Swifts, turtles & deer

There are four Chimney Swifts flying above and around an extensively be-chimneyed house on Bay Avenue which backs up onto the upper part of our marsh. I watched the Swifts in action this morning with their fluttery bat-like flight and extensive glides as they hunted for insects. I was hoping to see at least one of them dropping into a the chimney to feed young on a nest but no luck; it didn't happen on my watch and, after waiting patiently for fifteen minutes or so, I gave up.

In the aftermath of the recent thunderstorms, I found yet another Box Turtle, this one easily recognizable by its big size and overwhelmingly yellow carapace with only reduced black markings. We have two deer families on the place (a deer family consists of a doe and its offspring): one with two spotted fauns, the other with a single. There is also a mature male with a full rack of antlers and a younger one (the one that followed me around for a couple of days) just now growing its horns. The males don't generally hang out with the females and young, which form little groups on their own.

Eric Salzman