Abundance - June 2013

June at the pond.  Even if your head was bowed to miss the nearly constant ricochet of birds and the almost perceptibly growing grasses, still you would be intoxicated by the constantly changing perfumes of the blooming native shrubs and flowers. Even if your plugged-with-your-latest-shuffle ears were not startled by the fwap-fwap-fwap of the swan’s take off or enchanted by the oriole’s sweet song, still you would feel the press of the summer noons or the caress of the sunset's softest breezes. June was a feast for all the senses to savor (ok you sticklers, imagine the sweet dew on your tongue from a freshly plucked honeysuckle if you must).

It was a wet month. The Scalley Dam gushed and the pond nearly invaded the fisherman’s clearing on the causeway at times.  We had at least one heat wave, and several um, half way around the pond downpours (why does that always happen)! I was going to say that we had at least one rainbow, but as I thought about it I recall the rainbows shone at the very end of May (after I had completed the May blog posting). In passing I’ll mention that on one of the rainbow nights I came down Arlington Road from Pleasant Street and was startled by the base of a huge rainbow to the Southeast. A pillar of fire disappearing way beyond Foley Beach. Yes yes of course I had a camera with me, but by the time I pulled over and found a good vantage point, I was too late to photograph. But not too late to witness. :)

It was a month of flowers. The northern catalpa dropped her beautiful white orchid-like flowers along the causeway and at the cut-through from the Sturgis Street parking lot to Arlington Road. The spiderwort with her lance-like leaves and delicate 3 petal purple flowers graced the causeway. I’m no plant geek, so many of the other flowers in my June photo files are unknown to me. If my research is correct however, walking around the lagoon you would see rambler roses, yellow iris, common choke cherry, and many others, on and on. And as one species faded, it seemed that two others were just starting to bloom.  So on the solstice the summer arrived all dressed up and ready to go, with Queen Anne’s lace making an entrance just in time to crown her. 

It was also a month of birds. My June photo files are overflowing with baby birds, fowl and otherwise. I spent many a morning watching a troupe of geese that has taken to congregating in Ice House Park on Sturgis street. I think the gaggle is wise to rest there: true the occasional uncontrolled dog might be deadly, but I suspect some other predators would avoid such a heavy human traffic area.  As the month progressed, many of the goslings morphed from fuzzy yellow-gray babies into still-peeping miniature replicas of their vigilant parents.  

Sets of mother and skittering baby ducks, who always seem to be smiling for the camera, were scattered all over the pond in June, from the area near the water treatment plant, to the lagoon, to way down back near where the swans were nesting. I never tire of seeing the alert mother watching over a pile of ducklings resting on a bank, or leading the procession across the water to their next food or shelter. Make way for ducklings!  It intrigues me that,  in contrast to geese and swans, only the mother duck raises a brood. It seems amazing that any of the little ones survive without 2 parents to help protect them, and yet obviously they do! I have seen new broods of ducklings on the pond as late as the fourth of July and certainly would welcome the chance to photograph more newborns this year.

Many other bird families called the pond home in June. Babies urgently calling to be fed until their parents either arrive or sound an alarm call, and parent birds rushing back and forth, often with their mouths full of luscious bugs and berries, for their families. I saw this very patient fuzzy headed Grackle fledgling on the causeway one morning, squawking for his breakfast!  

I have kept tabs, as many have, on the swan family, with 3 cygnets, way down back.  I will phrase my monthly update in an optimistic way by reporting that one of the cygnets still survived as of the end of June. It is a tough life for a swan after all, so it is something of a miracle that one has made it this far. Every day is a blessing.  On a late June morning I saw that the family had migrated to the lagoon and, as I watched, Mr. Swan checked out the causeway.  He always surprises me with his height when he ventures onto the land. And he appears more clumsy but is no less imposing than he is on the water. After a little reconnaissance, he led his family overland to the main pond, joining 5 or 6 other swans who have (to my delight) recently arrived on the main part of the pond. Of course they can be kind of territorial and hissy occasionally, but still I am always awed by their beauty. There is nothing quite like the sight of a big male with his 'sails up', using the wind to carry him so regally across the water, or the incredible sight and sound of wings hitting the water as they take off and the viz-viz-viz as they pass overhead. 

Other creatures joined in the June parade in force. The colorful painted turtle, the ever curious chipmunk, an abundance of bunnies, and of course a lot of people too! More bikers, walkers, runners, folks pushing baby carriages out enjoying the glorious long days. In addition, the Woburn Lion’s Club did a great job providing a festive atmosphere and fun activities for their third annual Horn Pond Day (http://www.sciwoburn.org/category/tags/horn-pond-day). Nature cooperated too, providing a beautiful sunny summer day for the event. 

Finally, I'm excited to report glimpses of our too infrequent visitor, the beautiful and sleek cedar waxwing. The second time I saw them this month it appeared they were gathering twigs, so perhaps they will stay awhile. :) 

So there you have it, the June report. The procession of abundance this month was incredible: different weather, plants, birds, wildlife. Seeing the waxwings again (which I haven't seen since the winter) got me to reflect also on the other months here at the pond. My first post (Gratitude - Nov.2012) also included a waxwing photo and story and, in re-reading that post, I was happy to find a sense of abundance there too, on the cold doorstep of winter. I understandably went on and on in this post about June's over-the-top sensory feast, and the ever-changing abundance of plant and animal life: but November had the eagle, the fledgling waxwings, the bones of trees, and the glistening frost. Each month has her own particular charms, and we all have our preferences (more on that in my next blog post) and that is fine too. These days for example I'm particularly happy to NOT be wearing 2 pairs of pants, yards of strategically layered fabrics, boots, silk glove liners, hand warmers, a purple face mask, and a knit hat over my baseball cap! And happy that I can still find my way around the pond in the orange light of an 8pm sunset. Best I figure to just enjoy this parade of gifts, to appreciate each one as it passes and be grateful, knowing there are always more to come. So these days I throw on my sneakers, sling on my pack, and lope down the hill in the easy sunshine to a green pond, and into the open arms of sweet summer.  I hope you can too. :)