Quiet Morning...

Common Yellowthroat Female

It was about 62 degrees and a little cloudy, but a nice morning for a walk.

I heard a peewee calling from the JCC woods the whole time I was in the lower gardens. An Eastern Kingbird was doing it's flycatcher thing when it wasn't perched atop a tall tree near the parking lot.

Zinnias

The flowers and fruit in the lower gardens are mature and colorful. Saw several goldfinches, song sparrows and catbirds. There were a couple of blue gray gnatcatchers in the crabapple tree in the center flitting here and there. A grackle and then seagull flew overhead and blue jays were screeching back and forth to each other. Was surprised I only saw a few robins, but then I got a great view of this common yellowthroat female. Thought the house wrens must be gone, but finally heard a scolding sound and there was a family of them in some scrub near the golf course. Chimney swifts were circling overhead and I saw some swallows, but they were too high up and couldn't identify them.

In the upper gardens, the Concord grapes have ripened to a nice purply blue. Saw catbirds, song sparrows, goldfinches and a cardinal. The bees seemed to be in good shape in all their various hives. No sign of any warblers yet.

Down by the soccer field I saw a mother female common yellowthroat, a band of chickadees, a downy woodpecker, a female hummingbird and a brief glimpse of what I thought was the young grosbeak. Our blue heron was wading in the pond hunting. Maybe that's why it comes later in the season. It knows the water level is down.

It is very Indian summerish with the cool nights and warm days. Looking forward to the warblers coming down to visit!

Another Baby Boom!

Baby Barn Swallow preening

62 degrees at 6:45 a.m. A few clouds, but a really nice morning!

As soon as I arrived I heard a yellow warbler singing and pee sees calling from the woods.

There were young ones everywhere!!!!!! Tons of robin juveniles everywhere! Two or three baby barn swallows were perched in the lower gardens. This particular one (to left) was preening when all of a sudden, mom or dad came by. It opened it's beak and the parent actually fed it on the fly! Dropped something in and kept on going! Never saw that before…

Fluffy catbird babies were huddled in trees figuring out their next move… Goldfinches were flitting

Giant Sunflower

about. A common yellowthroat female popped out from a low bush with a "tick, tick, tick". The gardens are a riot of color with ripening veggies, huge sunflowers, lilies, dahlias, morning glory and all kinds of beautiful flora. Bunnies bounded away, their white tails flashing behind them. House wrens were singing and the babies could be heard from the box near the parking lot. A young flicker landed on a garden fence. Song sparrows were very busy on the ground looking for food.

A baby rose breasted grosbeak male flashed his bright red chest in the sunlight from a tree branch above me. No sign of a parent. Baby chickadees were out and about, so young that their colors

Rose-breasted Grosbeak baby

were not all crisped up yet. In fact all the young looked a little rough around the edges!

Then I saw a mystery bird (to right). I thought it must be some kind of a flycatcher. It was sort of olive gray on the outside, but quite yellow on its belly. It's long tail had a slightly brownish red cast to it. Not quite as big as a robin, but not small like a warbler either. Is it possible that it's a young great crested flycatcher? At one point another one came along and I couldn't tell if it was another young one or a parent. However, there was no sign of a crest, which is why I'm a little confused.

Young Flycatcher?

If anyone can ID, please let me know!

The upper gardens had a downy woodpecker and was equally as colorful as the lower. Lots of goodies hanging out in a tree, song sparrows flying here and there and a house wren feeding noisy babies in a birch bark bird house in someone's garden. Pee wees seemed to be calling from all sides in the woods. A mocking bird appeared. Haven't seen a lot of them this summer. Two oriole young were chasing each other and making a racket. I thought I saw a kinglet, but couldn't be sure. Definitely saw a baby yellow- throat though. Think I saw a baby red-eyed vireo and what I thought might be a blue gray gnatcatcher actually turned out to be a young male parula! I was so excited. I wonder if they bred at the park this summer… That would be so cool!

Blue Heron

Down near the soccer field, I heard the red-bellied woodpecker and saw some strange looking young in the trees. I really couldn't identify them. They looked gray with white chests and bellies, but there was so much going on and so many birds around like nuthatches and chickadees, I just couldn't figure it out. I also saw a different grayish baby that fanned it's tail in such a way that I thought it might be a very young redstart which would be very exciting.

