new old birds & a mushroom

Fairly strong northeast winds blew the storm clouds out to sea -- I could still see them sitting on the ocean out past Dune Road on the other side of the bay -- and blew in a few 'new' birds. Actually I didn't see anything truly new but a lot more of what had already come in; most of these birds were active in the area back of the pond and adjacent marsh where new fall arrivals generally land. The result was more White-throated, Song, Swamp and Chipping Sparrows, more Yellow-rumped Warblers and even a few more Catbirds. All four woodpeckers, a Brown Thrasher, a couple of Eastern Phoebes, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a single Red-tailed Hawk and the usual collection of finches, Gold and House, complete the tally.

One new mushroom turned up a couple of days ago in the rain: this was the Honey Mushroom or Armillaria mellea. It is a well-known edible and when it fruits, it really fruits. I spent a good twenty minutes picking the caps that covered the stump where it was growing (it is a mushroom that sprouts on wood) and I didn't get the half of it before giving up. A good part of the pickings ended up in a soup and the rest were blanched for future use.

Eric Salzman