Mount Auburn Cemetery

 

Summer Tanager

   If you were to look up some of the best places in the United States to see migrating warblers you would find Mount Auburn Cemetery (MAC for now on) in Cambridge on that list. MAC is an open green space in a sea of urban development. When migrating warblers see the sun coming up, if they are over the ocean they look for the nearest land. From the ocean they can see the hills in Cambridge and head in that direction. Once at the cemetery the birds have seventy foot oaks, flowering trees, and shrubs to hide, rest, and feed in. As a matter of fact, during migration, Mt Auburn will have one of the highest total of warbler species on average seen in the entire country on any given day.

   I had never been to Mt Auburn Cemetery despite the well earned fame. I could never bring myself to deal with Boston traffic. Instead, I have always taken the much longer but much easier drive to Parker River NWR on Plum Island. Rarely have I been disappointed on Plum so I always try to make it back each year. 

   Dan Berard, whom was the Ocean State Bird Club president for many years was leading a walk at MAC on Mother's Day and reached out to the OSBC for members to join him. At first I thought about all of the reasons why I didn't want to go but then I realized this was a golden opportunity. We had to meet at 7 AM so despite my hatred of getting up early, I knew I wouldn't have to deal with traffic on a Sunday morning. I was birding with my friend Nicole from Connecticut and of course, I dragged Laurie along. A couple other Rhode Island birders Chris and Su also joined the walk. 

   We met just inside the gate at 7 AM and to my surprise our group was only about ten people. We walked around the huge cemetery for the next five and a half hours. In that time we walked a variety of landscapes. There is a very tall hill with a tower that was rumored to have a Summer Tanager. There are a couple of small ponds. There were dozens of flowering trees along with the already mentioned seventy foot oaks.

 

 Dan is the best birder I know. He can hear birds from distances that no one else can hear. He knows all of their calls and the subtle differences of ones that look almost alike. We ended up identifying twenty four species of warblers!!! Twenty four!! I did not hear or see all of them but as a group that is the number of warbler species that we know were in the cemetery. I have never been on a walk with anywhere near that number of species. I think the closest I've ever gotten was eighteen (twice). 

   The best warblers that I actually saw were Blackburnian, Bay Breasted, and Blackpoll. The best bird of the day was a Summer Tanager. Though I usually see at least one a year, it was a lifer for many of the people on our walk. We had multiple Baltimore Orioles, a Bald Eagle, Broadwing Hawk, and a Least Flycatcher along with dozens of species.

   I didn't take a ton of photos because many of the birds were really high up and most of the day was cloudy. Still it was great having so many migrating species around. I truly understand what makes Mount Auburn so special.

 

 A few notes. The place is huge and there are a lot of cemetery roads. I would have gotten lost if I were not on a guided walk. If I went again, I would download a map before hand or pick one up at the entrance. This area is named "mount" for a reason. It is very hilly. Some of the paths and roads are steep. Parking is allowed on any road that doesn't have a green line down the middle. From Norton on a quiet Sunday morning it was a fifty three minute drive. It is about fifteen minutes (maybe slightly less) from the  Mass Pike without traffic on a weekend morning. There is a bathroom near the main gate but that is the only one. There were a lot of birders at the cemetery (it is famous) and I had a ten minute wait to use the bathroom.