Category: nature

The Beaver Brook Duck Ponds in Belmont are one of the oldest conservation areas in Massachusetts. First established in 1893, the two ponds and associated trails have some pretty good birding. See the DCR for more. The ponds are on Mill St. and parking is just beyond the house mentioned.

The basic setup is two ponds, connected by a stream. There is a waterfall beyond the ponds and the stream continues out towards Trapelo Rd. Ducks (mostly mallards and mutts) are always present on the water, but there’s often other stuff as well. Wood Duck are regular as are Hooded Merganser in season. I’ve had Green-winged Teal several times. The right pond often dries out in summer, leaving moderate shorebird habitat.

My usual route is to start at the parking area and check the Duck Pond (the left one, the other one is the Mill Pond). There’s a trail to the left that runs into the woods and down along the waterfall that I’ll take if I have time. It can get a bit wet down at the bottom, where you cross a couple bridges and end up on the other side of the stream. Follow back to the right and uphill to get to the other side of the pond (or just go around the edge of the pond and don’t take those trails at all, just watch for overgrown poison ivy). Work along the back of the pond. There’s a path that leads close to the edge in the middle and gets you close to the stream between ponds. At the other pond, stay on the back edge and follow around. The bridge is often a productive area. Keep following around. When you reach the open area, you will probably have to go out to the sidewalk as the path inside is often overgrown early. It’s worth checking back along the other edge of the pond (especially for dragonflies) before heading back across the grassy area to the parking lot. The entire area can be covered in 30-40 minutes quickly and probably an hour thoroughly.

I’ve seen quite a variety here and think just about anything would be possible in migration. Expect warblers, shorebirds, and just about anything else. Dragonflies are common in summer (I’ve recorded over 20 species including several darners and Unicorn Clubtail) and there’s a surprising number of butterflies for an area without many flowers and open spots. Overall, I’m up to 65 birds, 23 Butterflies, and 26 Odes.

Sure didn’t take long to fall behind on this. And by making the list up ahead of time, I was hoping to draft things in advance and just have to publish. Maybe soon.

Places 3 and 4 are very close together: the Lyman Estate and Lyman Pond. The Lyman Estate is right at the Beaver St. rotary in Waltham, there’s a pulloff right next to Lyman St. I only go on weekends when the gate is closed, in which case parking is along the short road that borders the rotary. If the gate is open, you can drive in. The area to cover is quite small, one field, and then all the bushes and trees along Beaver Brook. I can’t say I’ve been here often, and have never found much of anything, but it’s worth a stop on the CBC.

Lyman Pond on the other hand, is a very good stop. Since it’s technically on private property between Gardencrest and Bentley, I won’t give directions. Way down to the left (actually bordering the Lyman Estate) is a slight widening of the brook. This spot often has Wood Ducks and is where a pair of Eastern Screech-Owls appeared to have bred in 2007.

The stream is not overly interesting (although both my records of Harvester are along the stream), but the main pond can be excellent. This is where I first discovered the Goose. In late summer, it also supports the only mud flats I’ve found in Waltham. Most shorebirds are peep, but I’ve seen Lesser Yellowlegs and Solitary Sandpiper occasionally. Green Herons, Spotted Sandpipers, and Wood Ducks all appear to breed somewhere right nearby. In late summer, the Wood Duck numbers can be huge (40+).

Plenty of dragonflies can be found on the pond. They’re pretty much all the common ones, but they put on a good show here and I did have my only Lilypad Forktails from here. It’s also interesting to walk along the edge and note how the species variety changes in different spots.

I almost always find something of interest at the pond. Even in the middle of winter, the water is often open and there’s a good duck or two around. Always worth a stop passing by.

And one more place and I’ll be caught up and can start writing more detailed descriptions.

Already behind on this, so I’ll do a simple one.

Hardy Pond is a pond in Waltham that often has a nice variety on it. It’s a very easy place to scan and can be reasonably covered in just a couple minutes.

Access is off Lake St, either by going to the end of Shore Road or by the street on the other side of the baseball fields (Princeton or Hiawatha) and then pulling in to the boat launch. The Waltham Land Trust owns Smith Point, which is somewhere nearby, although I’m not entirely sure where.

