The day · Boston, Massachusetts
Dusk · 40 min left
Sun 4.9° below the horizon, in the west · Northeast Atlantic Coast & Piedmont
The kind of day it is
Bluebird
Clear, bright and still. The most pleasant day to be out and the hardest one to fish: with no cloud to break the light, fish go deep or under cover and only really feed at the ends of the day.
Go at first light or golden hour and skip the middle of the day.
The day, phase by phase
Happening now · 18:54–19:56
1h 2m long
Dusk
Where the sun is this minute. Its highest today: 50.5°.
The sun is under the horizon but still lighting the sky from below. The ground begins to radiate its heat straight up into a clear sky and cools faster than the air above it.
Where the light lands · Northeast Atlantic Coast & Piedmont
Long dusk over the water. The sky in the east goes a deep blue-grey — the Earth's own shadow, rising, which you can see clearly only over a sea horizon.
Up close
Above the high-tide line, sand fleas and beach hoppers come out of the wrack by the million. They have been buried since dawn.
The whole landscape
The land cools faster than the sea and the breeze reverses again, running offshore all night and carrying the smell of the pines out over the water.
In the water now
Largemouth bassbest now
Cruising the weed edges, pads and shallow flats, ambushing anything that moves across the top.
Brook troutbest now
In the riffles and at the heads of pools, taking insects off the surface as the hatch comes off.
Brown troutbest now
The most nocturnal trout there is. After dark the big ones leave cover and hunt the shallows and the tailouts.
Black crappiebest now
Suspended over brush and around lit docks after dark, looking upward for anything silhouetted.
Bright and still pushes fish deep, into shade and under structure. Work the edges of the day.
In the garden now
Ruby-throated hummingbirdbest now
Feeding hardest in the first and last hour — it burns through the night's reserves by dawn and must refuel before dark.
Green lacewingbest now
Adults fly at dusk and through the night; the larvae hunt around the clock and do the real work.
Tomato hornwormbest now
Feeding on the upper leaves, though it is easiest to find at dusk with a UV torch — it glows.
Running the soil surface after dark, taking slugs, cutworms and larvae. One of the best predators a garden has.
Peak photosynthesis and peak water loss. Beds dry fast and transplants sulk.
Sitting this one out
Yellow perch · Bluegill · Honey bee · Bumble bees · Hoverfly · Monarch butterfly
The full guide
Everything for Boston this week in one place.
Northeast Atlantic Coast & Piedmont
The region this day belongs to, and what lives in it.
The almanac
The year's arc: day length, the moon and the water behind the air.
The week ahead for Boston
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