September Lull...

Dahlia with bumble bee

At 7:15 a.m. it was overcast and about 72 degrees. The park was extremely quiet.

I heard a few titmice and some blue jays calling from the JCC woods, but when I got to the lower gardens, all I saw was a catbird, a few goldfinches and a young house wren who was clearly learning how to sing and still needed quite a bit of practice to sound like dad. A dark gray vole ran in front of me and dove into a hole before I could really get a good look.

I didn't even see a song sparrow. Now, that is quiet! Suddenly, I heard a strange noise and couldn't figure out where it was coming from. At first, I thought it was some strange equipment at the golf course. I happened to look up and there were three swans flying overhead. They must have been fairly low for me to hear them flying. It was quite an amazing sound.

Shortly after I arrived, Mary Lou turned up. She had seen some kind of warbler in the lower gardens but couldn't quite confirm what it was. The upper gardens were dead, but we did end up having a beautiful sighting of a red eyed vireo.