Some of you may have searched for my arbotopia blog this fall and been unable to find it or log in. The backstory is that due to a number of mistakes on my part the hosting service for arbotopia shut it down at the beginning of September. With lots of help from friends and family more tech conversant than I, the old posts have been mostly restored. There are occasional missing links, images that haven’t been properly loaded, audio recordings that don’t work and bad formatting; but I hope these will be gradually corrected up the road. More importantly, the blog is now registered with a new content management system and is up and running again and faster.

I couldn’t post on a number of good sightings during the down time but want to mention a few. In October I had a new warbler species in the Arboretum:

A lovely Cape May Warbler in fall plumage

And at the end of October a flock of uncommon finches showed up on Bussey Hill:

This Purple Finch is either a female or an immature male; they are both the same color

This rosy Purple Finch is definitely a male

The flock remained for about two weeks, eating flowers from an exotic Asian tree

On the last day of 2018 another uncommon bird, a White-crowned Sparrow, showed up at the feeding station in the Arboretum:

The White-crowned Sparrow has a clear breast, brown and tan striped head and orange beak as seen above.

Here is a list of upcoming spring walks:

Saturday, April 27

Arnold Arboretum, Boston. Morning.

A 90-minute walk suitable for beginners as well as more experienced birders. See the arboretum website http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu for directions or to download a checklist of birds. Meeting location: Main Gate off the Arborway, park along Arborway 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM

Sunday, April 28

Olmsted Park and Leverett Pond, Brookline. Morning.

This 90-minute walk is co-sponsored by the Brookline GreenSpace Alliance and is suitable for beginning birders as well as those more experienced. Meeting location: Parking lot at 33 Pond Avenue in front of the Brook House. 8:00 am to 9:30 AM

Saturday, May 4

Arnold Arboretum, Boston. Morning.

A 90-minute walk suitable for beginners as well as more experienced birders. See the arboretum website http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu for directions or to download a checklist of birds. Meeting location: Peters Hill Gate on Bussey Street 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM

Sunday, May 5

Bussey Brook Meadow, Arnold Arboretum, Boston. Morning.

The Arboretum Park Conservancy and the BBC are sponsoring this 90-minute walk in the Bussey Brook area of the Arboretum. The walk is suitable for beginning birders as well as those more experienced. Meeting location: South Street gate to the Arboretum, on South Street, where there is limited parking. Also accessible from Forest Hills T Station path from Washington Street 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM

Saturday, May 18

Arnold Arboretum, Boston. Morning.

A 90-minute walk suitable for beginners as well as more experienced birders. See the arboretum website http://www.arboretum.harvard.edu for directions or to download a checklist of birds. Meeting location: Main Gate off the Arborway, park along Arborway 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM

Bob Mayer, Jamaica Plain Jamaica Plain(617) 522-0157

rgmayer38@gmail.com

I hope you can join us for some or all of these walks.

Good Birding!