The Perfect Summer Day

Queen Anne's lace

7:30 a.m., 60 degrees, clear and sunny. It is the kind of summer day when you feel like you are in heaven.

As you can see, Queen Anne's lace is in full bloom. The gardens are starting to bear fruit and the tree swallows have moved on.

Nuthatch

There are still some yellow warblers and lots of robins and their young. The house wrens are busy feeding their babies which are now begging for food. A female or young cowbird ambles across the low grass. A nuthatch yaks from away from the oriole nest tree in the lower gardens while a female downy pecks away on the dead Tree of Heaven.

The upper gardens were much the same however, there were goldfinches, cardinals, catbirds and house finches. I was surprised to see blue gray gnatcatchers high up in the oaks. Because of the time of year, I hope that means that they bred at the park this summer. That would be so nice.

Deer

I was surprised to see this beautiful deer happily standing in the sunny soccer field during the day. It's been before, but it is definitely a rare appearance. Barn swallows were dipping and diving, robins and their babes were in great abundance as well as some yellow warblers. A peewee called from the JCC woods.

Titmice were in the pine tree in the parking circle making themselves known.

Solitary Sandpiper

I was curious to see what might be in the pond today and whether there was any water left as it can be all dried up by now.

With all the rain we've had this summer, there was indeed water, but it was low. There were two sandpipers that I could see. While there, I was certain they were two solitary sandpipers, which kind of negated the idea of "solitary", but now that I see the picture I took, perhaps they were spotted sandpipers? If anyone knows, I would love to be sure.

Black Swallowtail

Though the meadow near the Winchester St. entrance is mostly filled with that annoying artemisia, it's nice to see a few wildflowers like these cone flowers which a black swallowtail found very inviting. Some black-eyed Susans are blooming as well.

I had thrown in a bunch of wildflower seeds last year, but I don't see that any of them have come to fruition.

I talked to a gardener who said the woodchucks have been getting into all the gardens and devouring seedlings and plants right and left. Not only can they dig under fences, but she felt that they can also climb over fences. That must be very frustrating. Gardening can be a tough business!

Thanks Haynes for confirming that they were indeed Solitary Sandpipers.