When I saw the tiny yellow bird flitting among the branches of the juniper, I thought at first it was the Yellow Warbler I'd seen before. It moved so fast, and stayed partially hidden so much, that I thought I'd never get a clear view. Then it flew from branch to branch inside the juniper...and I lucked out. It's a Wilson's Warbler, Wilsonia pusilla. Once again, having the image in the camera let me identify the bird--in the shadow of the tree, I had not noticed the black cap.
Another day, in the afternoon, I spotted yet another yellow flash, but this time didn't get as clear a focus...it's a Dickcissel, Spiza americana. The first spring we had the place, we had dozens of these singing loudly in the fencerows, but I hadn't seen one since. There were two in the bush...but only one at a time in the images.	Upstream from the south trail crossing, Westbrook has a flat, gravelly bed--the gravel came from a previous ownerleaser attempt to make a tractor crossing, I suspect, as this kind of gravel isn't native here. But it makes an easy trail to follow between thickets and trees.
In one of these thickets, I could just see little bird shapes moving about, and hear small complaining noises. I stood still. The birds came closer--trying to stay in cover, but eventually one came into full view and held the pose long enough for me to focus. A white-eyed vireo, Vireo griseus, looking blue-eyed instead--notice the yellow "spectacles."
You may read that nothing eats osage oranges but horses, and that's why they're called horse apples. But there are no horses in the woods...and the chattering squirrels in the trees seem quite capable of dismantling the fruit.	How can you not covet your neighbor's field when it looks like this? This is the field south of Owl Pavilion, looking back east towards my neighbor's section of the creek woods.
Male blue dashers are always decorative, whatever pose they take.	So are variegated meadowhawks. This is the first adult male variegated I've seen this year...so it's not surprising that another name for them is "autumn meadowhawk."
At first I wondered if the black knot on the fence wire was alive...but then it flew away. An impressively large robber fly.
Both of these are Rio Grande leopard frogs, Rana berlandieri, even though one is brown and one is green.

Back to Archive