I was so excited to see that our friend is back! The great blue that arrives in late July - early August. It was in the pond looking for something good to eat.

Mid Summer

Lilies

7:45 a.m. and it was already 75 degrees and hazy. You can tell it's going to be a scorcher. The same little stand of purple liatris I've been seeing year after year is in bloom as well as the white fleabane and yellow St. John's wort in the meadow. A phoebe was perched on one of the large rocks. The house wren greeted me as I entered the lower gardens with his cheerful, bubbling song. Beautiful,lilies were in full bloom in someone's garden. What a miracle of nature.

I was distressed to see the large house sparrow family hanging around. Having had success this year, I fear they will be back next year for sure. Saw lots of robins and their young ones, catbirds, a flicker, female and young red wing blackbirds, song sparrows, yellow warblers, and a mourning dove.

Poor baby catbird

The upper gardens was fairly quiet, although I managed to catch a quick glimpse of a blue gray gnatcatcher. While trying to hone in on the gnatcatcher, I discovered a common yellowthroat male! A beautiful yellow swallowtail butterfly floated by but disappeared into the woods. Downy woodpeckers
and a house finch family were busy looking for food. Then I saw a dead baby catbird on the path, the 2nd dead baby I've seen in a couple of weeks, the other being a baby robin. I'm not sure what happened to it. Very sad...

Young female grosbeak

As I headed down to the soccer field, I came across two birds who seemed most interested in a clump of knotweed. A young female oriole was flitting around as well as a young female grosbeak! The female grosbeak seemed to follow me as I walked along edge of the soccer field. She moved along from tree to tree until I left to look at the pond. I was hoping for a heron, but only heard the frantic screams of frogs as they jumped in the pond, fearing for their lives as I approached. I heard bits and pieces of a wood thrush singing. A vireo was also singing. I didn't hold high hopes of finding it, but surprisingly, it appeared on a bare branch where I could actually see him open his beak and sing! What a concert.

On their own...

Goldfinch

Got to the park around 7:00 a.m. Wanted to beat the heat. It was already 75 degrees, but somehow feeling a little more pleasant than the last few mornings. However, the mosquitos were quite annoying.

The wildflower meadow is looking quite nice. There are now black-eyed susans (rudbeckia) and purple cone flower (echinacea) in bloom along with the white fleabane. Saw this goldfinch happily munching on
some seeds.

As I entered the lower gardens, I saw a mourning dove fly into a tree with some nesting material, but couldn't see where it went. However a second dove sat resting nearby. I was distressed to see Mr. House sparrow, perched on a garden fence, looking like he owned the whole park. I'm terribly afraid he has already bred this summer as I saw several house sparrows on the mulberry tree last week. There is a nest in the box in the upper gardens

Mourning dove

Gloriosa Daisies

as Haynes has pointed out, which definitely has a sparrow nest in it. Saw at least 3 rabbits and 2 robins gathered together - looked like they were having a little party! Thought I might have heard some kind of a warbler other than a yellow, but couldn't see it or quite identify the song. Heard the house wren and a yellow warbler and then came across these gloriosa daisies on the side of the path in the lower gardens. They look like escapees from someone's garden - one of those miracles of nature that make Nahanton

Native Day Lily

Park so much fun. I saw a woodchuck, who immediately noticed me. He tipped his nose up in there and started sniffing and as soon as I got my camera pointed, he was completely gone. You have to admire their speed - surprising for such fat, fluffy, logy looking creatures.

Headed to the mulberry tree where the birds were enjoying a feast! Saw lots of young birds today, but now they're on their own, no one to feed them anymore or watch out for them. A young oriole was in the mulberry, along with cardinals, a warbling vireo, song sparrows etc. There's still a tree swallow hanging around the next box near the parking lot, but on the whole, didn't see very many today.

Mushroom

Down at the circle near the soccer field, I saw baby chickadees looking for bugs in the tree bark and a
few juvenile female blackbirds. The pond was full of bull frogs that leapt into the water as I approached. Couldn't see much and far too buggy but I did hear a strange two-part whistle from high up in a tree that was non-stop and interesting. At times, there were clearly two birds whistling. Looked and looked and couldn't see anything, although at one point I thought I saw a bird fly to the next tree top. Was it a red winged blackbird or something else?

