waterbirds & woodpeckers

Another sign of midsummer: the first Great Blue Heron of the season.

Spotted Sandpiper still in the area (I heard it peeping away in the channel leading from the marsh to the pond). A young Red-bellied Woodpecker (without any facial markings) is class of '15. Northern Flickers are calling regularly; I wonder if competition with the Red-bellied has caused them to move their nesting dates further up into the summer.

Green Herons are calling from patches of woods on both side of he house making me think that there are two nesting pairs. Many Great Egrets along both sides of the creek along with a single Snowy Egret; the way the Great Egret outnumbers the Snowy is very striking. A single Common Tern was the only tern seen; the fall-off in nesting terns is very striking (and disturbing).

Eric Salzman