Murder of Blue Jays?

This morning's racket down at the pond was a Murder of Blue Jays rather than a Murder of Crows and it was noisy enough that I finally went out to investigate. I expected to see the fox but instead an accipiter popped out of the trees and headed straight across the creek. It was big enough to be a young (probably female) Cooper's Hawk.

Now that we're past mid-July almost anything can turn up. This morning's other 'new' bird was a Brown Thrasher -- a species that, like the Cooper's, breeds in the woods north of us. The continued presence of Green Herons in and around the marsh suggests that they may be breeding nearby; earlier there were two birds seen, now mostly one suggesting that the other may be sitting on a nest not far away. Two or three active good-sized flycatchers in the canopy at the edge of the woods facing the water turned out to be, not Eastern Kingbirds as I first thought but Eastern Phoebes.

On the flower front, Wild Geraniums and Venus' Looking-Glass are starting to show their showy blossoms and the mysterious Enchanter's Nightshade has its full complement of small white flowers. Seaside Dragonlets are still all over the marsh but the mud snails that cover the muddy spots and crawl up the stems of the phragmites and other marsh plants are definitely down in numbers.

Eric Salzman