July 31st - Less humidity - less birds

[Shortsighted]

 The stifling humidity has finally abated, for now.  What a relief!  What is not a relief is the wholesale abandonment of birds from pretty much everywhere that I visited.  Reesor (lower) Pond was dead quiet, except for the incessant traffic on Reesor Rd.  There were about a dozen ducks way off at the northern end of the pond and no sign of the gallinule family.  The special tree with the watery moat had some visitors, such as a kingfisher, two waxwings and two kingbirds, but that’s it.  Even the dragonflies were gone.  The only bird that was calling was a Swamp sparrow that flitted about just meters away from me.  It wouldn’t sit still, not even for a couple of seconds.
 
 Beare Hill Park was also eerily quiet all the way up to the summit.  I saw one Mourning dove half way up, followed by two Great crested flycatchers that did call a few times but apparently with reservation.  I glimpsed one juvenile Common yellowthroat on the way down.  At the base of the hill there were a couple of kingbirds and a few robins.
 
 Rouge Beach Park was the quietest place of all, except for noisy people.  No herons, no ducks, no sparrows, no Marsh wren ... just a few Barn swallows.  Way out on the floodplain I spotted one single forlorn-looking Spotted sandpiper on the lily pads.  There are a lot of lily pads, enough to support solar panels.  You’ve heard of marsh gas?  What about marsh electric?  I know, I know ... it’s not a thing ... yet!



Great crested flycatcher (one of two)






Hiding Eastern kingbird