Indian summer?

Is this what we used to call Indian Summer? Early morning clouds pushed aside by warm southwest wind; you could hear the ocean surf clearly and there were breakers on the bay. But the change brought in a mild summery day. Although this turn in the weather would not seem to encourage migration, there were a lot more sparrows visible today than yesterday -- many White-throated Sparrows in particular -- plus Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue-headed Vireo, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, many Yellow-rumped Warblers and at least one warbler skulking with the White-throats -- probably a first-winter Magnolia (or possibly a first-winter Prairie); bright yellow breast, contrasting gray head with some kind of eye-liner. I never saw the whole bird, only bits and pieces in the shrubbery. Other birds on the creek included a Lesser Yellowlegs on the pond and a very noisy Great Blue Heron that would not settle down as long as I was visible through the dead wood at the edge of the marsh.

An oddity was a Monarch Butterfly literally fluttering on the ground and trying to take off. Monarchs do not make a very tasty snack (they inherit bitter-tasting poisons from their caterpillars which get them from the milkweeds they feed on) and most potential butterfly eaters know better than to attack a Monarch (their bright orange wings are thought to be a warning signal). So it is unusual to find a wounded Monarch. Given the scarcity of Monarchs these days, I tried to help this one take off by plucking the blade of grass it was clutching but with no success.

Eric Salzman