low tide, low humidity but still hot

The respite from the heat did not last long (nor did the respite from the mosquitos) although the air remains dry and the nights cool and filled with katydids and tree crickets (and cicadas enlivening the day). Last night at low tide there was a Great Blue Heron, a Snowy Egret, a Great Egret and a Green Heron all in the neck of the pond. The pond water at low tide is filled with bait fish and the water is relatively clear -- good pickings for the ardeidae! There are at least two Spotted Sandpipers around since I have seen both spotted and unspotted (i.e. old and young) birds. A male Belted Kingfisher is regularly in the neighborhood, perhaps also feeding on those bait fish. And a noisy Willet was circling over the marsh and yipping away as if he owned the property (a little odd in view of the fact that, after a lot of activity earlier in the season, not a one of these birds has been seen recently). At the head of the marsh, an adult and at least two young Red-bellied Woodpeckers were working the tupelos along with a flock of chickadees; these are the first young Red-bellieds that I've seen this year. Are they eating unripe tupelo berries or are the berries actually beginning to ripen -- like almost everything else, very early. Two Flickers popped out of the shrub vegetation at the edge of the marsh but I wasn't sure if they were young birds, local specimens or perhaps even early migrants. Along with the Am Robins, the N. Flicker may be the most common migratory land bird in these parts and they may well be starting to move. Ditto the Robins which I've seen on the move in the early morning.

Eric Salzman