The Carlisle Fieldfare

Fieldfare

(from Wikimedia Commons, copyright Adam Kumiszcza, license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en)

Well, I know it's been a long time. The topic that has prompted me to resume my electronic pen is the "Carlisle Fieldfare."

What is a fieldfare, some of you may be asking? It's a large Eurasian thrush that hoves to this side of the pond about once every 35 years or so. Here is the Wikipedia entry although it is rather disappointingly brief.

This particular bird was seen first on St. Patrick's Day (perhaps it was an errant Irish bird?) on the Greenough property (where we take out dogs walking regularly) by fellow-Brit Alan Ankers. I'm not sure how serious Alan was about birding before he left England, but since living over here he has become very expert. I've been on a few nature walks with him. Nice guy. See his posting on the Yahoo group for Nature in Carlisle that he set up (and which I subscribe to).

I don't know when I first saw the posting but probably the next day. I didn't pay it much attention. It's just a fieldfare, I thought. Whoa! Wrong response. To every other American birder, a fieldfare is big news. See the article and photo in our local paper later that week [this link probably won't work after a certain period of time so I have reproduced the photo here - with many thanks to our wonderful Carlisle Mosquito].

Judging from the posts on the MASSBIRD listserv, the scenes probably got even more crazy later. People were still pouring in from all over the Northeastern US just to see our bird.

Again, based on MASSBIRD sightings, it would appear that our fieldfare only stayed a week, after having moved a little Southward. But apparently, the homeowners on Maple St. and the police have all been very helpful and welcoming to the twitchers.

So, it got me wondering. Where exactly have I seen fieldfares? I seem to recall them in large flocks mixed in with redwings. On Otmoor, perhaps? Or have I only seen them further North? I probably should have rushed out to get another sighting early last week when I heard about it.

So, it seems that Carlisle has finally found itself in the news, although as far as I can tell not in the radio or TV media. If you're interested, google Carlisle and Fieldfare and you should get plenty of hits, including some good photos of the actual bird, such as this one by J. R. Trimble.

Cheers and good birding!

The Greenough Land

Carlisle, the "city in the woods", is extraordinarily well endowed with open space.  That was certainly one of the major reasons we came here, and I suspect it's true for many if not most of our fellow Luguvalians*.

Those of us living in the Eastern part of town are especially well provided for.  Almost all of the land between Maple Street and the Concord River is permanently protected.  Some of it is part of the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge but the rest is town land, including the town's largest acquisition at 242 acres, the Greenough Land.

We spend a lot of time there walking or jogging with our dogs and we never just take it for granted.  It's truly a wonderful place.  The pond and its margins change every day, throughout the seasons and at different times of the day.  The wildlife is always interesting: herons, ospreys, wood ducks, just to name a few.

Incidentally, although I've said it here before, I'll say it again: pick up after your dogs!  We go armed with little colored bio-degradable baggies that your can buy by the thousand on eBay for just a few dollars!  There's no excuse for leaving a mess.  Glad to have gotten that little diatribe out of the way.  The only other minor irritations that we run into there are from the insect and arachnid families: mosquitoes and ticks.  That's one of the reasons we like it there so much in the winter!

But, if we need a change of scenery, we can go to Great Brook Farm State Park at 900 acres or Estabrook woods (around 800 acres, if I recall correctly, most of which is in the town of Concord).  In fact, by going down Brook Street, across Bedford Road and navigating the Davis corridor, we, like the 18th century citizens of Billerica, can walk all the way to Concord.  Indeed that part of the permanently protected Greater Estabrook Woods within the town of Carlisle, including the Davis corridor and various other parcels, adds up to 322 acres, although some of this is still privately owned. I think we've walked on most of the larger tracts of conservation land, but there are still plenty of places we have yet to visit.

How does Carlisle compare to other comparable towns?  One way you can get an excellent visual look is by visiting the Massachusetts Open Space Viewer.  This shows, in different colors, the protection status of the land – permanently protected land is in dark green.  It's easy to spot that the communities through which the SuAsCo river system passes tend to be well-off for protected open space.  Lincoln and Wayland are especially fortunate in this regard.  But you can see that Carlisle is also very well off by comparison with most of its neighboring towns.

While I was researching this, I also came across another fascinating resource: the Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas Viewer.  I note from this that the Eastern Bluebird is marked only as "possible" in the Carlisle square.  I'm sure that they are breeding but I'll have to see if I can prove it in the spring.

Having pointed out how lucky we are to have so much open space, the Massachusetts Audubon Society estimates that over forty acres of the commonwealth's open space is lost every day!  Given that the total land area of Massachusetts is only about 5 million acres, this certainly is no time to feel complacent!

I should end by congratulating the Conservation Commission, especially in this its 50th year, and the Trails Committee for doing so much to enrich our town with its wonderful woods.

 * I'm not sure what the proper name for a Carlisle resident is but this seems appropriate, given that the Roman name for Carlisle, UK was Luguvalium.

News isn't all bad

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the news is generally bad news.  No news is good news, as they say.  But recently two recent items of good news have actually come to fruition this last week or so.

First, the long-awaited beer and wine department of Fern's has tastefully and appropriately transformed Carlisle from a "dry" town into a wet one.  I had a chance to check out their offerings today on my way back from the transfer station.  Excellent.

And second, WCRB, the formerly great commercial classical radio station, but which went in to a long decline with their servings of the musical equivalent of pap, has been bought by WCRB.  There are now no commercials, other than the usual public radio station type, and it appears that they have moved up at least to muesli or granola in their programming.

Meanwhile, the weather is still crazy.  It's 69F (20.5C) currently and probably will get quite a bit warmer before it's done.  The birds are still hopelessly confused.  It is rather pleasant though.

And while I'm on the subject of global warming, this year's crop of pine cones has got to be seen to be believed!  I thought the acorns were crazy.  But the pine cones are much more impressive in terms of overall volume.