The goldenrod stalks that were ablaze with yellow blooms in August are now topped with gray-fuzzed seeds, which several small birds seemed quite crazy about today -- a group of Yellow-rumped Warblers and Palm Warblers was moving constantly from tuft to tuft the whole time I was there. This Palm Warbler took time out of his/her busy feeding schedule to pose for a few pictures:
How lovely you look next to those old flower heads, little bird, their muted fall yellow being so similar to your own.
Thank you for humoring me and my camera clicks!
Also thoroughly enjoying the goldenrod's bounty this morning were a few Swamp Sparrows, a new bird for me:
These little guys are quite fun to watch, with their rufous-striped crowns and quirky perked-up tails (at least, this particular fellow kept his/her tail up high).
Little birds down in the grasses, and big birds above. Turkey Vultures are so common around here that it's easy to overlook them, but they're really quite majestic in flight:
And lest we think the insects might have gone away already, this wandering Ichneumon Wasp (species unknown) says otherwise:
It was a great walk, and I'm looking forward to more gorgeous fall days like this one!
Wow, the trees in Connecticut aren't at peak color yet? Here in northern Wisconsin the trees are all leafless and there's snow in the forecast for this week. I guess we're just that much farther north.
ReplyDeleteI like your Palm Warbler. It looks a lot yellower than the ones I saw here last week!
Rebecca: I actually feel like we should be further along, too, but we're definitely still not there yet -- there are a couple of Red Maples in our yard that turned flame-red/orange last year, and they're still 95% green!
ReplyDeleteI like the Palm Warbler, too. They're super fun birds. :)