In the first week of August I took a walk around Sawmill Ponds to see what I could find in mid-summer. There were a few birds and insects (that I could see/find) and lots of flowers.
An egret was scratching his chin strongly for a what seemed like half a minute. I videoed part of the action until it settled for general grooming
A great blue heron was nearby. While taking a few photos I saw a largish bird flash across the scene. On checking my photos, I realized I had caught a shot of half a green heron in the top right🙄. Eventually the great blue heron flew off (in the wrong direction for me)
A small group of what I believe were black ducks (vs mallards) were at the end of the middle pond
Another black, and his reflection, was in the creek at the south end of the ponds. A female wood duck was cruising the ponds
Taking a break from fishing, a cormorant drying his wings
There frequently is a cormorant atop the the concrete column supporting the bridge over the airport parkway next to the ponds.
Quite the perch!
(Yes, those who know the bridge will spot I (roughly) removed some of the trees around the base of the column. The column really is two tone though.😊)
Insects were not the easiest to find, so I didn't find many.
A small white (that's its name) butterfly, a grasshopper, and a bumble bee covered in pollen on a tansy blossom.
No insect is visible here. It is a bunch gall midge.
A professor friend who knows all about these told me: "it's a midge called Rhopalomyia. Deep inside that bunch of leaves are small chambers with bright orange little maggoty larvae."
I found a number of concentrations of Japanese beetles. They really worked over the evening primrose below right.
The snapping turtles had been active in June. Four or five signs indicated, and seek protection for nests, where the eggs were laid. Must not be many raccoons nearby.
Now all the flowers, followed by a few miscellaneous things
Queen Anne's Lace and black-eyed susans, Queen Anne's Lace (with the dark centre petals), meadowsweet
sorbaria, what I thought were smallish daisies but were scentless mayweed (a new one to me), fleabane
On the left, red clover, on the right, alsike clover, I can't tell the difference
Purple loosestrife, wild bergamot, wild rose, morning glory/bindweed (and bee), Canada thistle
Heal all, chicory, tufted vetch, viper's bugloss
Bird's foot trefoil, tansy (2x) sowthistle, yellow woodsorrel
Black-eyed susan (2x), giant sunflower (2x) (small flowers, tall bushy plant), goldenrod (2x)
St John's wort (2x), evening primrose
A stretch of fine willow trees always remind me of a bamboo thicket
The tall wavy common reed grass did not come back this year has it had in previous years
Foxtail grass was blooming in areas that hat not been cut yet
A few sumac leaves had turned orange/red. There are two types of sumac trees at Sawmill, staghorn, with fuzz covered branches and smooth sumac - no fuzz. I only discovered the two types last year when I noticed the different flowers/seeds on them. Staghorn in the middle, smooth on the right
Alder cones (new and last year), growing acorn
Parsnip, fresh seed pods and dried pods
Honeysuckle, elderberry, rose hips, milkweed pod, sorbaria
The grapevines have not produced any grapes, shadows on the trail
A homeless person has moved into the woods (he was sleeping in the open a few weeks ago)
Mushrooms (what else)
A few days later I walked the pathway with my wife, spotted a few things and went back and found more.....
The young rabbits have less "fear" of humans than do the full sized versions. This young one didn't mind us walking up to within 6 or 7 feet of it.
Jerusalem artichoke blossoms, wayfaring tree berries
Then there was this heron.... I spotted it in the last pond going north while on my bike. I stopped at a distance and took a picture, it ignored me. So I carefully crab-walked down the slope to get to it's level. It never paid any attention to me. I spent about 15 minutes watching, videoing and take stills while it ignored me. I then quite obviously stood up and climbed back up the slope.
It never moved, so I walked closer along the path and crab-walked back down. It didn't blink an eye. On this second viewing I was about 15 feet from it. While moving about, as you will see in the video(s) it came within about 6 feet of me. I spent a total of 40-45 minutes with it.
This was the third time I've been up close with a great blue heron in recent weeks. (Mud Lake in July and Andy Haydon this month.) Again I think this was another youngster.
Three great blue heron videos
Watching paint dry - three minutes of the over 30-35 minutes of it not moving, or barely moving. You have to be really keen to watch this one to the end
Essential moves - Two minutes. Watch to end to see how close it got to me, the last bit was pretty well full frame
Five minutes of it moving about. This is the "full version" of it moving around during the approximate 40 minutes I was there. The "Essential Moves" is a précis of this video. You have to be really interested to watch this one to the end
On the way back home I scared a raven up into a tree with its meal
