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A lot of species in Franklin Park
By adamg on Tue, 06/25/2019 - 9:21am
Jef Taylor, who works at the Franklin Park Zoo, is leading a survey of wildlife in Franklin Park (outside the zoo, natch, since they already have a good handle on what sort of wildlife lives there). So far, volunteers have recorded 661 species of animals, insects, plants and fungi in the park.
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Comments
So cool!
So cool!
I saw a deer in the
I saw a deer in the wilderness area of the park last week. Hopefully it wasn't attacked by one of the countless off leash dogs.
I saw a coatimundi in a zoo
I saw a coatimundi in a zoo eating a starling it had captured when the bird was feeding on the coati's chow.
Protein!
But would that wildlife count in the wildlife count?
A wild deer in Franklin Park
Still not on the list Kinopio. I hope someone else spots it too.
Awesome
I'd be interested to know if there's much difference in diversity between the Blue Hills reservation and Franklin Park. Outside of rattlesnakes and fish that live in streams, I'd guess not many.
I saw a garter snake (small
I saw a garter snake (small with long green stripes on it), swallows, and a red spotted purple butterfly at the Blue Hills the other day, but lots of people/dogs kept the animals away
Great Idea!
Really cool, and great that they make it accessible. A wonderful teaching tool. Another way the zoo enhances life in Boston.
iNaturalist
They're using iNaturalist, which anyone can post sightings to. The downside of that is that people are more likely to post sightings they consider unusual, so it will undercount things like dandelions and house sparrows--but it's fine for answering "are people seeing cedar waxwings in the park?"
One cool thing about the app is that if you post something you're not sure of, someone else is likely to come along and identify it, *and you'll be notified*: I don't know much about snails, so I posted a photo with just "gastropods" and got email today saying they're (probably) white-lipped snails.
I'm sure there'll be an
I'm sure there'll be an increase in wildlife in residential areas and a decease of land/forests habitable to wildlife. Let's stop development on land at Shattuck Hospital. Should be conservation land.
Nope
New England is reforesting steadily. We need housing and care facilities on that site, not additional conservation land.
Easy solution
Return the Shattuck land to Franklin Park and put the health related agencies and the supportive housing on part of the 18 acres of the Arborway bus yard owned by the State (MBTA).
Eight acres of the "temporary" bus yard were promised to the community in the MOU signed in 2001, I think. The community is still waiting.
Advantage to the bus yard location is that it is transit friendly and the Morton St. location is not. Also it will not isolate people with chronic health needs. Rather they can be a part of the community.
It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to correct the mistake made in 1949 (thanks James Michael Curley).