good season for Royals, slow for wildflowers

Royal Terns came up the creek last night and again this morning and this afternoon, confirming their (now annual) arrival from the south. As far as I know, they still do not breed on Long Island but a sizeable contingent moves north from their southern breeding grounds to hang out in our waters every summer.

Blue-gray Gnatcatchers turned up this morning, another of those local breeders which is either moving around locally before migrating or actually in the process of moving south. Gnatcatchers were a rarity here in the last century but subsequently established themselves as one of those southern species expanding its range to the north in an era of climate change.

House Wrens also reappeared after a long period of silence. Red-winged Blackbirds have essentially abandoned their territories around the marsh but there are many birds -- mostly young of the year -- still hanging around and only beginning to flock up. Only the year-round birds -- Carolina Wren, Northern Cardinal, Song Sparrow -- are still singing on territory. By the way, Carolina Wren and the so-called 'Northern' Cardinal are two more southern birds that established themselves here as common breeding birds only in the second half of the last century.

This is a slow season for wildflowers. There is Wood Sage (or Germander), Queen Anne's Lace, a ton of Pokeweed, Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia; mostly garden escapes), Coreopsis (Tickseed), St. John's Wort and some kind of Geranium (Wild Geranium?) -- mostly past their prime. Some of these are on or adjacent to the property; others were seen on Dune Road yesterday.

The Bull or Field Thistle is producing flowerheads at a great rate; about a dozen or more so far with more than a dozen yet to come; this single plant is about 9 feet high with multiple branches.

Eric Salzman