Hummer fever and a Blue Winged Warbler

Hummingbird

I wanted to get to the park before I went on vacation. It's been a while. Not sure where the time has gone...

It was sunny and clear and pretty quiet. The tree swallows are done breeding and most have left which is also true of the yellow warblers, although a few remain. The meadow has some coneflowers and Queen Anne's lace in bloom. Very pretty.

The gardeners won't be happy, but several bunnies lined the path to the lower gardens and they hurried away as I approached. There were blue jays, robins, goldfinches and song sparrows. Then I was greeted by approximately three hummingbirds - a male, female and young one. I watched them for ages feeding on the sweet pea nectar shown in the photo above. I will never get over the magic of seeing hummingbirds, even though I see them almost everyday at my feeder for the summer. They are the most amazing creatures.

Common Yellow-throat Male

In the upper garden I saw another favorite (oh, who am I kidding, they're all my favorites) - a
common yellowthroat male. There's something about his black superhero mask and coloring that I find beautiful, but sort of comical at the same time. There were more hummers, robins, a family of house finches and a family of house wrens begging mom and dad for food.

Down by the soccer field were baby catbirds and parents eating bright red berries, robins, downies, 2 tree swallows, goldfinches, a pee wee and a few yellow warblers singing. The highlight was a brief sighting of a blue winged warbler. It's been quite a while since I have seen one.

The pond is dried up and couldn't even find a sandpiper. The river was also very low and only saw a song sparrow and a cardinal.