Fall on the way

Beautiful Sunday morning at the Park .... with some fall migrants coming through. The mulberry tree a along the path between the gardens held several vireos - a couple of Red-eyed Vireos and this somewhat elusive Philadelphia Vireo ...

and this beautiful male American Redstart. 

 The trees behind the upper garden held a Red-breasted Nuthatch -- my first there since the big invasion year 2012--2013.












Both gardens hosted a bunch of migrant Chipping Sparrows ...

and Savannah Sparrows.

The tree screen along the soccer field held some Ribbon Snakes. How many?

Heating up again (but not birdwise)...

Solitary Sandpiper

It was 74 degrees and cloudy at 7:30 a.m. when I arrived. I wanted to go early since it's been predicted to be a 90+ degree day. I quickly ran into Mary Lou who I haven't seen in ages and Jonathan briefly. Mary Lou and I actually started in the upper gardens.

We saw hummingbirds, song sparrows, gold finches, and house sparrows. Caught a glimpse of the ever-present groundhog, who upon the realization that he was not alone, hi-tailed it out of the garden he was in and disappeared quickly down one of the garden paths. They are very stealthy and can move surprisingly quickly.

As we headed through the woods to the soccer field, a small American toad crossed our path and disappeared into the woods with his amazing camouflage.

It was so quiet today that we didn't think we would see much and were finally surprised when the hotspot of the day was the soccer field area where we saw a lone yellow warbler, a juvenile oriole, a downy, a flicker and what I believe to be its young, a grackle and its young, nuthatches, robins, jays, catbirds and a pair of Eastern phoebes.

The water in the pond has receded quite a bit and that meant it was time for the Solitary sandpiper to move in and so it has! Apologies for the poor picture.

Birds and people alike are happy about a break from the heat

Common Yellowthroat

This post combines Friday and Saturday visits this week. Today it was 61 degrees and sunny. Yay! It was cool out. A beautiful morning at the park.

The lower gardens had lots going on - especially on my revisit with Haynes. When I first arrived there were robins, mourning doves and lots of song sparrows. A common yellowthroat pictured to left was seen on Friday. Clearly not the very yellow one that Haynes had seen a week ago. I thought I saw it again yesterday because I saw a bird with quite bit of yellow on it's breast, but on closer inspection it had some brown striations on it's side and an eye ring. After some thought, I believe it was a prairie warbler.

Hummingbird

A humming bird was busy darting in and out of some red flowers while blue jays made themselves known. A few cedar waxwings were high up in a tree towards the golf course side. Friday, Carolina wrens were singing in their repeats of three. I know they were nearby, but couldn't locate them. House wrens are still present, including their tail-less offspring! Cardinals were busy foraging, and a catbird was busy plucking berries.

Chipmunk

I know people aren't that excited about chipmunks, but really, how cutes is this little guy or gal? And so easy to photograph. That's the best part.

Great Blue Skimmer

A very exciting development in the lower gardens was Haynes discovering a bobolink high up in a treetop on the Winchester St. side. He captured a picture and maybe he will post it later. I haven't seen one there in ages, but he wasn't surprised to see it as fall approaches.

Morning Glory

The upper gardens had two hummingbirds, a flicker and several chickadees. Titmice were busy in the oak trees and the willow tree toward the bee hives was a very active site. I briefly saw a warbler that appeared gray with a possible eye ring. At first I thought it was a bluegrass gnatcatcher, but it didn't have the right tail. Then I thought a kinglet, but it wasn't acting like a kinglet. Haynes and I both saw a blue-winged warbler there, which was really nice. It was very visible which is always a treat. Saw a couple of Eastern phoebes and the tail-less baby house wren.

Donna's Zinnias

Goldfinches were in plentiful supply. I've noticed they love the seeds from the evening primrose and evening primroses have invaded many of the gardens. I now have some that found my gardens at home and it has kept the goldfinches around and visible for much more of the season and that's a good thing. Nuthatches called nasally from the woods at the back of the upper gardens.

