Urban nature walk: Jamaica Pond

[magid]

I went on another urban nature walk, this one around Jamaica Pond, and some of Ward's Pond, both of which are kettle ponds, remnants of the glaciers that used to be here. Jamaica Pond was where two different glaciers were, which is why there's that 'extra' bit past the little island the birds like so much. It's also much deeper than usual for a pond of this size, with estimates ranging from 50 to 90 feet deep (the perimeter is about a mile and a half, so not large at all). That's deep enough to go down to the water table, so there are springs at the bottom. Now that there's no mills and such around to have runoff into the pond, it's very clean water. It flows from Jamaica Pond to Ward's Pond, then to Leverett Pond (which never freezes), then eventually out to the Muddy River and thence to the Charles River and the sea.

There used to be fish in the pond naturally (before the mills), but now the fish are stocked each year, and the fishing permits pay for a lot of the maintenance around the pond.

Oh, and that island that the birds like? Man-made, from the late 1800s, on one of the higher points between the two glacial areas. There were six willows planted on it back then; there's only one now.

It's late November, but there's still quite a lot to be seen (especially this year; there are far more leaves on the trees than usual). For the record, the first things on the list are from the yards between JP Lick's and the the pond.

• sycamore
  
• silver maple (it has shaggy bark)
  
• white pine
  
• blue spruce
  
• dawn redwood (aka meta sequoia, a conifer (re?)discovered in China in the last century that sheds its needles annually; there are some in Harvard Yard, too, since it was a Harvard guy who discovered them)
  
• butterfly bush
  
• beauty berry
  
• northern red oak
  
• callery pear trees
  
• European rock pigeons (native to north Africa)
  
• winter berry (deciduous)
  
• weeping willow
  
• pie-billed grebe (which is a Canadian bird that winters in balmy MA)
  
• river birch
  
• merganser
  
• crow
  
• Canada geese (of course)
  
• Roxbury pudding stone
  
• marble and granite rocks likely brought from quarries in towns north of here
  
• cinquefoil (growing where the water used to reach)
  
• beech trees
  
• European beech trees
  
• gulls, including herring, greater black backed, and ring billed
  
• yellow flag (an invasive iris)
  
• mallards (which always make me laugh when they go hind end up, their feet visibly paddling; it's such a wonderfully ridiculous pose)
  
• ruddy ducks (which are smaller, and dive underwater)
  
• American coots (aka mud hens, which have different bills than ducks (much more pointy, and shorter), and different feet; their closest relatives are cranes)
  
• American black duck (which looks a bit like a female mallard that isn't patterned, just brown)
  
• freshwater mussel
  
• Chinese mystery snail (that's the name, not a lack of information :-)
  
• mute swans (though one had some brown, so might be some kind of cross...)
  
• white faced hornet nest (we saw three of these, right on the path, so obviously they weren't bothering people. They don't have honey in the nests, but they do have larvae, which is a protein that some animals enjoy)
  
• some kind of little wild plum (the fruit was rather mushy, though)
  
• coral spot fungus
  
• cattails
  
• purple loosestrife (invasive)
  
• northern dusky salamander (a rather black salamander that wriggled a lot; it's a clean water indicator, so Ward's Pond water should be just fine :-)
  
• fern fruit stalks
  
• spreading buttercup (invasive)
  
• multiflora rose canes
  
• poison ivy
  
• blackberry canes
  
• North American sparrows
  
• burdock (this is the first time I realized that burdock, the root, comes from a burr plant. Yeah, seems obvious in retrospect...)
  
• poke weed
  
• bitter sweet
  
• pin oak
  
• eastern hemlock
  
• eastern white pines
  
• tree of heaven (ilanthus)
  
• linden (basswood)
  
• mulberry tree
  
• mourning doves
  
• mullein
  
• squirrel nests (I didn't know squirrels made nests in trees!)
  
• squirrel
  
• albinosquirrel

The water level is lower than usual, since the rain was less plentiful this year. Someone(s?) took the opportunity to move some rocks into clusters along the now-visible beaches. There were a lot of stones moved; I can't imagine why, really, though I'm guessing it was for some festival. Far too much work for just a prank.

There were little ice columns in the mud, which apparently are important in estuary ecology, lifting the mud to allow water into places, or something like that.

Burdock root is edible, but it takes a lot of doing to make it palatable. Poke weed is definitely edible (at least the shoots), but has to be boiled, because it's also poisonous, so it's one of those rare plants that will make both lists. Acorns are edible if you get the tannins out, and there are more tannins in red oak acorns than in white oak acorns, so white oak ones are the way to go, if one is making acorn flour (which is pretty much the way to do it due to the ways needed to get the tannins out).

Also about burdock: apparently there's a tradition someplace in England (?) that at the harvest time some guy covers himself in burrs and visits all the bars (or homes? not sure), having a drink in each. I don't know why the burdock man is the harvest harbinger, when burdock isn't a major crop or anything, but it's an interesting image.
edit, 2300 More on South Queensferry's Burry Man.

I hadn't been to Ward's Pond before. It's part of the Emerald Necklace, with Olmstead-designed steps down to the water, but is much more overgrown than the larger and more popular Jamaica Pond. It's also in more of a hollow, so a lot of the surface had a thin layer of ice on it (so no frog or turtle sightings today, though we were assured that they live here). There's a boardwalk part of the way around, with a disused lamppost listing halfway along, feeling rather like the beginning of an adventure could start there.

Jamaica Pond is the only part of the Emerald Necklace that didn't have serious earth moving happening. I don't know why not, but I'm glad about that.

On bird necks: Most mammals have seven neck vertebrae, but some birds have twice as many, or even more. Ducks have 18, and swans have 24. So a lot more flexibility (making up for the lack of front paws...), and much less chance of neck aches.

A lot of the things we saw were dried out, or looking rather different than midsummer, but still interesting and beautiful. I hope I can make it to more of these.

Pico review: JP Lick's seasonal sorbet flavor: cranberry orange. It's nice, but not nearly tart enough for me, not enough cranberriness, though having bits of cranberry in it was good.

Comments

[feygele.livejournal.com]

Wow, if I'm doing a walk of JP, I'm so going with you!

[magid.livejournal.com]

It's not me, just my note-taking skills: there's an urban nature walk group that has monthly walks different places in metro Boston. The leaders are incredibly knowledgeable, as are a lot of the other people who join. I'm there to soak up information :-)

PS

[magid.livejournal.com]

Led by Urbpan and partner Cottonmanifesto, who posted some photos.