Settling Down...

Cedar Waxwing

I was unable to post last weekend due to my son's college graduation. I ran into Paul, an avid bird watcher and the highlights we saw or heard last Sunday, included: peewees, a couple of blue-gray gnatcatchers (glimpse only), a wood duck, a mallard with over eight little yellow fluffy babies following mom all around the pond, the phoebe in nest adjacent to the previous one starting a 2nd brood and a pair of green herons flying down the Charles River flyway.

The migration excitement has definitely quieted down. Today it was 70 degrees at 7:00 a.m. and a little hazy. The business of nesting and rearing young is in earnest.

Common Yellow Throat Male

Donna's Poppies

Heard and saw the usual in the lower gardens i.e., robins, house wrens, tree swallows, yellow warblers, catbirds, mourning doves and goldfinches. However, I heard the tell-tale high pitch noise of the waxwing and finally saw this beautiful bird doing gymnastics in the tree in the middle of the gardens. As I was watching it, I heard the witchety witchety of the common yellow throat. They're so elusive in a large shrub, but finally, after several minutes of searching it appeared towards the edge where I could see it.

Wild Turkey

Several cowbirds were strutting around someones garden and Donna's poppies are spectacular! I saw something quite large in my peripheral vision, and realized a large turkey had come from the golf course side and was marching down the path headed towards some cover. I followed it and it knew I was following, so we both sped up and finally I was able to get a picture of it.

Foxgloves

The invasive multi-flora roses with little white flowers are in full bloom, along with raspberries. I was thinking about the word "raspberries" today and wondering if the thorns have anything to do with the word "rasp" used for a tool that has sharp edges. I'll have to look that up. I've been watching the meadow to see if the planted cosmos would turn up, but not a sign of one so far. The wildflowers are in short supply after the snow dumping fiasco last year, but a few are making their way back. I saw some ox eye daisies and some purple clover. At least that's something…

The upper gardens were pretty quiet. The tree swallows are feeding young so they're pretty low key. An oriole couple had some little argument, but then made up. Lots of vegetables are coming up - the lettuces are almost formed into heads for picking. One gardener had some beautiful foxgloves blooming just outside their fence.

No excitement in the pond save for some frogs with their deep-throated noises. There's a robin nest in a tree adjacent. We saw her building it last weekend, but now all is quiet and she is probably sitting in it.

Saw a few tufties and then some barn swallows down by the river and of course the warbling vireos down there were warbling away!