a change in the weather

The change in weather last night was dramatic with a shift from clear and dry with northeast winds to cloudy and stormy with strong southwest winds. The humidity and the rather warm temperatures suggested that we were experiencing the fallout from a tropical storm. Rain and wind helped make the morning high tide even higher than usual and both pond and marsh, including my usual marsh edge trails, were flooded forcing me to pick my way around as best I could.

There were three Osprey hanging out at Pine Neck Point on the other side of the creek. At least one had a fish and the second might have been its mate. It had been a windy, rainy, stormy night but the weather let up a bit after it became light and it's possible that both adults might have been out looking for food, not just for themselves but for their offspring (until now it has almost always been one adult at a time; presumably the other had to stay home sitting on the eggs or brooding the hatchlings). The third bird, perhaps an intruder, perhaps an offspring from a previous year, just seemed to want to horn in. Fishing in these choppy waters cannot be an easy proposition and the Osprey was lucky (or skilled) enough to score a good-sized fish. Bait fish were another story; there were no terns at all even giving it a try.

I forgot to mention it before but Arrowwood Viburnum or Southern Arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum) is a native wildflower in bloom right now; it has little bouquets of white flowers. The Big-leaf Magnolia's jurassic flower show is now over and on one tree at least, many little cones have formed which will become the pineapple-like seed bearing fruits.

Eric Salzman