nature

Ice etching (Lincoln through the lens, 12/30/14)

December 30, 2014

Winter light and reflections make this river ice and bare plants look more like an etching than a photograph. –Photo by Harold McAleer

Readers may submit photos for consideration for Lincoln Through the Lens by emailing them to news@lincolnsquirrrel.com. If your photo is published, you’ll receive credit in the Squirrel. Photos must be taken in Lincoln and include the date, location, and names of any people who are identifiable in the photo. Previously published photos can be viewed on the Lincoln Through the Lens page of the Lincoln Squirrel.

Witchy web (Lincoln through the lens, 11/13/14)

November 13, 2014

A spooky post-Halloween spider web. —Photo by Harold McAleer

Nature-related news acorns

November 13, 2014

Tonight: film on extinct passenger pigeons

Join us on Thursday, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust (LLCT) offices above the Lincoln Station post office for the first of four environmental films that the LLCT will be showing through the fall/winter months. From Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction tells the incredible forgotten story of the passenger pigeon, its unlikely extinction, and its striking relevance to conservation challenges today. Almost 100 years ago on September 1, 1914, the last known passenger pigeon in existence died in the Cincinnati Zoo. A superabundant species of billions that darkened the entire sky disappeared in a matter of decades. What happened to the passenger pigeon? Follow naturalist and author Joel Greenberg on a journey to discover how and why this bird went extinct, and how today the story is more relevant than ever.

Drumlin Farm offers arts experience on Friday after Thanksgiving

Looking to start a new family tradition this holiday season? Come to Drumlin Farm on Friday, Nov. 28 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for “Giving Thanks for Nature and Our Senses,” an outdoor arts experience on the day after Thanksgiving. Follow our map on a nature walk through the sanctuary as local artists give trailside performances related to the “giving thanks” theme. Contribute your own expressions of thanks with family-friendly crafts and activities. Light refreshments will be served. Activities include:

Musical performances by the Bob Gadoury Trio and musicians of Lyrica Fest
Wildlife sketching with Gordon Morrison
Natural sculpture with William Turville
A puppet show by Deborah Costine
Storytelling with Ron McAdow

Cohosted by Mass Audubon and Musketaquid Arts & Environment. The program is free with admission of $8 for adults, $6 for children (free for Mass Audubon members and Lincoln residents). The event takes place rain or shine. To learn more about other programs, call 781-259-2200 or visit the Drumlin Farm website.

Speakers to explore nature education at deCordova

Nancy Fincke, director of the Lincoln Nursery School (LNS), and Julie Bernson, learning and engagement director at the deCordova Scultpure Park and Museum, will demonstrate the many facets of nature education on Thursday, Dec. 11 at 8:30 a.m. on the deCordova campus. We’ll begin in the LNS classrooms, where nature fluidly exists indoors and out as part of the children’s everyday experience and learning. We’ll then look at the work of several artists in the Museum exhibition who have inspired school, family, and adult programming that encourages personal and community experiences of nature. The deCordova and LNS initiatives work individually and together to bring children, parents, educators, and the general public into deeper understandings and appreciation of our shared environment, with the Walden, revisited exhibition fostering new collaborations with local organizations to expand and deepen this work in Lincoln and beyond.

Join the Sunday Walkers

Most Sundays throughout the year a group of (fairly intrepid) Lincolnites and others take a walk starting at 10 a.m. and then have a potluck lunch together. We typically walk for an hour and a half at a brisk but not strenuous pace, eat more than we probably should at lunch, and enjoy each other’s company. It’s a great way to stay connected with friends and see trails in town that you otherwise might not know about. Anyone interested in joining the email list and receiving the weekly announcements should contact Peter von Mertens at petervonmertens@gmail.com. All are welcome.

Website offers images of autumn around Farrar Pond

November 13, 2014

Here are some photos and captions by Alaric Naiman, who edits an online journal about the Farrar Pond area at https://fpond.org with pictures, maps, history and geography of the pond and its environs. Click on one of the small images below to see a larger version as well as the entire slideshow.

“There’s no meditation more enriching than just being (or looking) outdoors, in stillness and presence, with intention but no expectation,” said Naiman, who collects natural views of plants and animals in much the same way that fellow Lincoln resident Norman Levey does with videos on his own website (see the Lincoln Squirrel, October 5, 2014).

The Farrar Pond blog has dual purposes of inviting community around a shared delight for place and encouraging deeper engagement with the nature of that place, Naiman said. “The hope is that more people will look at what’s right in front of them in a slightly different way, and thereby exalt their relationship with our environment… and the dramas are playing out every place in Lincoln,” regardless of whether one might have deep forest, open field or a pond in view, he said.

All are invited to submit photos, tales, reflections or useful information by clicking on the “Participate” link.

