Good fishing days

The three Green Herons were on the same three logs across from the dock this morning. Here are today's Dragonflies:

Male Blue Dasher

Female Blue Dragonlet?

Female Eastern Pondhawk

Besides the Dragonfly, I came across two birds stuck for various amounts of time in netting like this. At the least, I think the garden should ban netting across the tops of plots. 

There were also a lot of birds:

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  1
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  2     pond
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)  1
Green Heron (Butorides virescens)  3     Lined up exactly as before, across the river
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)  1
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)  3
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica)  1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)  4
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)  1     f
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)  5
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  2
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) (Colaptes auratus auratus/luteus)  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens)  3     some song
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)  1
Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus)  1
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)  1
Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus)  3
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)  2
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)  6
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)  1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)  4     bridge
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  6
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)  5
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)  3
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)  8
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  45
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)  12     mostly quiet
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)  2
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)  10
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)  4
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)  10
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)  1
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  8
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  4
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)  1     im M
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)  2
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)  3
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)  1
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)  10

Never a dull moment

A visit to Nahanton Park is never without its surprises. Today it was the three Green Herons lined up across the river from the boat launch (conspicuous but too far for a good picture); the Northern Water Snake at the picnic tables;

the deer thundering into the upper field, realizing this wasn't a good place to be either, and thundering off again, seen later quietly in the woods

The odont of the day was Common Whitetail, male

and female

Here's the bird list

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)  1
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  1     pond
Green Heron (Butorides virescens)  4     one flyover early at lower garden; 3 lined up on far bank of the Charles at the boat launch.
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)  2
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica)  3
Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus)  1     f
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)  6
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) (Colaptes auratus auratus/luteus)  2
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)  1     back of upper garden
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus)  1
Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus)  2     song; one at river, one in forest
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)  2     song
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)  4
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)  1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)  5
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  8
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)  4
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)  4
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)  7     noisy
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus)  1     Nature Center
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  40
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)  12
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)  1
Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)  5
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)  10
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  15
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus)  1     im m, path by soccer field
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)  15
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)  1     Nature Center

bunnies, birds, bugs, and pipes

Nice morning at Nahanton Park, with lots of breeding activity, as Suzette said. In addition to the birds and bunnies, I saw a couple of groundhogs run out of the lower garden, and identified four Dragonfly species in the upper ("Woodcock") field: Twelve-spotted Skimmer and the three flashy males shown below.

Slaty Skimmer

Widow Skimmer

Eastern Amberwing

Also, the Indian Pipe Monotropa uniflora is in full "bloom" in the forest (near the fork):

Here's the bird list:

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)  2     pond
Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)  1     pond
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)  1
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica)  1
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)  3
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) (Colaptes auratus auratus/luteus)  2
Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus virens)  3
Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe)  2
Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus)  2     pr, in trees between pond and soccer field
Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus)  3     silent
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus)  3
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)  2
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)  2
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)  2
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)  5
Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)  6
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)  3
House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)  8     Lots of song
American Robin (Turdus migratorius)  30
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis)  12     silent
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos)  1     upper field
European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)  2     im
Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia)  10
Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina)  1     upper field
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia)  15
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)  4
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)  1
Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula)  4
House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus)  5     all female type
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)  8

Good to be back!

Cedar Waxwing

It's been far too long since I've been able to get to the park. It was so nice to go over this morning. It was a pleasant 66 degrees and overcast and thankfully, not very buggy.

I was immediately greeted by the bubbly song of a house wren which is always a nice way to start the morning. As I started down the path to the lower gardens, I heard very high pitched sounds and I started looking for cedar waxwings. And there they were - all around me! Even got to see one feeding it's

Waxwing baby being fed

baby! There were bunnies of all different sizes all over the place. I saw some disturbing looking fluttering coming from some netting and I went over to investigate. There was a young cardinal caught inside. I went to try and help her, but she finally figured out how to exit the way she most likely got in - through an opening in the bottom on the ground. Thank god she got out of there. She was very panicked.

There were robins, song sparrows, mourning doves and maybe one or two yellow warblers. What was noticeable was the lack of tree swallows and yellow warblers. Time is marching on....

Yellow Warbler

The upper gardens yielded some chickadees doing their aerial feeding gymnastics in the trees, more bunnies, cardinals, chickadees, goldfinches and a flicker. Caught a really quick  glimpse of a hummingbird, but couldn't even tell if it was a male or female. I'm just glad it was there. A catbird meowed from some shrubs at the back. The sumac is starting to bloom as well as lythrum, fleabane, St. Johns wort and coneflowers in the meadow. A beautiful color palette of white, yellow and purple.

Gloriosa Daisy

The gardens are looking quite successful with lots of ripening vegetables and the 6ft or more towering sunflowers are in bloom. They're always so spectacular! I headed down to the soccer field where I could hear the titmice calling from the woods. I was hoping for a heron or sandpiper in the pond, but just as I got there it started raining. I was worried about my camera, so I headed back and saw this gorgeous doe in the meadow!

Doe

It's just amazing what you can see when you least expect it. We are so lucky to have this park. I'm including a photo from a very brief visit yesterday, where I saw this butterfly that I don't think I've ever seen before. It's called a red spotted purple and it looked as if it had just emerged from its cocoon as it was on the gravel drying its wings in the sun.

Red Spotted Purple Butterfly

The firestation is fully ensconced but doesn't seem to be bothering anything. I hope they enjoy their beautiful surroundings! There will be some great fall bird walks that I'll be posting soon to the NahantonPark.org website, so please check it out soon....