A morning very similar to yesterday vis-a-vis temperature and sunshine but the bird activity was less. Near the bluff itself all was quiet except a single White-breasted nuthatch and a young American Song sparrow. Yesterday in the sunlit goldenrod there were at least a couple of House wrens and a Nashville warbler, but nothing this morning. The woods were quiet on the first pass and had a few juvenile warbler high in the canopy on the second pass. Following the rules, I followed the sun, headed north across open grass toward the first line of trees and bushes that were being bathed in the morning sunlight. On my way I greeted a gopher squirrel who indicated to me that he could gopher some privacy, so I left ... go-figure.
It went back into its hole and I continued northward.
Lots of Monarch butterflies in the air and on the weeds. Challenging them for supremacy were hummingbirds. Who would have ever imagined that the most ubiquitous bird in the park would be the hummer. They were everywhere. Collectively they may have been conspiring to form murmurations just to piss-off the bird photographers with their 600mm lenses. I can see it all now. Hummerations that could be photographed by park visitors with cell phones but not by telephoto-equipped birders. Birders throwing their gear on the grass and stomping on it in frustration, except for the few that had the epiphany to also use their cell phone camera. Not all birders are bright ... just look at me. I don't even have a cell phone ... filthy thing!
Sightings (besides hummers) include: juvenile Magnolia / juvenile Redstart / juvenile Nashville / juvenile N. Parula / juvenile Wilson's / juvenile Black-throated green / youngish Philadelphia vireo / Merlin flyby / Least flycatcher (could have been Yellow-bellied)
planning a murmuration rally
preenager
