The Boston Park Ranger's Nature Center at Jamaica Pond was created in the summer of 1997. Prior to its creation, the building served as a ranger station outpost and the starting point of our Fishing Fundamentals program. Basically, it was just four bare walls, a desk, and a closet. Since then, our nature center has become home to many nature displays, wildlife mounts, artifacts, and many other acquisitions in its' natural history collection.

Some of the center's acquisitions are on loan by private individuals, while others have been permanently donated to the center by like-minded citizens and organizations. Park Ranger programs such as

• Nature Crafts,
• Waterways,
• Bird Migration Walks,
• Fishing Fundamentals,
• Wildlife at Our Doorsteps,
• and Emerald Necklace Walking/Bike Tours,

either start here, pass through or are held here at the Nature Center. During the warmer months, the center's open door policy welcomes various groups visiting the park on any given day. These groups include senior citizens, school groups, pre-school, day camps, and anyone else interested in viewing and hearing about the park's history, the center, and its' natural history collection. Both informal as well as scheduled and pre-arranged programs are offered to the general public throughout the year, here at the Boston Park Ranger Nature Center at Jamaica Pond.

The nature center offers viewing and close-up examination of many objects and displays from the natural world. You can view mounted hawks, owls, and other wildlife species, along with rainbow and brown trout. You can handle and examine ancient Native American artifacts and prehistoric rock specimens dating back millions of years!

You will see some of the most dramatic and incredible sun sets imaginable, at Jamaica Pond! The pond's surface is the perfect reflecting pool to capture the stunning and breathtaking hues of pinks, oranges, violets, golds, and reds created by the setting sun, during every season of the year.

Boston's Emerald Necklace park system is home to many kinds of wildlife that we don't often associate with living in an urban environment. Some medium sized animals such as white-tailed deer and even "trickster" coyote have been seen in or on the outskirts of some of our parks. Other species may include eastern red fox, muskrat, eastern wild turkey, raccoon, striped skunk, snapping turtle, great blue and night crowned herons, New England cottontail rabbit, pheasant, little and big brown bats, and mute swans. Boston is very fortunate in that it's park system lies directly along the Atlantic Flyway. A wide variety of songbirds use this major flyway every year on their spring and fall migration routes. Boston's abundance of green space, watersheds, and urban wilds that comprise our parklands are natural magnets, which attract hundreds of migrating bird species for all to view.

The Boston Park Rangers also patrol Jamaica Pond by boat. This is in addition to the ever-present foot and mounted units patrolling daily in the park. The obvious advantages include being able to assist with any boating or in water emergency if needed, and having the ability to address any of the various wildlife emergencies that might occur on the pond throughout the seasons. While rowboats and sailboats are rented through the city for the general public's use on Jamaica Pond, personal boats, canoes, rafts, kayaks, or flotation tubes are not permitted on the pond. Life jackets must be worn at all times while under way and/or on the water. No swimming is permitted at Jamaica Pond, Boston's cleanest natural body of water, which is also an ancient sixty-five foot deep glacial kettle hole, some tens of thousands of years old!

Besides the quiet boating activities, Jamaica Pond is popular with walkers, joggers, dog walkers (on leash of course!), all taking advantage of the 1.49 mile walk path and new jogger's path around the pond. A separate path is designated for bike, blade, and scooter enthusiasts. If fishing is your game, Jamaica Pond offers some of the very best freshwater angling around. For the price of a Massachusetts state fishing license, you can test your skill (or is it good old fashion luck?) on Atlantic salmon (reaching two and a half feet in length), rainbow, brown, and tiger trout, and an occasional brookie, too! Other popular fish species include all the "pan-fish" like bluegills, yellow perch, sunfish, and others. Jamaica Pond also has its' share of "lunker" large mouth bass just waiting to test your fly, plug, and spinner-bait presentations!

Barred Owls

Barred owls can be found in several of the parks in the Emerald Necklace. This particular owl wintered over in the Boston Common during the winter and early spring of 1999/2000. Birders from as far away as western Mass. and Cape Cod came to view this bird of prey - very close-up! But don't get too close as this owl will snap or click its' beak to let you know its time to back up! This owl's hoot, if put into words, would sound like this: who-cooks-for-you…who-cooks-for-you-all?! Expect to see this owl during the day. You can hear the barred owl calling early in the night, at dawn, and on cloudy days. It is one of only two species of owls that have dark brown eyes; all others have yellow eyes. The female lays three to five eggs that are more round than egg shaped.

