Category Archives: Birds

Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack

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What was that Name again? Jack?

What do Jack, Kack, Lack. Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack have in common? They are the names of the eight little ducklings following Mrs. Mallard cross the Public Gardens in Boston.

Non-Bostonians can find its location confusing. Boston Common, Boston Public Gardens, Boston Garden…what’s the difference?

Commons, Gardens and Garden

The Boston Commons is the oldest city park in the United States. It was established in 1634. Originally a pasture it became known as “Common Land”. It was used to graze local livestock until 1830. A town shepherd was paid “two shillings and sixpence per head of cowe” to tend townspeople’s livestock.  In 1775 over 1000 Redcoats were camped here until they marched off to Lexington & Concord for the skirmish that became the “Shot heard ’round the World”.

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The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park adjacent to the Boston Commons. Part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks, it was established in 1837 as the first public botanical garden in America. Part of the confusion between the Commons and the Gardens is that they are only separated by a street. Its easy to think of the whole area as one huge park.

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The Boston Garden was a much loved venue for local sports, especially the Boston Celtics and The Boston Bruins. Famous for it’s parquet floor that favored the home team because of it’s many “dead spots”, it was eventually torn down and replaced by the big, modern T.D. Garden in 1995.

Make Way for Ducklings, Jack, Kack, Lack…

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The famous duckling statue is located in the Public Gardens. It’s based on the children’s book “Make Way for Ducklings”. Mrs. Mallard has as much trouble keeping her little bronze ducklings together as a real life mother duck. The statue was first installed in 1987 but almost immediately the duckling named Quack was pilfered. In 1988 Mack was stolen but at the same time Quack was returned after an anonymous tip.

 Quack was taken again in 1992, and the theft created such an outcry that buttons reading “Bring Quack Back” were sold to raise money for a replacement.

In 1999 Jack was taken! Pack flew the coop in 2009. But Boston loves its ducklings and the statue is always repaired or replaced.

Decorating the Ducks

You can often find the little duck family decked out in holiday attire, Easter Bonnets for an Easter Parade, Christmas hats and Halloween costumes. During playoffs you may find tiny ball caps and sweaters boasting team logos.

In May you can join over 1000 people on Mother’s Day for the Duckling Day Parade. The only requirement, you must be dressed as a character from the book.

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Yes, Boston loves Mrs. Mallard and her 8 little ducklings, Jack, Kack, Lack. Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack!

 

 

Every Day’s a Holiday

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Did you know that just about every day in the year has some holiday or observance attached to it?

Yesterday was the “Ides of March” as in  “Beware the Ides of March”, the warning the soothsayer called out to Julius Caesar. It was also the date of Caesar’s assassination so I guess he really should have taken the warning to heart.

Today’s weird and wonderful holiday is “Everything you do is Right Day”.  (Go away Dudley Do Right!)

I could use a day like that!  Sometimes it feels like everything I do is wrong no matter how hard I try. I’m sure you’ve all felt like that a time or two. Then we get a day where everything you do is Right and my world is back on track! (Would that it were so easy) In any case it’s a nice thought and kind of balances out the bad.

Going back to March 15. Did you know that it’s also Buzzards’ Day?

Buzzard Day is an Ohio holiday where once a year eager residents scan the skies for the return of the bald headed bird. To them this graceful creature signals rebirth not death.

Oh and I missed National Potato Chip Day on March 14 but I’m sure we’ll make up for it on Friday, March 17 when we snack on chips while downing our pints of Green beer. ‘Tis an Irish celebration, St Patrick’s Day, is.

Just a couple of other quick hits…March 20 is National Alien Abductions Day, I kid you not.

Not enough weird holidays for you. March 28 is “Make Up Your Own Holiday Day.” With holidays like National Goof off Day and Chip and Dip day I can’t think of anything I’d want to make up. Someone has beat me to all the good stuff. What about you?

Moose up the Road Apiece!

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Rangeley, a town in Franklin county Maine has a population of around 1200 until the tourists come to town. Rangeley is the center of the Rangeley Lakes Region, a major resort area.

It looks like a June vacation will be an excellent time as far as the weather is concerned. Watch me jinx us by making a statement like that! But really. When I check the average temps the average high in June is 69 degrees and the average low is 47 degrees. Nice sweater weather. Of course they did have a record high of 90 degrees and a record low of 27 degrees. There’s been no snow in June and only an average rainfall of less than 5 inches. But if it rains there’s a bowling alley. We can all go bowling!

