Hall’s Pond…by Brad Marks

Going to be setting a new land speed record for getting this last post of the month out – check off another successful meet on the Intrigued post quota. At some point my superiors are going to stop accepting that as a “stretch” goal ha. Have good news for everyone, we have “proof of life” for Brad. That sounds a lot more exciting that it really is as in today’s day and age, it simply means we got a text he’s on his way home. Probably dating myself here, but it feels just like the Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom show. If you recall (assuming you are old enough), Marlin Perkins would sit back in his smoking chair with a snifter of Scotch while Jim is out in the field getting mauled by a pack of Hyenas. “Honey, I would like to get this bird located here {spins globe stopping it with a well placed finger}, what do you think?” “There!!! HELL NO..send Brad.” “Good idea, where’s my snifter?” I am sure he will have a number of future posts covering his adventures. In the meantime we are pulling one of his queue to keep you entertained while I tend to things that go bump in the night.

Three short little days until the first night of the Haunted Trail..as they say..or rather sing “No Sleep ‘Till Brooklyn” (link here). Sure wish I had “Eight days a week”.

Kick it Brad…

If you’ve ever been to Boston, you know how frantic life can be there.  Like any other large city, there are big buildings, crazy people everywhere “driving” with a coffee in one hand and a smartphone in the other, and other people with a smartphone in one hand and a cup of coffee in their other hand posing as pedestrians.  Of course, nearly everyone has obligatory earbuds firmly ensconced.  Jan and I were visiting Boston for the umpteenth time (really, I’ve lost count over the decades) for our goddaughter’s high school graduation.  Knowing I’d like to see what birds were living in and around Boston, our friend Connie suggested I try a little pond near our hotel in Brookline. 

When I first arrived at Armory Park, all I could see was a giant dog park (very few were picking up, BTW, so watch your step if you visit) and a half dozen tennis courts with players who thought they were getting ready for Wimbledon.  It was then that I noticed a heavily wooded area behind a fence with a swing gate; that’s where I headed:  Hall’s Pond.  I went through the gate, wandered along the wooded trail, and came upon a serene little pond with a small deck extending over the water.  The pond is roughly 150 feet wide by about 200 feet long.  The surrounding gardens and wooded area may only be 3-4x as big as the pond itself.

Hit the jump to see more finds from Hall’s Pond.

At first glance I thought it was just another mallard family in a city pond.  But then I noticed there wasn’t a curl of feathers in the back.  And the swirl patterns were quite a bit stronger than female mallards typically are.  These were American Black Ducks (Anas rubripes).

The ducklings followed Mom by waddling directly over the lily pads instead of swimming around them like she was.  The family was cute and very photogenic for a few moments, then something drew them back across the pond, and they were gone.

Almost as if on cue, a solitary duck entered stage right, swam towards the middle, then curved slightly towards the observing platform.

It was a female Wood Duck (Aix sponsa).  She paddled directly towards the viewing platform I was standing on.  Her three ducklings were hiding beneath the platform (unbeknownst to me at the time).  Momma Wood Duck collected the three and paddled right back across the pond.

In addition to the wonderful array of wildlife, I met many very nice people that frequent the pond.  And by “frequent,” I mean they visit Hall’s Pond at least once per day, at least six days per week, year-round.  One was a nice gentleman that had lived about a block away for over 40 years.  He (sorry, don’t remember his name) had also been on the volunteer team that helps to maintain Hall’s Pond.  He also told me the fourth duckling left the nest just last week. 

Remember before when I said three ducklings were below my feet?  The fourth had been hiding in the tall grass near the edge of the pond.

It had been near its siblings but not so close I have the whole family in a single photograph.  Seeing pre-teen ducks on their own can be very confusing.  IDs can be difficult unless the juveniles have enough of a start on their adult feathers to tell what they are, or their parents are near enough to know what sort of duck they are, kind of like LBJs that quack.  

Duck parents can be like human parents.  They like to give their tweens some independence to let them think they are on their own.  But in reality, the parents are only one to two steps, or paddles, away if something needs immediate attention.  In this case, momma duck was not quite as close as helicopter parents and certainly was not one that grants free-range to a 10-year-old, but just the right amount of distance away.

This juvenile male Wood Duck paddled onto the scene from the same corner of the pond (stage right). Not in full Wood Duck color yet, he seemed to be at the end of the Clearasil era and not quite ready for the colorful adult plumage just yet.

The crowning achievement of the day came when I was talking with Will, a Harvard Medical School student/employee. Will was telling me that he frequently sees various herons around the pond about this same time each morning. Just then, Will pointed to a tree on the far side of the pond.

Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) had made its appearance. You can’t tell from the photo, but the heron was perched in a tree about 25 feet above the water. I had not seen a Night-Heron in the wild before, so I quickly took a few (fifty) photos. Then I did what professional wildlife photographers are always talking about: I captured some natural behavior.

Hey, when you gotta go . . . you gotta go.  Doesn’t matter how many cameras are watching you.

Thank you for reading.  If you want to see more photos from my visit to Hall’s Pond, please visit here.

Credits:

Thanks again to Jan and Allyson for proofreading and editing.

Notes:

Hall’s Pond is a very nice respite in the middle of Brookline (no endorsements were accepted for this statement).  It is part of the original estate of Minna B. Hall, a founding member of the Massachusetts Audubon Society.  Before her death, Hall sought to preserve the land and pond behind her house as a sanctuary for birds by making an offer to the City of Brookline to protect the land.  At the time, the city refused, and part of the land was scheduled for development.  A group of citizens in the 1970’s, with the help of federal and state grants, were able to secure the land for preservation.  Hall’s Pond is one of only two remaining natural ponds in the city of Brookline, MA.