 1 heard
    Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) 1
    American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 9
    Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) 3
    Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 1

    View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S103927509

  • Fred Bouchard

    Jan 13, 2022 8:25 AM – 8:50 AM
    Traveling 0.5 mile(s)
    Comments: Andrew List and I briefly check the Pond (not Amory Woods); boardwalk quite icy. John Shreffler joins us. Nearly all birds are sipping by the water’s edge. 11 species

    Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 4
    Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 1
    Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) 4
    Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 9
    White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 4
    American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 7
    Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) 4
    House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 4
    House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) 1
    Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 1
    Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 1

    View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S100680689

  • Fred Bouchard

    We Two Kinglets! Watch for these cuties on your holiday walk around the Pond.
    https://ebird.org/checklist/S99356127

  • Fred Bouchard

    Hall’s Pond & Amory Woods, Norfolk, Massachusetts
    Nov 30, 2021 10:30 AM – 11:16 AM
    Protocol: Traveling 0.9 mile(s)
    Checklist Comments: Clear, bright, 32F; frozen rime on pond; few dogwalkers; guy sacked under gazebo shelter.
    9 species

    Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 4
    Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) 5 hens wandering chilton street
    Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) (Columba livia (Feral Pigeon)) 2 beacon street
    Barred Owl (Strix varia) 0 no luck in uplands to find reported 11/25 Barred Owl for kids and chaperones.
    Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) 1
    Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 7 scattered, noisy
    Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa) 1 pished in from above jo’s stone bench in formal garden
    White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 1
    American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 15 skittering through golden amory maple leaf wrack; eating bittersweet near boardwalk
    House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 6 tennis courts

    View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S98293280

  • attention, hall’s ponders! turkeys on the loose! brandish your blunderbusses, or better — bow and arrows!

    https://ebird.org/checklist/S97958759

  • Fred Bouchard

    More plants in the ground than birds in the trees on this nippy Friends’ Planting Day. Twenty volunteer diggers unpotted dozens of ferns and flowers, shouldered their shovels and mattocks, and planted them in The Meadow, Formal Garden, and Amory Woods near the new Bruce’s Bench, just in time for coming rains. Folks got to chat as they toiled in the chiaroscuro sun/shade, while bench-sitters and joggers soaked up the bright rays, kids played softball, and dog-walkers cooed over their canines. New plants selected and delivered by Ellen Forrester included Shenandoah Red Switch Grass, Pink Turtlehead aka “Hot-Lips”, Bee Balm, Royal Fern, Purple Coneflowers. Eye-catching mushrooms noted were bright yellow chanterelles by Bruce’s Bench, curly white lactaria in the shelter of the mostly-rotted grand oak stump, and pearly white turkey-tail polypores dotting an uplands sapling.