The Chanterelles are flying!

There are now at least three flying Green Herons around. One of them was calling from the tree tops near the edge of the pond and when he (she?) flew out and across the creek, two other birds were not far behind. One of them had missing wing feathers, a common problem for nesting females. The third bird might have been a fledgling but I did not have a close enough look to be sure.

A Hairy Woodpecker was calling and working the dead wood near the pond this morning. Hairy Woodpeckers have become more common here since Sandy left us with a row or two of dead trees back of the marsh and pond. The most active woodpecker however has been the Northern Flicker which has been calling constantly for the past couple of weeks. Oddly enough, the little Downy Woodpecker and the Red-bellied -- normally the two most common woodpeckers around -- have been heard from only sporadically. They may still be in the nesting phase. I thought I had located a Downy nest hole a few weeks ago but it seems to have been abandoned; perhaps the birds are trying somewhere else.

Some of our most common summer roadside flowers are in bloom including Queen Anne's Lace, Bouncing Bet and Chicory. I also collected the first Chanterelle mushrooms of the season; must go out and look for more.

Eric Salzman