Lake Springfield – August 2024

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We set out to the Clay Henshaw Memorial Access on Lake Springfield since we had not viewed the lake from that perspective before. It was a little too late in the morning for birding, but I took a few pictures of flowers growing in the area.

There was a large (lotus?) leaf on the water surface that had interesting patterns of green in the deteriorating leaf that curled upward at the edges.

The sun was very bright, and we could feel the temperature rising.

We headed over to the boathouse…. which is our favorite place on the lake. The area around the building is full of native plants created by the area Master Naturalists…some with seed pods already.

As we started toward the meadow, I noticed that that the purple martins have already left. There were a few birds near the feeders…and the moon was visible in the nearly clear sky.

I took pictures of dragonflies that landed on the paved path or in the grass long enough for me to photograph. Most of them didn’t…they were on the prowl for breakfast.

The thistles were attracting skippers, but I didn’t see larger butterflies feeding in the meadow.

The sunny meadow had a lot of tall vegetation…not as colorful as earlier in the season. Many of the meadow plants are producing seed now. The goldenrod has not started blooming yet.

As we got to the far side of the meadow, a bird flew into a tree. I got several reasonably good pictures: a Great Crested Flycatcher!

There are two trenches made by storm runoff in that area…and both are dry right now. It’s been a dry August here.

We turned around and made our way back to the car…pleased with our morning activity before the heat of the day became overwhelming.

Rea Farm, “The Beanery”

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Our second day at the Cape May Spring (birding) Festival, started at 7 rather than 5:30 AM like the first one and was closer to our hotel at Rea Farm – a former lima bean farm (thus “The Beanery” name) owned by the Rea Family with birding rights leased to New Jersey Audubon. We had a large enough group that the guides split us into two and we made different circuits through the property. The land has some cultivated areas, but most has returned to heavily vegetated thickets and wet forest. Some of the farm buildings and abandoned machinery are being taken over by vegetation.

There has been some effort to remove invasive plants and give natives a chance to grow. We heard a lot of birds and I saw many with my binoculars. It was a very cloudy day – not great for catching fast moving birds. The only reasonably good picture I got of a bird was of a Great Crested Flycatcher.

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There were a few spittle bugs – not that you can see the nymph of the froghopper (Cercopoidea) through the foam.

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I reverted to plants as subjects for my camera on the hike. There was a lot of variety. The zoom on the camera makes these photographs quick and I didn’t step off the mowed grass path. I had tucked my jean leggings into by socks and sprayed my boots and leggings with insect repellent…but the area is known for its ticks….not a place to go off trail.

Overall – the walk through the variety of habitats at The Beanery was a great way to start our second day at the festival.

Baltimore Birding – part 3

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We continued our Baltimore Birding experience with a walk around Fort McHenry the next morning. It was mostly sunny and warmer. Even with the better light and no rain – I saw more birds than I managed to photograph. I’m featuring the ones that say still long enough for me to get the camera in position. There were quite a few Great Crested Flycatchers (I remember seeing one in my back yard last year about time…posted about it here).

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There were American robins in the grass.

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The small birds moved around rapidly in the trees. I think this one is an orchard oriole.

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I photographed mushrooms when I saw them. The mulch was support several groupings….and a sycamore stump had a collection of small shelf fungus.

There was a grackle aggressively defending a trash can at the front of the visitor center.

There were mallards about. There was a female that looked calm for the moment…the males were being very aggressive.

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There was a ‘mixed breed’ duck…probably mallard and a domestic duck of some kind.

There were some sycamores along the path that did not look healthy. I wondered if salt water incursion was happening through the seawall around the fort….or maybe they are all the same age and getting old. I took a picture of one that already had its top gone; there was a knot with leaves sprouting at about eye level with ‘wrinkles’ on all sides – almost like skin.

We headed over to a marshy are beside the fort…and I managed to finally get a picture of a one kind of swallow we say: a tree swallow. We saw barn swallows on our walk as well.

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Overall our Baltimore Birding experience provided a different perspective on the city. I would guess that birding in just about any city would have the same results. Maybe it is something we should do more often….although the amount of trash (particularly in the water) is always depressing.