My daughter Eva has been down at the pond in the evenings where she has seen flocks of what she thought might be bats or swifts. When I went down last night, all I saw were swallows (mostly Barn) and Purple Martins but they indeed put on an astounding aerial show above and around the pond, over the marsh and the nearby woods.
A Red-bellied Woodpecker has discovered that he can make a rousing rattle by hitting on the house gutter. One of them was at it this morning, accompanied by two other birds -- a female and a fledgling. The other woodpeckers were active as well: Flickers at the edge of the marsh, Hairy and Downy in the nearby woods.
Several Great Egrets and a Great Blue Heron were roosting in the trees at the edge, waiting for the tide to fall.
Germander or Wood Sage is blooming around the edge of the marsh. I was worried that Sandy had wiped out this rather delicate wild flower from the mint family (it has a rather striking pink flower with the stamens cutting through the upper lip); this should be the variety littorale which grows by the shore and there are a few rather hardy-looking specimens coming up. Queen Anne's Lace is blooming widely along with other aliens or garden escapes (Rudbeckias of the Black-eyed Susan types).
Eric Salzman
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