American Goldfinch on Cutleaf Coneflower
This American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) posed so delightfully for a split second while dining on this Cutleaf Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata)…and we wonder why they are gold…what perfection.
Read MoreHot Northern Flicker
Here is the Roger Tory Peterson “spark” bird, the Northern Flicker. This fella (a male as noted by his mustache) was not chatting and was instead rather hot on one of the most brutal recent summer afternoons. It had flown into the tree a moment earlier after feeding on some ants on the ground in the scorching sunshine. Keep those bird baths full and clean, please!
Read MoreMonarchs Mating
Here are a couple more mating Monarch pairs photographed in the last week – the continuation of the cycle of life for a species that so needs it! What are you doing to help the emblematic butterfly rebound?
Read MoreBlue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea)
I mentioned Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (Polioptila caerulea) as a current migrant in a recent post, and I photographed this bird doing just that this morning. The wheezing individual shown here was at a migratory stopover site and may have continued flying not long after I snapped this shot. Blue-gray Gnatcatchers are at least partially diurnal migrants, and if you are lucky you can find small flocks of several birds heading south together on a day like this one. August may be the middle of summer to us but it is well into fall for the birds. Safe journey, pretty friend! Keep flashing that tail...
Read MoreThunderstorm
One reason we did not have severe thunderstorms locally at Stratford Point on Sunday night was because of this severe thunderstorm to the north in the late afternoon. It likely took some of our energy, and it was pushing out air towards us, cooling things down and then blocking the sun for a while. Combined with other factors like drier air working in thanks to the cold front we lost some of our massive instability. This is right before the sun went behind the clouds from the thunderhead. You can see rain coming down from the ground under the anvil looking NW/N from near the main...
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