I want to go to Maine in June for the moose. The moose is the state animal of Maine. Moose spotting becomes an activity late spring to Mid-summer. Seems to me June falls right in the middle of that range. The best time for spotting moose seems to be early morning or evening and noon to 2 pm. Sounds like moose like to have lunch too!

Calves are born in late May to early June right on track with our June vacation . I can visualize the photos now. Early morning has such beautiful light!

One of the activities I’m thinking about is a Moose Safari. There are both walking safaris and water safaris in canoes or kayaks . I know how to canoe but I’ve never been kayaking. That would be a new adventure. Plus there’s plenty of hiking trails. Also sounds like a lot of waterfalls on these trails.

One location in particular that caught my eye is The Hunter Cove Wildlife Sanctuary, sitting along Route 4 between Rangeley and the town of Oquossoc, the sanctuary offers nearly two miles of looped, flat, hiking trails leading through moose country. The sanctuary, as well as the lakes, is home to deer, foxes, loons and other bird and animal species.

I’m used to wildlife sanctuaries. I visit them in Massachusetts all the time so this might belong on my list.

I’m ready for June to arrive and my Maine wildlife adventure to begin.

Rockin’ Robin

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I saw my first robin of spring today as I was driving into work. It was a fat little guy. Wherever he wintered must have been very good to him.

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I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much either. We’ve had some record warm days lately but the weatherman says we’ve got a return to winter on the way. An arctic blast is moving in from Canada.

But back to my little robin. Do they actually migrate? A couple of years ago when I was frantically running around trying to complete a 365 day challenge (A photo a day) I ran across a tree full of robins in the middle of a snow storm. Had they just come north too soon or do they stay in the area all winter?

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In an effort to get some answers I looked it up on the internet. (I know you can’t believe everything you find on the internet) but I found this information in several different places. Apparently robin’s migrate for food reasons, not temperature. They are big berry eaters until spring thaws the ground when they switch over to bugs and worms.

Some robins will go as far south as Texas or Florida while others will only migrate as far as necessary to find their beloved berries.

As an interesting side note, the articles I saw mention that robins sing when they arrive on their breeding territories. Some may sing in winter flocks but most wait until the breeding season approaches and they have reached their “territory”.

So maybe the old adage about the first robin being the harbinger spring should really be the first SINGING robin.

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Whale Watch #3

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Thursday I awoke to  a real cacophony from the hundreds of birds perched along the roof line, most appeared to be Myna birds. It was amazing the volume of their chirps and calls. I hesitate to use the term “song”. I stuck my phone out the slider and pressed record. I was sure no one would believe it without proof. (I haven’t figured out how to get the recording from my phone to this page, Any ideas techies?)

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Both whale watches from Wednesday had been fun and successful as far as seeing whales but I still didn’t get the photo I was seeking. I consoled myself that even National Geographic photographers sometimes had to wait weeks to get that special picture. If it was easy everyone would do it!

I still had the whale watch coming to me for becoming a member of the Pacific Whale Foundation so I headed back down to their shop to see if they had any open spots. I was seeing whales breaching all around me on every trip, just too far away. It’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time and that means getting back out there.

Pacific Whale Foundation

Luckily they had an opening on the 2 pm whale watch on the catamaran Ocean Intrigue.

Ocean Intriguw

I had high hopes for this trip as it was active almost as soon as we took off. We saw a female with two male whales chasing her around. There was a lot of tail slapping and flipper waving. Everyone on board got very excited.

Whale Chase

At times it looked like the whales were climbing right over each other. But no breaching.

flipper slap

Whales Nose

We moved on to a mother and calf. The calf was very excited by our approach and began slapping the surface with his little tail. It was like he was standing on his head and slapping his tail back and forth.

Baby Humpback

So much splashing, So much energy but no breach.

Whale of a Tail

As the action slowed a bit a hydrophone was dropped over the side. We could hear many different whales as they sang their songs. The naturalist said it was probably about a 25 mile radius.

Mom and Calf

Finally it was time to head back into shore. We passed the 3 whales from the start of the trip and they were still going strong with their chasing and competing. The whales had been closer to the boat this time and certainly we saw some fun behaviors but still no breaching.  My time was running out.

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