This informative presentation at our Crematory (Bigelow Chapel) led by Walter L. Morrison Jr., will answer any questions you may have about cremation procedures and costs.   Attendees will also have the opportunity to tour our Crematory facility.  Free.   

By Robert H. Stymeist

Loveliest of all waterfowl, the Wood Duck stands supreme, wrote Edward Howe Forbush in Birds of Massachusetts and other New England States (1925).  He writes "The male glides along proudly, his head ruffled and his crest distended, his scapular feathers raised and lowered at will, while his plumes flash with metallic luster whenever the sun's rays sifting through the foliage intercept his course."  At the time Forbush wrote this, the Wood Duck was just starting to increase in numbers here in New England - having been decimated by hunters almost to extinction. State and National laws were passed to protect the birds. The Wood Duck population increased when many of our National Wildlife Refuges, like Great Meadows in Concord began erecting nest boxes, Wood Ducks traditionally have nested in holes on trees and limbs.

At Mount Auburn Wood Ducks occur each spring and more often in the fall; they usually will flush when approached and give a plaintive whistle as they fly off. Auburn Lake is the most reliable location in the Cemetery to find a Woody; they like the overhanging branches of many of the trees around the pond to hide and feed. Standing at the bridge, scan around the pond carefully and then approach slowly to get a better look. This works for other stalkers like Green and Black-crowned Night- Heron as well. The scientific name of the Wood Duck is Aix sponsa, a hybrid of Greek and Latin, the translation is "waterfowl in wedding raiment", very appropriate for this handsome duck.

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By Dr. Joe Martinez, Ed.D    

Mount Auburn Cemetery is renowned as both the first garden cemetery to be established in the United States (consecrated in 1831) and as a birding hotspot (this past Spring a pair of nesting great horned owls with their two fledglings created quite a stir). Besides birds, other wildlife inhabiting the cemetery includes coyotes, foxes, painted turtles and bullfrogs. This is especially impressive when one considers that its location lies within both Cambridge and Watertown.

Over the past two decades the Cemetery administration has been committed to improving wildlife habitat on the grounds through plantings of native groundcovers, bushes and trees with the intent of attracting more wildlife to the cemetery. More recently, the administration has agreed to a project, initiated through a citizen-scientist proposal by Joe Martinez (New England Wildlife Center's outreach educator) and Patrick Fairbairn (a member of the Watertown Conservation Commission), to attempt a repopulation of the grounds with American toads, gray treefrogs, and spring peepers.  Each of these amphibian species was undoubtedly present in the cemetery at its inception; their disappearance from the cemetery is probably due to earlier landscaping practices that eliminated suitable habitat for the juveniles and adults.

The project is beginning with the American toad. Over a three year period (that began this year) a specified number of toad tadpoles will be collected each Spring from two locations near Boston and released into a vernal pool at the cemetery.  One of those locations is the rainwater retention pool at the New England Wildlife Center. In the five years since its creation wood frogs, spring peepers, and American toads have migrated in from the adjacent wetlands to breed there. When approached by Joe, Dr. Greg Mertz graciously agreed to volunteer NEWC as one of the donor locations.

Moving any Massachusetts amphibian from one location to another with the intent of establishing a new population requires permission from the state Fish and Wildlife Department, therefore a Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife scientific collecting permit was obtained. In addition, permission was needed from the Watertown Conservation Commission (as the release site within the cemetery lies within Watertown).

This past May the first tadpoles were collected from the retention pond and transported to the cemetery.  The tadpoles began metamorphosing in late June and have already been seen over twenty yards from the vernal pool. Should any survive into adulthood they will return to the vernal pool to breed. If all goes well, in 3-4 years, the melodic sound of trilling American toads will add yet another wildlife element for visitors to enjoy at Mount Auburn Cemetery!

In a few years toads the size of the one photographed above may be living at Mount Auburn Cemetery!  Have you seen a toad at the Cemetery on a recent visit?   Joe would  

appreciate knowing the date and location for any toad found on the grounds.  Email     

friends@mountauburn.org or stop by the Mount Auburn Visitors Center and we     

will pass the information along to Joe.

To distinguish them from the bullfrogs and green frogs that currently inhabit the Cemetery ponds, keep in mind that the toads will occur away from water, be brownish in color, and move with short hops rather than long jumps.

Toads for Mount Auburn Cemetery originally appeared on the New England Wildlife Center website on 08.24.2011.   

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Notable Birthday: Harriet Hosmer  

With the conviction of becoming a sculptor, a nineteen year old Harriet Hosmer arrived in Boston after finishing studies at boarding school in Lenox, Mass.  However, when the Boston Medical Society refused to allow her to attend lectures in anatomy, the the high-spirited and independent-minded Harriet made her way to Missouri Medical College in St. Louis.