The unmanicured backyards support some opportunistic trees (Manitoba & Norway maples, black locust) & they in turn support vines, riverbank grape I think (Vitus riparia) and Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia). The ripening fruit brings the birds. Last week it was flock of grackles, a dozen or so. The robins and the flickers have brought their young to the feast--at least 3 flickers and half a dozen robins. I saw the hawk sunning in the morning until the middle of last week, so although the begging calls have stopped at least one hawk roosted for the night. A pair of blue jays put in an appearance, and I heard a nuthatch call. The chickadees and the cardinals continue, & the goldfinch are still around but less in evidence. Last evening my husband & fellow birder & I watched a male downy stretch out horizontally from a bit of dead elm to reach Virginia creeper berries, and a hairy woodpecker foraged on the second dead tree. At least one Swainson's thrush has joined the party. But our biggest challenge was a bird of medium size (between the flicker/robin and chickadee/goldfinch) with heavily streaked sides, a very strong face pattern, small crown bordered in a dark stripe with a thick pale stripe below that, in both black-and-white and pale/brown versions. It wasn't until I saw the large white wing bar I had the key--female and immature male rose-breasted grosbeak. I've never noticed this species in the yard in the fall before. They must have had a good year (see Howish's Wed Sept 17 posting).
During the day the asters and goldenrod are blooming & full of bees when the sun shines. I think I can identify the common bumblebee but not the other bumblebees or the slimmer, non-fuzzy bees or the little green bees. A monarch nectared on the New England aster and ignored the struggling swamp milkweed before flying off south-west.
In the evening two bats came out to eat the nocturnal insects.
