Summer Day

Our Blue Heron

Arrived at the park a little before 7:00 a.m.It was 71 degrees and sunny. I thought it would be buggy as it had rained last night, but it wasn't bad at all. Was greeted by the call of the peewee coming from the JCC woods!

Quickly went straight to the pond in hopes of seeing the black-crowned night herons and sandpiper that Haynes saw on Thursday. No sign of them, but my friend the blue heron was there. I just love watching him wade through the water looking for fish. They move in slow motion and the way they pick up their large feet and place delicately place them in front as they move through the water is something to see.

Then I headed to the lower gardens. Saw robins, song sparrows, a female yellow warbler, house wren, catbirds, goldfinches, chickadees, blue jays and am now seeing some chimney swifts!

Queen Anee's Lace

Rose of Sharon

Walked up to the upper gardens where I hung out for quite a while. One gardener has planted some Rose of Sharons, which are stunningly beautiful right now. It happens to be one of my favorite flowers. The flowers right now are beautiful. There were gorgeous hollyhocks in a deep maroon color, huge sunflowers, purple phlox, bright orange mexican sunflowers and morning glories to name just a few. The Queen Anne's lace was in full bloom too. I tried growing it in my garden at home and while it is beautiful, it goes way too crazy in rich garden soil and I had to get rid of it.

One of the big treats in the upper gardens was a pair of barn swallows who were actually sitting still!!!!!! That is a rare sight. They seemed to be basking in the sun and were quite relaxed. They let me get pretty close.

Barn Swallow

Towards the back of the gardens, there was a lot of activity in the woods bordering the edge. Saw an oriole family, female, juvenile and dad, a common yellow throat male, downy woodpecker, male yellow warbler, song sparrows, cardinal, a warbling vireo (not warbling!) and some kind of a flycatcher. I watched it for the longest time and couldn't tell if it was a young phoebe, peewee or what. Didn't see any wingbars like the peewee but the head wasn't dark like the phoebe. That's why I was so confused.