A Late Afternoon Walk by Bullough's Pond, Newton, MA

Bullough's pond in Newton, Massachusetts attracts a wide variety of avian life throughout the year, including Red-winged blackbirds, Great Blue Herons and Kingfishers in the summer.

One of the great things about living in Newton is that there are so many little places around the city where you can feel like you're out in the country. One such spot is Bullough's Pond, a muddy body of water fed by a stream at one end and spilling out into another at the other end. The pond is great place to see a wide variety of bird life in all seasons, and in the winter it is one of my go-to places when I want to see Hooded and Common Mergansers. Ruddy Ducks have also been seen here in the colder months. This evening I decided to take a walk around the pond and to check out the wetlands in front of city hall plaza.

I was very happy to see a variety of birds, including a Yellow Warbler, Gray Catbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds and Mallards. On the grass I saw several rabbits feeding and on one of the mud flats there was a young muskrat chewing on short stalks of bright green grass.  I misplaced my regular camera this morning so I had to rely on my camera phone, which unfortunately was not good enough to get a shot, but it was definitely one of the coolest things I have seen in this location.

This is also the time of year when turtles leave the waters edge to lay their eggs. It can be a fairly precarious time for these slow-moving reptiles, so it was great to see this sign in the picture below along the road by the pond. Kudos to whomever took the initiative to help protect these vulnerable animals.

A sign  pointing out a turtle nest by Bullough''s Pond and asking pedestrians to walk carefully.

 Thanks for reading.

Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2012.