FRIENDS OF JAMAICA POND 36 Perkins St., PO Box 300040, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-0030 Gerry Wright, Founder and President Telephone: 617-524-7070 Email: FrederickLawOlmsted@yahoo.com TTY/MA RELAY 800-439-2370 www.FriendsOfJamaicaPond.org

Friends of Jamaica Pond History and Annual Park Keeper Award Frederick Law Olmsted a one-man play by Gerry Wright Nature's Class Room: Environmental Education Projects Environmental Research Projects Forestry Protection Projects Emerald Necklace Bird Club Volunteer Stewardship Program Calendar and Meetings and Press Memberships and Donations Links and Resources Contact and Email Info

"Let it be not for present use and delight alone, but let it be of such a work that our descendents will thank us for it." Frederick Law Olmsted

Nature's Class Room: Environmental Education Projects Jamaica Pond's Albino Gray Squirrel Eastern Chipmunk Cottontail Rabbits Great Horned Owls Red Tailed Hawks Butterflies and Dragonflies Emerald Necklace Wildflowers Pink Lady's Slipper Great Blue Herons Emerald Necklace Fungi (Coming Soon)

Boston's Emerald Necklace INDIGO BUNTING Azulito, Gorrión, Ruicito by Stephen Baird Indigo Bunting - Passerina cyanea Indigo Buntings are seen during the migration periods of May and October in the Emerald Necklace. Two males have established territories in Franklin Park during the breeding season of June and July the past few years.  Females were also seen. Nesting sites were not located or confirmed. Adult birds grow to 4-5 inches in size with a 7-9 inches wingspan and weigh 5-6 ounces. Males in breeding plumage are a deep blue and indigo color that will appear almost black in low light. Females are a typical finch and sparrow brown with a touch of blue in the tail feathers. Young birds and non-breeding males will be brown like the females with a few splashes of blue feathers. Male Indigo Buntings are prolific singers often singing during the high noon sun.  They have hundreds of different calls.  Dr. Robert Payne at the University of Michigan has studied the songs and life of Indigo Buntings since 1978.  His research has determined Indigo Buntings form "neighborhoods of songs and dialects." Note:  I visited Dr. Robert Payne's laboratory and experimental sound chamber during the early years of the research project. Life span is around 10 years in the wild.  Solitary hunters during the summer breeding season primarily eating insects such as spiders and caterpillars. They hunt in larger groups and flocks in the fall and winter eating buds, berries, and seeds of grasses. Indigo Buntings will migrate up to 6,000 miles south to Mexico, Central America and northern parts of South America.  Some will also spend the winter in southern Florida, Cuba and Caribbean Islands. Fun Facts: Indigo Buntings use star patterns they learn as fledglings to navigate during night migrations. Young birds released from different locations will still migrate back to original nesting areas. Indigo Buntings have no blue pigment in their feathers. The deep blue and indigo color is created by the diffraction of sunlight through the feathers. DNA research has found that 20-40 percent of young birds in nests are from other males outside of the primary mating pair.  Also 15 percent of males have more then one nesting female in their territory. Females are primary feeders and care takers for young birds and will often have a second brood with a different male later in the summer. “Azulito, Gorrión, Ruicito”  are the Spanish names for Indigo Bunting  References and Links Cornell University All About Birds University of Michigan Animal Diversity Smithsonian National Zoo Migratory Bird Center (Site has teacher guides and information in Spanish plus a fun interactive online bird migration game) John James Audubon Birds of America 1840 Arthur Cleveland Bent Life Histories of North American Birds 1968 National Wildlife February 2001 "Why Birders Love the Blues" by Les Line.  Detailed story about research on Indigo Buntings The Auk Quarterly Journal of Orinthology October 1967 "Migrating Orientation in the Indigo Bunting" by Stephen T. Emlen (PDF) Original pioneering research on bird migration This photo is by Robert Meyer information at link http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/visitors/bird_list.html NOTE:  8 x 10 matted and framed photographs are available for $100 membership donations or 11 x 17 matted and framed photographs are available for $500 membership donations to Friends of Jamaica Pond. Contact Stephen Baird at info@communityartsadvocates.org

Contact and Email Information

FRIENDS OF JAMAICA POND 36 Perkins St., PO Box 300040, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-0030 Gerry Wright, Founder and President Telephone: 617-524-7070 Email: FrederickLawOlmsted@yahoo.com TTY/MA RELAY 800-439-2370 www.FriendsOfJamaicaPond.org