Saugus Gardens in the Winter

Here’s what’s blooming in town this week to make your walks more enjoyable

By Laura Eisener

Despite the few flowers blooming outdoors in February there are plenty blooming indoors as the days are noticeably growing longer, and outdoors wildlife is easier to see while the tree branches are bare.

The Great Backyard Bird Count occurs this year from today (Feb. 16) through Presidents’ Day (Feb. 19). A global collaboration between Cornell University, the National Audubon Society and Birds Canada begun in 1998, this annual event encourages all amateur birdwatchers to count the birds they see or hear to give scientists a better idea of what kinds of birds are appearing in different areas and how many. You can observe for a minimum of 15 minutes or spend the whole Presidents’ Day weekend gazing at the sky and trees! I’m sure many people learn to identify some new birds at their feeders every year by participating in this event. Go to https://www.birdcount.org/ for more information. Participation is free but donations are welcomed.

Among the many birds that flock to neighborhood feeders in the winter, northern cardinals are among the most popular, and they stand out in the winter landscape due to the males’ vivid red feathers. Female cardinals have more subdued colors, but their beaks are a bright red orange in contrast to the olive drab feathers. Both male and female cardinals are frequent visitors to feeders. I have seen as many as three males at once in my yard, although they do tend to be somewhat territorial and inclined to chase each other away if they arrive all at once. As far as I can tell, there is only one female, which often perches on a shrub near the feeder.

House sparrows (Passer domesticus) have been occupying our birdhouse for the winter. Originally native to Eurasia, several species of sparrows are now very common across North America and can be found in most parts of the world. They are well adapted to living near human beings. Their coloring makes them well camouflaged year-round, as their brownish gray feathers are the colors of fallen leaves. House sparrows in our area are probably descended from birds deliberately introduced to New York in the 1850s to prey on a pest of street trees in the city, linden moths (Elida caniplaga), which in their caterpillar stage eat the foliage of several linden tree species (Tilia spp.). These moths have a wide range throughout North America but are not now a major pest in New England. Although they prefer moths and many other insects in spring through fall, sparrows rely mostly on seeds during winter months when insects are scarce.

When checking out the window for the snow Tuesday morning, I was surprised to see a big flock of turkeys on my front lawn. Luckily the warnings about the storm, and the school closure resulted in lower than usual traffic volumes, since they stood around in the middle of Fairmount Avenue for a while before ambling over to a nearby cul-de-sac, Rogers Lane. Our wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was much admired by Benjamin Franklin and some people think he favored it to be our national bird although the bald eagle was chosen instead.

Turkeys, hawks and bald eagles are among the larger birds that winter over in our area. The turkeys eat insects and seeds and often travel over a fairly wide range looking for food. The hawks and eagles eat meat, with the eagles preferring fish, but eagles can eat other animals and birds when lakes ponds are frozen over, preventing access to fish.

Bald eagles have been seen in Saugus fairly often in recent years although I never saw any in town when I was growing up and was very excited seeing them occasionally in Maine. The first local eagles I saw were in December 2020. “Sketches of Saugus” by Benjamin Franklin Newhall – originally published as newspaper articles in the Lynn Weekly Reporter from 1858 to 1863 and published in book form by the Lynn Historical Society and Higginson Book Company in 1997 – mentions “a very old oak tree” on the banks of the Saugus River where for many years a “large white-headed eagle,” presumably a bald eagle, could often be seen. Apparently, people’s reaction to this sight was quite different than we would feel today, since the account states (p. 31) “Many unsuccessful attempts were made to destroy him.” The eagle continued to use the old oak as a perch for a couple of decades until the tree was blown down in a storm.

For the last few years, we have had bald eagles nesting in town, and quite a few people have photographed them flying or perching in the area. Joanie Allbee’s painting of a bald eagle (above) shows an alert expression. Anyone who sees a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) carrying sticks is encouraged to email the time and location to mass.wildlife@mass.gov so they can map and count the number of eagles in Massachusetts. Males carry sticks to build nests between December and February. There are about 70 breeding pairs currently in Massachusetts, and numbers have been increasing since the use of the insecticide DDT, which made their eggshells fragile, was outlawed decades ago. Bald eagles were removed from the Federal Endangered Species list in 2007.

  Editor’s Note: Laura Eisener is a landscape design consultant who helps homeowners with landscape design, plant selection and placement of trees and shrubs, as well as perennials. She is a member of the Saugus Garden Club and offered to write a series of articles about “what’s blooming in town” shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was inspired after seeing so many people taking up walking.