cactus vs. car

The two Great Crested Flycatchers -- I'm pretty sure it's the same two that I've seen in the last couple of days -- continue to make the rounds together, completing a circuit of the wooded areas while always flying and hunting below the canopy (which makes them easy to see). Other 'special' birds still hanging out in the neighborhood include the post-breeding White-breasted Nuthatch, American Goldfinch, Pine Warbler (always in the canopy) and  Common Yellowthroat (actually two birds, one rather quiet and the other singing constantly). The Yellow Warbler seems to have decamped for Pine Neck on the eastern side of Weesuck Creek; if the wind is right, I can hear him singing on the far shore. Cuckoo calling; couldn't find him but I'm sure it was a Yellow-billed.

A big stand of cactus is coming up in the middle of the old right-of-way. It is a magnet for insects including a spider, many ants, some kind of aphids and a handsome orange Ladybug. Alas, the main stand is going to be mowed down by my internal combustion engined vehicle as most of the fallen wood has been cleared and the track is now available for fossil fuel intervention.

Eric Salzman