There's a lot of fighting going on in the avian sector these days as new parents try to raid other birds' nests to feed their own nestlings. Birds learn very quickly who they can trust and who is dangerous. Crows mob hawks while Red-winged Blackbirds chase crows. In fact, most of these attacks and chases involve American Crows. But my favorite encounter of the morning involved a Blue Jay attacking a Green Heron (or maybe it was the other way round) while a Yellow Warbler somehow got mixed in as well. Green Herons were very prominent this morning, often calling (with their familiar 'kee-yow' rather than the belching/burping noise previously reported). Almost certainly, they have a nest somewhere in the woods here.
One of the pleasures of doing this blog is getting responses from readers. Elizabeth Yastrzemski objects to my calling White Clover 'boring'; it is, as she points out, a favorite of honeybees and therefore should not be mowed down! Okay, won't mow the clover!
Ken Thompson sends me a photo of a Rose Pogonia orchid from the Quogue Wildlife Refuge where it is growing in a boggy area along with the insect-eating Pitcher Plants, also in bloom and also photographed -- plant and flower.
Eric Salzman
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