i had a really good day so far too.
i found an awesome no frills french bakery that has good eclairs
i learned lots of interesting bird facts:
i went bird watching at the boston nature center on a trip led by this encyclopedic yet a lot more interesting ornothologist. some interesting things, including that presence of strong storm fronts unique to the east coast of US means that migratory birds migrating on the east coast have to touch down to earth more often and so the relative scarcity of green spaces in cities, means that there's a higher concentration of birds in any city greenspace (park, cemetary) than you may see in a forest patch. also, theories on the reason birds migrate: some birds where pushed out of their original tropical territory northward or southward and so have an innate sense to go back there every year. theories aren't very convincing. interesting the mass autobon society was started by a group of boston radical women who led campaigns against the use of feathers in ladies hats back in late 1800s, this practice was decimating populations of at least 52 diff. species. did you know birds have organs to detect elctro magnetic orientation but their primary navigational method is celestial? did you know many birds die when migrating through cities some because of building collisions but mainly from simple exhaustion from disorientation? so boston has a program to turn off the lights at night in order that the insect population stays high in the air and thus the birds don't go low into the city for the insects? other facts: only male birds sing in the vast majority of species, in order to attract mates and to establish territory during mating season. they don't sing as much after mating has happened. birds are active in the morning in part due to higher presense of insects, relatively cooler temperature and circadian rhythms. tree swallows have been clocked at 200mph when they're beating their wings, whereas perigrin falcons in stoop (when they are falling straight down) have been clocked at 90mph. some birds have a oil gland that they use to preen their feathers with oil. young grackles extreme their waste in clear sacks and then the parent grackle takes this waste package and moves it out of the nest. finaly, did you know only certain birds are "cavity" nesters so those bird houses only attract cavity nesting birds that include blue birds and starlings? a blue birds coloring is physical not pigmentation. plus the starling is a non native species introduced from europe in order to eat up gypsy moths decimating folliage, eventhough most trees can "refoliate". also certain birds that are considered common today were rare just 50 years ago and vs versa. the blue bird used to be everywhere, then rarer, now making a comeback. the orchard oriel used to be rare, now making a comeback.