Our walk in Alewife Reservation last week brought our hearty group along the edge of Blair Pond, the orchard near Hill Estates, the Belmont bike path toward Alewife Station, and the trail at the white birch tree to Little River. Our guide book was "Wildlife in Winter" by Don Stokes, which describes nests seen in this area. When built last spring and summer, the nests were well concealed by leaves, but now they are visible; although the weather and autumn leaves have changed them. We also used my An Alewife Area Ecology Guide, which shows Song Sparrow breeding territories as mapped ten years ago.

Here are the species nests we found: Mockingbird, Song Sparrow, squirrel, and wasp. In addition we saw where a mouse had chewed around the hole of a birdhouse. Friends of Alewife Reservation is evaluating the impact of cutting an additional trail in the Reservation, which would expose nests to predators.

A year ago FAR installed several birdhouses to attract species that use cavities and had success with a pair of Chickadees. If you would like to help inspect and clean these in the next few weeks, please get in touch with the FAR office: 617 661-1730 or through this website's contact page.

Stew Sanders