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Muster field boardwalk project delayed

November 3, 2014

Plans to upgrade a wetlands trail behind the school campus have been delayed while a civil/environmental engineering firm surveys the area and determines the best foundation plan for the boardwalk.

Lincoln Public Schools science teachers Terry Green and Mairead Curtis have been working with town officials to upgrade the trail, which is partly on school property and runs north from the Smith playground to the town muster field at the intersection of Sandy Pond and Baker Bridge Roads. When the project is done, the boardwalk will be ADA-compliant, and there will also be an area that will serve as a outdoor “classroom” space where groups can gather to learn about the wetlands, Green said.

Recently, however, a landscape architect found that the subsoil was deeper than expected for the type of pilings intended for use for the boardwalk foundation, so GZA Environmental, Inc. will survey the area this winter and make further recommendations so officials can come up with a revised construction timeline.

At Town Meeting in March 2014, residents approved spending $137,355 from the Community Preservation Act fund for the wetlands trail and observation platform. The budget includes another $1,275 from the Lincoln Cultural Council and $7,875 last year from Lincoln School Foundation for design work.

Eyes like a hawk (Lincoln through the lens, 10/29/14)

October 29, 2014

A hawk perches in a pine tree next to some colorful fall foliage. —Photo by Harold McAleer

Readers may submit photos for consideration for Lincoln Through the Lens by emailing them to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. If your photo is published, you’ll receive credit in the Squirrel. Photos must be taken in Lincoln and include the date, location, and names of any people who are identifiable in the photo. Previously published photos can be viewed on the Lincoln Through the Lens page of the Lincoln Squirrel.

News acorns (little ones) – 10/29/14

October 29, 2014

Wildlife open house at Drumlin on Sunday

Learn more about Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary’s upcoming new exhibit, New England Wildlife Explorations, on a behind-the-scenes guided tour for adults of Drumlin’s current wildlife exhibits and wildlife care facility on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 1 p.m. Meet at the Pond House opposite the Audubon Shop. For more information on the planned exhibit, see the Lincoln Squirrel, Oct. 6, 2014.

Music event at St. Anne’s

Come to a fall recital of Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe (“Poet’s Love”) and songs by George Gershwin with tenor Fred C. VanNess Jr. and pianist Aaron Franklin on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. at St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Episcopal Church.

Register by Nov. 19 for Reagle trip

The deadline for reserving tickets for the Council on Aging’s December 7 Reagle Music Theater holiday gala trip is Wednesday, Nov. 19. The cost is $36 per person. See this calendar listing for details.

Squirrels galore! (Lincoln through the lens, 10/27/14)

October 27, 2014

Squirrels galore! On the left is a black squirrel photographed by Harold McAleer. On the right is one of the more common gray variety seen by Barbara Peskin. See more of her nature photos at www.barbarapeskin.com.

On the left we have a black squirrel photographed by Harold McAleer. On the right is one of the more common gray variety seen by Barbara Peskin. See more of her photos at www.barbarapeskin.com.

Columbus Day foliage (Lincoln through the lens, 10/15/14)

October 15, 2014

“Columbus Day in Massachusetts” by Harold McAleer.

Following are some words written in the 1970s by Harold McAleer that he recently submitted to the Lincoln Squirrel along with this photo.

It’s not just the color, actually. After all, the colors are all bunched on one side of the color wheel – greens, and yellows and oranges and reds. And it’s not just the brilliance, mostly pastel – although shafts of occasional sunlight do make the colors glow. What it is is the surprise of it all. The same thing that makes a Fred Allen joke, or a Fats Waller solo, or a Sinatra song – the unexpected twist.

You round a bend or top a rise and there it is, visual overload. A field of weeds backed up by a row of pines and maples, a rather bland vista during most of the year, now shimmers and vibrates, shouting at the senses and tugging at the tear ducts. Even the dull old oak tree assumes a saucy demeanor, as if the washerwoman had suddenly become Kim Novak. And the gnarled and stunted apple tree is transformed into a tapestry. Your entire span of awareness becomes an event, a happening, and this remarkable feeling gets branded into your memory.

It fades, however gradually, until almost forgotten. Then when you find it again in a later season, it returns with that sudden rush and the poignance that accompanies a sweet surprise.

Words come close but pictures don’t. You have to see it.

Lincoln through the lens – 10/9/14

October 9, 2014

A tree in its autumn finery across from the Lincoln Town Office Building. —Photo by Harold McAleer

Readers may submit photos for consideration for Lincoln Through the Lens by emailing it to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. If your photo is published, you’ll receive credit. Photos must be taken in Lincoln and include the date, location, and names of any people who are identifiable in the photo. Previously published photos can be viewed on the Lincoln Through the Lens page of the Lincoln Squirrel.