About all you can do is stand and scan the water. A scope is almost a necessity as many of the ducks will be on the far shore. Herons are often found around any of the edges and there are often cormorants in season on the rocks towards the middle. Ducks are mostly dabblers, mergansers, and ring-necks with some ruddies and occasional others mixed in. Watch for raptors as well. Osprey are regular migrants and I’ve seen Merlin several times (including one on the ice one winter).

If you go to the end of Shore Road, there’s a little weedy spot worth checking. I had a Field Sparrow there one fall and have had other migrants that were only slightly less interesting. If you’re at the boat ramp, there’s a small wooded area and some other trees worth checking.

There’s often a few dragonflies around, although I’ve yet to find any unusual. Butterflies aren’t exciting along the edge.

In recent years, the pond has been dredged and cleaned. Although good in the long term, I’ve had far fewer ducks since that completed. The pond was also mentioned in a Bird Observer article (A Middlesex County Duck Hunt by Matt Pelikan in the October 1997 issue).

I’ll start the 100 places with one I know well. It’s the Paine Estate, also known as Stonehurst. Landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted (of Central Park and the Emerald Necklace fame), it’s mostly wooded (technically the Storer Conservation Land) with some fields as well.

There’s quite a few trails around the estate (maps are posted in several places and can be viewed here). The main one is the Bull Run Trail, which runs from the building itself to the high school parking lot. Most of the other trails are linked to the Bull Run in some way. It’s hard to get lost as you’re never too far from the Bull Run and it’s very obvious if you leave the estate.

One thing to note is that a lot of people walk dogs and not many follow leash laws. Fortunately, they tend to stay on the main paths and recent enforcement and new regulations has cut the problem somewhat. But stay on side paths and you should be ok.

I have a few preferred walks. One is to take the trail in the northeast corner of the parking lot up and left until it rejoins the Hobbes Trail that also starts in the parking lot. I then follow the Hobbes Trail to the vernal pool, taking the Hemlock Trail across. As the Hemlock Trail meets the Bull Run Trail, I’ll take Storer Path to the abandoned parking lot. After poking around there, I’ll work my way back towards the estate, staying to the right until I reach the field. That path can get a little wet in spring, but it’s usually passable. After wandering through the field, I head back, often cutting through the hemlock grove.

Other times I’ll head downhill from the parking lot on the Morrison Trail (southeast corner) and then follow the loop around at the bottom of the hill and then go back up the road. You can also take the uphill trail from the parking lot and then loop to the right and down the hill as well.

If I’m coming from the high school, I’ll follow the Bull Run trail and take one of the first two trails that run to the right. I’ll work my way along the edge and either rejoin the main trail or reach the old parking lot. I’ll often follow the Hobbes Trail on my way back.

The best birding is generally around the first route I described above (from the parking lot to the vernal pool to the old parking lot to the open field and around the building). However, things can be just about anywhere in the woods. I’ve had good luck right by the high school and and way down along the western edge (Storer Path).

Butterflies and dragonflies are best at the field to the west of the house, especially before it gets mowed early in the summer. The parking lot and surrounding area is also good. The middle of the woods is not, as expected, although several years running my first butterflies of the year have been between the abandoned parking lot and the stream. Jewelwings can be all over.

Bird highlights include Yellow-billed Cuckoos, which appeared to be nesting somewhere below the building last year, Indigo Buntings, many woodpeckers, and owls. I’ve had good luck hearing owls on Christmas bird counts, although I’ve yet to actually see one. However, my parents had a Great Horned on the count several years running.

Insect highlights include Indian Skippers, Painted Skimmers, and Ebony Jewelwings all over the place (may not be unusual but they’re so spectacular). I’m sure more time will find more good things.

My lists are on this website, available on the Paine Estate Nature page.

Visiting

The parking lot is at the end of Gentleman’s Way in Waltham, which is off of Beaver St., right near the rotary. Follow up the hill and the lot is to the right. You can also park at Waltham High School. There’s almost always parking on the hill, even when school is in session.

Trails are fairly easy. One or two may be a bit rough and several get wet in spring. Most are marked handicap accessible, although I find very few of them actually are. Update: I figured out that the signs actually are indicating how accessible they are based on the angle of the line under the wheelchair. Most are therefore not terribly accessible, and I’m not so sure about the ones that are marked as flat.

The building itself is quite spectacular, it’s well worth arranging for a tour at some point.