It is now now officially summer according to the calendar and this Saturday's visit to the park was a great kickoff to the season. The impact of our wet spring weather is now obvious when walking through the park. Cattails are booming where large areas were crushed by the winter snows and foliage in general is overgrown everywhere.
All along the trail the field grass is over 6 feet tall, making it quite hard to spot a Deer from a distance now. When I got to the north side, it was a bird bonanza. Within about 10 minutes time I spotted a Baltimore Oriole, Yellow Warbler, Goldfinch, Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow and finally a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. I first noticed him right off the trail and it would've made for a beautiful shot but I blew it and had to track him down later from a distance.
On the paved trail were lots of slugs and as I was watching my step not to crush them, I noticed some other very small creatures. They were so small that I had to pick one up to investigate before I realized they were snails! I've never noticed them at this stage and it was pretty obvious that they had just started growing their shells. They were smaller than the tip of my finger.
A short time later I spotted a Common Yellowthroat in a tree above me. He was stayed put for a while and I got to see him singing which was a first. I realized quickly that I'd heard that same call numerous times before and incorrectly associated it with a Yellow Warbler. I believe the 2 are quite similar sounding so hopefully I can hear more of both this summer and learn to distinguish them.
As I was heading towards the baseball fields on the east side I noticed lots of dark little bugs on the trail -only they didn't seem to move like bugs. Upon closer inspection I realized they were tiny little frogs. They were about the same size as the snails I'd seen earlier and they pretty hard to photograph. There must have been hundreds of them and you could almost see the grass moving with their activity.
All along the trail the field grass is over 6 feet tall, making it quite hard to spot a Deer from a distance now. When I got to the north side, it was a bird bonanza. Within about 10 minutes time I spotted a Baltimore Oriole, Yellow Warbler, Goldfinch, Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow and finally a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. I first noticed him right off the trail and it would've made for a beautiful shot but I blew it and had to track him down later from a distance. 
On the paved trail were lots of slugs and as I was watching my step not to crush them, I noticed some other very small creatures. They were so small that I had to pick one up to investigate before I realized they were snails! I've never noticed them at this stage and it was pretty obvious that they had just started growing their shells. They were smaller than the tip of my finger. 
A short time later I spotted a Common Yellowthroat in a tree above me. He was stayed put for a while and I got to see him singing which was a first. I realized quickly that I'd heard that same call numerous times before and incorrectly associated it with a Yellow Warbler. I believe the 2 are quite similar sounding so hopefully I can hear more of both this summer and learn to distinguish them. 
As I was heading towards the baseball fields on the east side I noticed lots of dark little bugs on the trail -only they didn't seem to move like bugs. Upon closer inspection I realized they were tiny little frogs. They were about the same size as the snails I'd seen earlier and they pretty hard to photograph. There must have been hundreds of them and you could almost see the grass moving with their activity.
No comments:
Post a Comment