The pond still has some water in it, but seems to be pretty quiet save for about four mallards paddling around. The path has become very difficult to get through, so hopefully, we can get it cleared out a little for better access.

The soccer field also had a couple of phoebes. Please join us for three great fall walks in October. Check out our website at: www.nahantonpark.org for details.

Another strange warbler ...

Beautiful quiet morning at Nahanton Park. This scruffy young House Wren, in the Upper Garden, is molting into first basic plumage.

A pair of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were the first indication of a big mixed flock at the circle near the soccer field. 

So much activity! Baltimore Orioles were singing, Black-capped Chickadees were bounding around, a couple of American Redstarts were flitting here and there. In the shady path I was surprised by an Ovenbird, a Black-and-white Warbler, a Canada Warbler, a Red-eyed Vireo, and this peculiarly colored Common Yellowthroat.

These birds don't usually show yellow legs and bill, nor this much yellow in the belly. This is a condition known as xanthochromism. The Common Yellowthroat I posted here on July 31 may have shown the same genetic aberration. 

At this point Suzette showed up. The flock had disbursed, so we went to the upper field, Woodcock Meadow, and found a lot of dragonflies, including this male Lance-tipped Darner, a first for me.

In the lower garden we found more dragonflies, as well as this attractive ichneumon wasp:

Let the migration begin!

Fall's here, believe it or not. The Park is already filling up with migrants: At least four American Redstarts for example. A family of Common Yellowthroats was training at the path along the pond, most likely resident. Here's a Field Sparrow from near the lower garden -- very early! The earliest fall record I have from Nahanton Park before today is September 24.

A Northern Watershrush strutted in the pond.

This Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was hanging out in the brush at the far end of the upper garden,

and this juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird was expectantly waiting to be fed. When I first saw it, it shared a branch with a juvenile American Robin. This was odd ... Robins are very rarely parasitized by Cowbirds. The juvenile flew before I saw anyone come to feed it.

Midsummer lookalikes

Back to the Garden for the first time in several weeks. There were a lot (maybe 4) of Common Yellowthroats around, including this extensively yellow individual....










looking almost like a Yellow Warbler. One of them posed for me too.

A Chipping Sparrow was dutifully feeding a much larger Brown-headed Cowbird.














In the lower garden I encountered this Bobolink. They are almost annual spring and fall visitors. This very gray and poorly marked juvenile sure looks like the cowbird, doesn't it!









Several Hummingbirds were taking advantage of the tube flowers ...

Also in the lower garden I watched a Spicebush Swallowtail feasting on an Ecinacea.

and this Twelve-spotted Skimmer.

A break from the dog days of summer

Hummingbird Moth

It's been quite some time since I've been at the park.  At 7:30 a.m., it was a beautiful 71 degrees, pleasant, clear and sunny.

I was surprised that the gardens were abuzz with activity as it was so quiet when I was last there. Several different bird species were out and about with their young/adolescents including robins, blue jays, cardinals and house wrens.

The gardens are looking great - filled with growing veggies and beautiful flowers. There were song sparrows, goldfinches, cedar waxwings, titmice and tree swallows.

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird

I saw a beautiful male hummingbird. The light made him look really unusual. His head was black with a white chin and iridescent turquoise feathers. I was sure he was something other than a ruby-throated male, but he must be because there is nothing else he looks like either.

Female Ruby-throated hummingbird

In bloom in the meadow (besides that horrible monoculture of artemisia) was Queen Anne's Lace, goldenrod, purple cone flowers and black-eyed Susans.

The upper gardens had similar fare, with the addition of a yellow warbler, a female hummingbird and my favorite moth - the hummingbird moth.

The pond is low, but surprisingly for this time of year still has water in it. It's hard getting down to get a good look with all the dead trees blocking the path and also the brush has taken over and is blocking much of the view. However, I don't think there were any sandpipers or herons down there.

Down by the river, the barn swallows were flying under the bridge and chickadees were calling near the parking lot. A few tree swallows were in Woodcock meadow, but otherwise very quiet up there.