Note that if you purchase something via one of our links, including Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
The Cambridge Public Library’s Nature Club brings the community together to engage with the outdoors.
On a sunny Wednesday morning, folks gathered in the courtyard of the Cambridge Public Library’s Collins Branch to gear up for the morning’s birding excursion. Inside the library, the smallest branch of the Cambridge Public Library network, attendees could enjoy some air conditioning, fill up their water bottles, and borrow binoculars to bring along for the walk. After a quick introduction from Michael Roberson, library associate and organizer of the CPL Nature Club, the dozen of us began our stroll to Mount Auburn Cemetery where our birding adventures would begin.
For me, our short journey to the cemetery highlighted the complicated beauty of living in the city — the walk took us past the backed-up traffic of Aberdeen Avenue and any idle chatter among our birding group turned to either silence or shouts as we passed a long stretch of construction work. Before I had even arrived at the Collins Branch that morning I nearly lost a shoe to some freshly poured cement.
The moment we passed through the gates to Mount Auburn Cemetery, it felt like we’d been transported out of the city and into an oasis of flowering trees.
Established in 1831 with the goal of creating a beautiful greenspace that would both comfort mourners and inspire the general public, Mount Auburn Cemetery is the nation’s first landscaped cemetery. The moment we passed through the gates to Mount Auburn Cemetery, it felt like we’d been transported out of the city and into an oasis of flowering trees. Chipmunks scurried across the path as we made our way towards one of the cemetery’s ponds and the noise of the city gave way to the twitter of birds our cohort was eager to encounter.
– Photo by Alison L. Mead
Our Walk’s Bird Sightings
We checked out the community chalkboard where visitors could record the wildlife they encountered during their time exploring — from squirrels and foxes to hawks and robins, the furry and feathered friends who call the cemetery their home are certainly a diverse bunch.
We encountered ducklings swimming in a pond, several Red-winged Blackbirds, a couple of Gray Catbirds, and an American Robin mother feeding her baby. We walked between a few of the cemetery’s water features, pausing whenever we had a bird sighting. Folks consulted their Merlin apps to identify bird calls overhead, chatted about favorite local birding spots, and shared stories about spotting particularly rare birds. We encountered solo birders exploring the cemetery and volunteers participating in a bug audit. For a novice birder like myself, the experience was welcoming, kind, and reminded me that I can take refuge from the hustle and bustle of city life with just a short walk from my apartment.
Community Enthusiasm for the Nature Club
The bird walks through the Mount Auburn Cemetery are just one of the activities put on by the Cambridge Public Library’s Nature Club. The CPL Nature Club is a collaborative series of events that take place across the branches of the Cambridge Public Library Network. Roberson explained that working with folks from other branches, “We all discovered that a lot of us had this common interest in nature and a lot of us had been doing our own kind of nature programs independently. It made sense to come up with a sort of shared branding where people could look at the library calendar, they could see ‘Nature Club,’ and know that these events are grouped together.”
We’re really lucky in Cambridge that there’s so much green space, nature, and parks that it makes this kind of programming feasible. There’s so much out there that’s easily accessible to everyone.
-Michael Roberson, CPL Nature Club organizer
In addition to the monthly bird walks, the CPL Nature Club has also gone on bug walks, migratory duck walks, held workshops on plant identification and cyanotyping, and hosted events in collaboration with the park rangers at Fresh Pond Reservation. “All of our events have really good turnout — these bird walks have a full registration every month,” Roberson says. “It’s great because it’s a very fun neighborhood community that has sprung up around all of these nature programs, which is very exciting.”
As enthusiasm and demand for these events increases, Roberson looks forward to expanding the club’s programming. “It’s been really successful — We’re really lucky in Cambridge that there’s so much green space, nature, and parks that it makes this kind of programming feasible. There’s so much out there that’s easily accessible to everyone.”
To stay up to date with CPL Nature Club events, check the Cambridge Public Library calendar.
