Foxes and Crowns

Saturday morning at the Park, with some nice birds. I found the Carolina Wrens that have been sounding off there for a couple of months, in the trees along the golf course.

There were at least two Golden-crowned Kinglets around. This seems to be a banner year for these little guys.

Hardest to find were the Fox Sparrows. They were in their usual location -- the far end of Woodcock Meadow (= Upper Field) -- but made themselves very diffiicult to observe!

Strangely, no Juncos and no American Tree Sparrows.

52 Morning Doves and an Eastern Towhee

'Nuff said.

Wind and sun

Bright windy day in Nahanton Park, with Suzette. We found the first Tree Sparrows of the season and a Fox Sparrow (probably one of several) in the copse near the upper parking lot. Also Juncos, Song Sparrows, and White-throated Sparrows. From the upper garden, we saw this hawk soar by --

-- which the picture shows to be a Coopers Hawk, looking short-tailed on account of the wind. In the margin between pond and soccer field, along with some Chickadees, we found this Golden-crowned Kinglet --

Beautiful Orange-crowned Warbler!

Cardinal Foraging

Clocks turned back and an extra hour of sleep!

Got to the park at 7:15. It was cloudy and gray and about 50 degrees.

Didn't post last week because it was so quiet, but the highlight was a black-throated green in the upper gardens which totally made my day.

Today, the usual seagulls were flying overhead. It was family time in the lower gardens. Along the scrub on the beginning of the path loop were families of house finches and gold finches enjoying tiny little orange berries. The chickadees were in on it too. At least 10 mourning doves paraded along the path. 

Some robins and blue jays, but not in the huge numbers seen previously. Song sparrows were singing and in the distance I could hear a white-throated sparrow and a carolina wren. Several juncos twittered and flew about.

I ran into Mary Lou and we were surprised at how very quiet it was. We walked to the upper gardens which was equally quiet save for a cardinal, some house sparrows and gold finches when suddenly, an orange-crowned warbler appeared in the attractive honeysuckle vine which the hummingbirds love. We got a great view and it was very distinctive with the black line through it's eye, yellow undertail and olive green/gray back. Since we had seen one on Haynes' walk early in Oct., we had to surmise that it was most likely a second one, but who knows... 

Signs of fall despite the balmy weather!

White-throated sparrow

It was a cool 48 degrees at 7:30 a.m. this morning. It was slightly overcast, but burning off.

The lower gardens were actually quite active this morning, even without the sun fully out.

Seagulls appeared overhead and blue jays squawked and flew about. Robins were in great abundance.

Last weekend, we saw one junco in Woodcock meadow, but today there were several in the lower gardens as well as white-throated sparrows - all leading to the conclusion that fall is really here, even though it feels like Indian summer.

Molting Goldfinch

Several house finches were busy nabbing berries from a crabapple tree. Song sparrows were everywhere as well as some swamp sparrows and chipping sparrows. Thanks to Haynes' great picture from yesterday, I believe I saw the field sparrow as well. A female cardinal was perched on a garden post. A couple of yellow rumps appeared and then disappeared just as quickly. Which reminds me - where are the palm warblers? Is it too late or are they still to come?

The upper garden has many of the same, but with several molting goldfinches still working on what looked like dead sunflowers - withered and drooping, but they seemed quite happy. The goldfinch in the picture at right was interested in this cosmos in the lower gardens.

Bill's Morning Glories

Bill, one of our gardeners, had this spectacular display of morning glories in his garden. I can see where this flower got it's name from. What could be more cheerful in the morning than to see this vine, covered with the most spectacular azure blue/purple flowers. It makes you smile and feel happy and appreciate the incredible beauty that nature has to offer.

Every time I go to the park, I leave feeling so lucky that we have such a special slice of nature right here in Newton. I can't wait until our Conservation Restriction materializes. We really need to protect  this park.

Is this Indian Summer?

Beautiful morning at Nahanton Park ... I found this bright Field Sparrow at the upper garden, 

and this Painted Lady in the lower garden.














Also, at the foot of the lower garden, there was this bird. Quiz time! What is it?

Where did all the birds go?

Monarch Butterfly

7:15 a.m. 71 degrees and overcast.

It was eerily quiet at the park this morning. Was there a mass exodus last night? Didn't hear any bird sounds at all.

Eventually, some song sparrows turned up and a few blue jays. There was a group of house sparrows too. Not one goldfinch, but a couple of robins.

One thing I will say, is this has been a really decent comeback year for the monarch butterfly. I'm not sure why, but I've been seeing more than I've seen in the last several years which is quite a pleasure. They're so beautiful.

I headed to the upper gardens hoping that maybe that was the spot where the birds were congregating and found it rather quiet up there too. Several seagulls and Canada geese flew overhead. I tried to be very patient and eventually, I believe I saw the clay-colored sparrow that Haynes saw a few days ago. I'm not sure enough to say 100%, but I'm pretty confident (because Haynes had such a great picture to look at on the blog), so that would have been my first viewing on my own. There seemed to be one swamp sparrow and then several song sparrows, some of them practicing singing for next spring and they really did need some practice. They must have been young ones. I ran into Mary Lou and she hadn't seen anything unusual either.

There were several robins, a few chippers, a female cardinal, several chickadees and a colorful Eastern phoebe.

Maybe there will be a new wave of migrants next weekend!