Weekend Update

Ruby Crowned Kinglet

8:00 a.m. Sunny and cold at 37 degrees!

The swallows were already fighting over the new boxes that Brian put up Saturday! Real estate is a hot commodity this time of year.

Ruby Crown Visible

The lower gardens were filled with robins, cardinals, song sparrows and a mourning dove basking in the sun while perched on a tree branch. Saturday, Brian clued me in to a chorus of frogs singing down near the pond and today I heard them singing near the golf course. Two bright yellow and rufous palm warblers were turning over leaf litter in the scrub on the golf course side of the gardens. The warblers are arriving!  I wasn't there long when Ian and Jonathan turned up. Ian spotted a ruby crowned kinglet and it wasn't long before a second one appeared. A red tailed hawk soared overhead. Three cowbirds were hanging out in a tree.

Of course we were greeted immediately in the upper gardens by the tree swallows who always reserve the left-hand nest box at the top of the meadow. And while we stood there, the male bluebird appeared

Daffies

looking ever so blue! There's something about them that just makes one feel so happy. We saw chickadees and titmice, seagulls flew overhead. Ian saw a lone junco. Between last weekend and this weekend, most of them seem to have left. Saturday, Mary Lou had pointed out a blue-gray gnatcatcher to Brian and myself at the back of the upper gardens, but unfortunately it was not to be seen today.

We took the path through the woods down to the soccer field. As we walked along the path, there were two tiny little birds high up in the trees. Turned out to be a couple of golden-crowned kinglets. How nice to see rubies and goldens in one day!

Phoebe

The little bloodroot colony was starting to bloom and we heard a red-bellied woodpecker calling. Down by the river we saw a goldfinch and Jonathan finally found the woodpecker we had been hearing. The phoebe's nest is all built so I was surprised when we couldn't find the male or female. Finally it was spotted on a branch near the nature center posing for the camera.

The daffies are the first blooming flowers at the park. Trees are starting to bloom as well. Looking forward to what next weekend will bring!