Birds and people alike are happy about a break from the heat

Common Yellowthroat

This post combines Friday and Saturday visits this week. Today it was 61 degrees and sunny. Yay! It was cool out. A beautiful morning at the park.

The lower gardens had lots going on - especially on my revisit with Haynes. When I first arrived there were robins, mourning doves and lots of song sparrows. A common yellowthroat pictured to left was seen on Friday. Clearly not the very yellow one that Haynes had seen a week ago. I thought I saw it again yesterday because I saw a bird with quite bit of yellow on it's breast, but on closer inspection it had some brown striations on it's side and an eye ring. After some thought, I believe it was a prairie warbler.

Hummingbird

A humming bird was busy darting in and out of some red flowers while blue jays made themselves known. A few cedar waxwings were high up in a tree towards the golf course side. Friday, Carolina wrens were singing in their repeats of three. I know they were nearby, but couldn't locate them. House wrens are still present, including their tail-less offspring! Cardinals were busy foraging, and a catbird was busy plucking berries.

Chipmunk

I know people aren't that excited about chipmunks, but really, how cutes is this little guy or gal? And so easy to photograph. That's the best part.

Great Blue Skimmer

A very exciting development in the lower gardens was Haynes discovering a bobolink high up in a treetop on the Winchester St. side. He captured a picture and maybe he will post it later. I haven't seen one there in ages, but he wasn't surprised to see it as fall approaches.

Morning Glory

The upper gardens had two hummingbirds, a flicker and several chickadees. Titmice were busy in the oak trees and the willow tree toward the bee hives was a very active site. I briefly saw a warbler that appeared gray with a possible eye ring. At first I thought it was a bluegrass gnatcatcher, but it didn't have the right tail. Then I thought a kinglet, but it wasn't acting like a kinglet. Haynes and I both saw a blue-winged warbler there, which was really nice. It was very visible which is always a treat. Saw a couple of Eastern phoebes and the tail-less baby house wren.

Donna's Zinnias

Goldfinches were in plentiful supply. I've noticed they love the seeds from the evening primrose and evening primroses have invaded many of the gardens. I now have some that found my gardens at home and it has kept the goldfinches around and visible for much more of the season and that's a good thing. Nuthatches called nasally from the woods at the back of the upper gardens.

The pond still has some water in it, but seems to be pretty quiet save for about four mallards paddling around. The path has become very difficult to get through, so hopefully, we can get it cleared out a little for better access.

The soccer field also had a couple of phoebes. Please join us for three great fall walks in October. Check out our website at: www.nahantonpark.org for details.