Birding at Farm Pond

I decided the temps were sufficiently cold enough (50 degrees) to brave going back to Farm Pond with no fear of seeing public displays of (ahem) affection in the park like I witnessed last time.  I love Farm Pond, with all its wildlife right smack dab in the middle of downtown Framingham.  For a stop so close to home, it offers a wonderful nature walk within my lunch hour.

It was a wonderful stop, filled with bright sunshine, blue waters, sparkly reflections, and a nice variety of birds.

Hooded Merganser

Right away, I spotted one of my favorite birds, the hooded merganser.  There are actually two in this picture - one at the top center, and the other which I have circled.  They were pretty far out on the water.  I decided to walk out on the causeway to see whether I might get a closer look.

Song Sparrow (I think - my confidence in sparrows is low)

 Ring-Necked Ducks

(just a few -- and this wasn't even all of them!)

Great Blue Heron

Once I spotted all those Ring-Necked Ducks, I hurried across the causeway to get closer before they all swam across the water.  As I neared them, I noticed a wonderful Great Blue Heron fishing right at the edge of the causeway.  He actually let me get quite close before he finally lost patience and flew off.

Cleared for Take Off

When I turned around to head back, I loved the sun shining through the plants on the sides of the causeway with the water sparkling behind them.

I included this last photo because it shows the ring-necked ducks pretty well.  The female is to the left of the Canada goose, with a male behind her and another male to the right of the goose.