Patriots Day at Mt. Auburn Cemetery

Having made no firm commitment where I would walk today, I ended up at Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge in part due to bad traffic.  There was a huge truck fire on the Zakim bridge this morning, which ruined anyone's chance of using the Turnpike to get through the city and go north on Route 93.  As a result, the traffic leaving the Turnpike at the Route 128 exit was backed up for miles.  Actually, the exit I had to use to get to Mt. Auburn was backed up over a mile, and I just chalked that up to Boston traffic.  You really do just have to deal with horrible traffic around here.  It's is my least favorite thing about living in New England.

Now that that's out of my system, the cemetery did not disappoint.  Trees and flowers were in blossom.  The sky was blue, as were many of the flowers.  There were a few interesting birds, too.

 Blue Jay

 Coyote statue (used to deter Canada geese)

Common Grackle

 Forsythia

Downy woodpecker

Eastern Phoebe

 Northern Flicker
(Isn't that heart-shaped black mark adorable?)

Common Grackle

 Northern Flicker (coming out of one of its nest holes).

  

A second nest hole also shows in the above photo about 18 inches below the bird on the front of the tree.  The flicker decided it needed to be just a little bit bigger, so I took a video of it expanding the opening.

Cabbage White