In:
...through:
...and out again:
We saw a lot of American Redstarts, including one mother feeding her young:
And this singing male:
Their calls vary so much from bird to bird that several times we were fooled, wondering what we were hearing, only to find yet another redstart. Oh well!Gretch got a lifer Louisiana Waterthrush, and we heard a Cerulean Warbler near the creek. I've gotten Ceruleans two out of the three times I've been there. Our complete list:
Mallard 2
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 2
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Eastern Phoebe 14
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Red-eyed Vireo 5
American Crow 5
Common Raven 1
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Tufted Titmouse 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Wood Thrush 3
American Robin 3
Gray Catbird 9
Northern Parula 2
Magnolia Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 2
Prairie Warbler 2
Cerulean Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 11
Ovenbird 2
Louisiana Waterthrush 2
Common Yellowthroat 3
Eastern Towhee 8
Chipping Sparrow 5
Song Sparrow 2
Northern Cardinal 3
American Goldfinch 1
Hunting for warblers in June when the trees are all leafed out is pretty much futile; most of our IDs were by ear, confirmed by BirdJam.
We saw tons of butterflies, including the red spots on this Red-spotted Purple:
I saw some flowers I didn't recognize until I looked them up later:
Purple-flowering Raspberry (Rubus odoratus) Apparently this is a very fragrant member of the rose family; sadly, I didn't think to smell it. Hmph.
I think this is Creeping Charlie (Lysimachia nummularia).We also saw some snakes:
Gretchen said that this guy was about to shed his skin; she could tell because of the blue coating over his eyes. There were more, just sunning themselves:
They were chummy!Tomorrow (or sometime soon): an update on the garden!
