Black & Whites arrived and more Parulas seen

Black & White

Today was our invasive pull so I wanted to get to the park early for a quick birding session.  I arrived around 6:30 a.m. It was a pleasant 51 degrees, clear and sunny.

I headed down to the soccer field area and found this black & white immediately (sorry for the poor quality of the photo). Later, Haynes and Jonathan saw several of them. We ran into Ryan who showed us some Parulas high up in the tree tops, buzz buzzing away. He had seen a Veery and heard the wood thrush singing while on the path by the JCC. Also saw several brightly colored yellow-rumped warblers and caught a glimpse of the Great Crested flycatcher that Ian had seen on Friday. The orioles and yellow warblers are very vocal - singing up a storm.

Hmmm.... what shall I have for breakfast?

I cut through the woods to the upper gardens and as I headed toward the back of the gardens, I saw something huge, sitting on a post. It was an enormous red tailed hawk! It ended up moving to several different locations but it didn't seem terribly fearful of me, so I was able to take lots of pictures. What a magnificent creature.

Then it was on to the invasive pull where Duane Hillis with his super human strength and special root removal tools, dug out more buckthorn in his quest for 100% removal of this pesty bush. Thanks Duane! Katherine, Jackie and I tackled a different type of formidable foe - the garlic mustard. We cleared out one whole section in between the upper and lower gardens which was most satisfying. Then we began a short stint in the overgrown path that goes to the brick house in the lower gardens. That will be an ongoing project for sure.