hummers & flowers

Mother Hummingbird was vigorously feeding one of her young near the nest tree this morning, more than two weeks after fledging. Not much bird activity otherwise but herons and egrets are still poking around the marsh and creek. Also, a single Chimney Swift continues to fly in the early morning above the head of the marsh and near several chimney bedecked houses on Bay Avenue. However I have never seen a Swift enter or exit a chimney where they might be feeding young so I don't know if this late singleton might be a stray, a migrant not yet hooked up with other migrating swifts (they usually migrate in big flocks), a wood-be migrant that missed the bus or perhaps just a really late nester. Swifts, like their relatives the hummingbirds, should be migrating to tropical climates very soon. Maybe it's tropical enough around here these days!

A couple of flower notes. Along with the Early Goldenrod, now in full splendor, Evening Primrose is starting to flower. This delicate native species doesn't like full sunlight and, although it keeps its blossoms through the morning, it tends to crumple by noon. A rather strange member of the Daisy or Composite Family is coming into 'bloom' right now but it won't win any awards for floral beauty. This plant, which was first noticed by me after Sandy, is often called Fireweed or Burnweed but its presence here is due, not to fire but to salt water storm intrusion which wiped out much of the understory near the marsh. The plant, also called Pilewort or Erechtites hieraciifolius (how's that for a mouthful?), has a yellow flower that never actually opens but somehow gets pollinated anyway, the flowers turning into feathery, seed-bearing achenes. After Sandy this plant was everywhere but, while it is still common, much of it has been replaced by other 'pioneer' plants (Pokeweed, thistle, Marsh Elder or Iva frutescens}. Except for Pokeweed, all these plants have feathery wings attached to seeds which enables them to repopulate suitable areas very quickly; they are windblown but also popular with certain seed-eating birds like Goldfinches which continue to do well in our area, nesting late when these food sources become available

Eric Salzman