Ducks and Geese

If you like ducks and geese up-close and personal, you will not be disappointed in visiting any of the parks in the Emerald Necklace. These waterfowl are by far, the most popular and well-known species living throughout the parks' waterways. The mallard and the Canada goose, being less wary of humans, are very adaptable to habitat that has been altered by man. At the turn of the century, the mallard was considered a rare migrant in New England. Many ducks and geese do not migrate as long as they can find open water and a food supply during the winter months. Throughout the spring and early summer, look for the broods of baby ducks and geese in the Public Garden, Olmsted Park, Jamaica Pond and Franklin Park.

Red-tailed Hawk

The red-tailed hawk is the most common hawk in North America, and is found in every park in the Emerald Necklace, at any time of the year. This large raptor can have a wingspan of four and a half feet! As with most birds of prey, the female is larger than the male. When the red-tail dives toward its' intended prey, this high-speed dive is called a stoop. You can often hear this hawk's raspy scream, even above the noise of city traffic. The red-tail shares the skies over Boston with the Peregrine Falcon, Kestrels, and several other raptor species, including the Osprey.

Great Blue Herron:

The Great Blue Heron is a large, long legged wading bird often seen standing or fishing along the waterways of the Emerald Necklace. These birds will stand motionless for long periods of time in order to spear a frog or a perch with their long pointed beaks. They have a wingspan of almost six feet and necks stretching to over two feet long. They nest in rookeries, building massive platform-style nests.

Muskrat:

The muskrat can be found in most of the ponds and river ways within the Emerald Necklace park system. These rodents are valued for their rich, glossy fur. They build homes called lodges, which are very similar to beaver lodges, only smaller. While the beaver is about five times bigger and has a broad, flat, horizontal scaly tail, the muskrat has a narrow, flat, vertical scaly tail. Muskrats are about ten to fourteen inches long and can remain under water for as long as fifteen minutes at a time.

Snapping Turtle:

The snapping turtle is by far the largest turtle species living in several parks of the Emerald Necklace. In fact, they are among the largest of living fresh water species. In the wild, snappers have attained the weight of 45—50 pounds, while some captive snappers have exceeded 75 pounds in weight! They have massive heads, powerful hooked jaws, long sharp claws, and long tails. Snappers are true predators, able to stalk and capture trout, ducklings, birds and small mammals. They are also carrion eaters. The female snapper will usually travel some distance away from water to her nesting site, often crossing busy city streets.

Eastern Coyote:

The eastern coyote has made its' way back into New England, western Massachusetts, and now, Boston! This canine is a relative to the wolf, fox and domestic dogs. These intelligent and resourceful creatures have been heard and spotted in several Boston neighborhoods over the last three years.

They are very difficult to detect owing to their shy and reclusive nature. One of the ways the coyote learns is by simply visually observing the world around them. They are very opportunistic in their eating habits, consuming everything from berries, grasshoppers, and mice, to rabbits, deer, people's garbage and even your dog's or cat's pet food, if left outside. Like deer, coyotes are very adaptable creatures, being able to live in close proximity to humans. When you hear them howling, coyotes are usually only trying to locate one-another or are greeting each other. Their vocalizations consist of multiple high-pitched yips, yaps, screams, howls, squeals and barks.

Eastern Wild Turkey

In the recent past there were few, if any, wild turkeys existing in New England. They were re-introduced into New England in the 1960's and successfully grew to a flock of sustainable numbers. These large birds have popped up in several Boston City parks in recent years. While not as robust as their white-feathered domestic relatives, wild turkeys can weigh in at 15 to 23 pounds. They are great runners as well as very strong flyers. The turkey's eyesight is second to none. They mostly move in tight flocks ranging from just a few to upwards of fifty birds. Aside from the well-known "gobble-gobble" call of the turkey, other sounds often made will include clucks, perts, putts, cackles, and purrs. The turkey's main predators include the great horned owl, the coyote, and the bobcat. The mature males are called "toms", the females are "hens" and the immature male and female birds are called "jakes" and "jenns".