Gorgeous weather. Early this morning I had Pine, Cape May, Northern Parula,
American Redstart and Black & White Warblers in the trees overhead. Summer
Tanagers and Baltimore Orioles shared the tangle of vines next to a Tupelo
tree with American Robins, a Great Crested Flycatcher, both Black-billed and
Yellow-billed Cuckoos and White-eyed Vireos. Lots of woodpecker activity
with Red-headed, Red-bellied, Northern Flicker, Downy, Pileated and the less
often seen in my patch, Hairy, all calling, drumming and feeding. American
Goldfinches and Chipping Sparrows have a bumper-crop of babies shrilling and
fluttering to be fed. It seems to have been a good year for Eastern
Bluebirds; the yard is filled with them.
I fished from the dock yesterday and Monarch butterflies constantly streamed
by. The local Ospreys all seem to have gone south but any time I looked up I
saw some, very high up, heading down river. Bald Eagles harassed the
Laughing Gulls on a neighboring dock, periodically throughout the day. At
sunset the gulls took to the air and seemed to be hawking insects,
unfortunately not the no-seeums that drove me inside.
--
Lee Loudenslager Adams
Suggett's Point Warsaw, VA
Fredericksburg, VA
