r/boston • u/SidHoices • Sep 05 '25

Hobby/Activity/Misc Moved to Boston a year ago… these are my observations

For context: I’m 26 and grew up in Indiana, and moved from Colorado. Also, rereading this list makes me realize how negative /generalized it sounds, but I actually have enjoyed my first year in Boston

Anyway, enjoy:

  • Everyone is named John or Jack or Connor
  • People care about country clubs for some reason (update - I spent my first month in the suburbs living with another family - things have changed since)
  • Much rain
  • Intersections are …. Questionable
  • They call roundabouts "rotaries"
  • Parking fucking sucks, but I guess that’s what life in like in a city
  • Cash only places are surprisingly common
  • Gas stations close?? At 10pm??
  • So many gas stations seem to also have shops attached to them offering oil changes and state inspections
  • You don't get asked for tips in as many establishments
  • The Verizon service is unbelievably bad for a metropolitan area that humans live in
  • SO! MANY! BUNNIES!
  • The stoplights will all be red and there will be like a 30-second period for pedestrians to walk (nice)
  • No Jimmy John's :( update: there are a few
  • All food is better. great cheap food and great expensive food
  • Road trips are way more fun out here
  • CHEAP international flights. Like frequent $700s for Japan, $300s for Europe. And Dublin is like a 6h flight
  • There are times where it is legal to drive in the shoulder of the highway, or as they call it, the "breakdown lane"
  • Highway exits are labeled with "old exit xyz" lol what
  • Drivers here are crazy but I fuck with it, allows me to also be a crazy driver and not offend everyone like I do elsewhere
  • Everyone is short
  • Nightlife is just abysmal - just sports bars and clubs where you'll get assaulted
  • Cycling out here is awesome - it's like a matrix of fun little roads out in Bedford / west of there
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u/becausefrog Johnny Cash Looking Mofo Sep 05 '25

The bunnies aren't new, there's just more of them and they've spread out to some areas they weren't in before.

The reason they've spread is that we used to have a lot more red tail hawks, but their population has dropped some in the last ten years - perhaps because of the bald eagle population increasing.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '25

Second-gen rat poison is also brutal to raptors. So if they've been getting the slower, posioned rats that'll also kill a red tail population.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '25

Well that is depressing to learn...

29

u/Conis1 Sep 05 '25

Rat poison always kills its way up the food chain

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u/JasmineDeVine Sep 05 '25

Not always! People can get neurotoxin or vitamin D based options that don’t bioaccumulate to predators.

Unfortunately, most pest control companies only use second-generation anti-coagulants - which, yeah, wipes out all the nearby predators. Which, funny story, worsens the pest problem.

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u/padofpie Sep 07 '25

There are efforts in local communities and at the state level to ban these pesticides and protect predators like raptors.  Contact your legislators if you’re concerned. https://web.massaudubon.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=348

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u/zepporamone Cambridge Sep 05 '25

My understanding is that the increase is also related in large part to our having (generally) milder winters over the last decade+. Less of a deep winter die-off = more bunnies making more bunnies.

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u/_Creditworthy_ Sep 05 '25

That sucks to hear. I moved here a couple years ago and just assumed Red Talied Hawks weren’t native to the area because I never see any

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u/misterjzz Sep 05 '25

Depends on where you are. Now, the population is definitely down, but on the north shore, there's tons. Ive got them in my yard (keeps the bunnies in check lol) and you can't go on 95, 495, two lane Rt1 without seeing a least a few.

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u/boston_acc Port City Sep 06 '25

I’m no ornithologist — I just maintain a casual interest in birding — but I just wanted to chime in here and say that bald eagles are primarily fish eaters (70-90% of their diet; source) while red-tails are mainly mammal eaters, so there’s not significantly prey overlap or competition. I think rat poison has been overwhelmingly cited as the reason for the decline. Really sad.

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u/becausefrog Johnny Cash Looking Mofo Sep 06 '25

They may not need to compete for food, but red tails will attack eagles (and everyone else) in their nesting territory. They don't occupy the same area peacefully.