When September Ends

After a rainy day yesterday, it was perfectly clear and sunny this Sunday. It was just a great day for a birding hike around the park and I saw plenty of them, including; Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Gray Catbird, Black-capped Chickadee, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch and even a Cooper's Hawk. One of the first interesting things I spotted was not a bird though. There were TONS of these fragile, thin mushrooms growing out of the wood chip trail on the south side. They were in clusters of 5 to 20 or so and had just the faintest hint of pale blue coloring. Many of the tops were not flat like a disc but rather flared out like a flower. I have no idea what kind they are and couldn't find any good information online either. One of the birds that I probably saw the most of today were White-throated Sparrows. They are just everywhere you can find standing weeds yet and I'm assuming they are looking for seeds in the dried up foliage. At first glance these look pretty much like any other sparrow, only just slightly larger. If you can catch a glimpse of them from the side or front, you'll see a little patch of bright yellow and a kind of "furry" looking white patch on their throat for which they are named. Here in the same patch of weeds I spotted this Goldfinch who was looking rather pale and fitting in with many of the leaves that are now just starting to turn a dull yellow.