Saw these beautiful, tiny little mushrooms. Not sure what they are, but I'd like to call them fairy mushrooms because they were so dainty.

During the Heat: 4th of July Birding

Eastern Cottontail

 I think Haynes had the right idea with an early start today; 10:30am was already on the warm side and like this rabbit, sitting in the shade sounded best. In addition to Haynes' list, I had a Red-Bellied Woodpecker and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. The ruby-throat was in the upper gardens, my first for the year. While this hummer's back was towards me and at some distance, I was reminded how stunningly colored they are in just the right light.  Notably I missed the black-and-white warbler and common yellowthroat.

Yellow Warbler

This Yellow Warbler in the lower gardens had just finished taking a bath in the puddle by the water tap. He looked quite damp and was busy preening and shaking water from his feathers.

House Finch

Juvenile Chipping Sparrow

This little House Finch just held still and posed for me, showing off his bright red coloration.
















Am I correct in identifying this as a juvenile Chipping Sparrow? Sparrows are always a little confusing to me.

White-tailed Deer

Sometimes its hard to tell who is more startled at a given encounter, myself or the animal . But today I am certain that I was more startled when I looked up and found this deer just barely into the woods.

Before the heat sets in

I walked through the park before the heat of the day. Breezy, partly overcast .... I've been trying to learn lepids and odonts. I managed to identify

Common Whitetail
Blue Dasher F
Cabbage White M & F
Dark-banded Owlet

There was also a deer in the Wildflower Meadow. Didn't see any weasels. Here's the bird list.

Mourning Dove  5
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)  3
Eastern Wood-Pewee  1
Eastern Phoebe  3
Warbling Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  3
Blue Jay  2
Tree Swallow  10
Barn Swallow  2
Black-capped Chickadee  4
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
House Wren  6
American Robin  25
Gray Catbird  15
Black-and-white Warbler  1     heard at circle
Common Yellowthroat  1
Yellow Warbler  3
Chipping Sparrow  2     juv
Song Sparrow  12
Northern Cardinal  6
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  3     incl 2 ad M
Red-winged Blackbird  12     many on soccer field
Common Grackle  2
Baltimore Oriole  1
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  8
House Sparrow  2     at box at upper garden. Nest but no eggs or nestlings

Settling down...

Baby Barn Swallow

It was 67 degrees and sunny. I was greeted in the parking lot by some cute, crisply marked chipping sparrows - their caps bright, rufous red. They were foraging the grasses along with robin parents and babies and red-winged blackbirds.

In the lower gardens, I saw a couple of baby barn swallows perched on fencing looking on as their parents were preoccupied with a puddle under the water faucet. By the way, the garden contents are looking quite delicious - vegetables and flowers alike! Saw many of our regulars like the catbirds, song sparrows and cardinals and lots of families - an oriole dad and baby, and warbler dad and baby. I thought I caught a glimpse of a red-eyed vireo, but it was so brief I couldn't be certain.

Tired chippy!

The white fruited mulberry is a hot spot right now. From squirrels, to house sparrows, titmice, mourning doves, grosbeaks, song sparrows, catbirds, orioles, goldfinches and eastern kingbirds, it was quite attractive. As I stood watching, a tiny weasel appeared from the meadow and ran across the path. Then Mary Lou who had appeared saw it with something small in it's mouth! Instant replay of a few weeks ago - carrying babies from one location to another. Is this another family of short tailed weasels? Duane has even seen them in his driveway. Amazing how we've never seen them before and now three sightings in a couple of weeks!

The upper garden was fairly quiet. The noisiest faction being the house wrens. I saw this chipmunk

lying indolently on this fence beam. I wondered if it might be a young one because it looked totally exhausted. No self-respecting chipmunk would let me get this close!

Headed down to the soccer field where I could only hear a downy, red-bellied woodpecker and peewee. Did catch a glimpse of a yellow warbler and baby and also, strangely a female hummingbird.

Other than that, it was pretty quiet.