patches of fog

Patches of fog this morning eventually lifted to reveal summer sunshine. The early birds didn't like it much as they remained rather inactive for most of the duration of my walk.

The Carolina Wren is one of the few birds still singing at this time of the year but it has the peculiar habit of running though a changing repertoire of songs (whereas earlier in the season his songs tended to be quite stereotyped -- the same riffs over and over). Perhaps this late in the season, he is finding it more difficult to find willing partners and is inspired to try a variety of songs in the hope that one of them will work. I should add that this bird does not migrate and, as a year-rounder, tends to nest early and often!

As I was heading back to the house from the pond, a Wild Turkey flock came nibbling and sashaying into view -- out of the woods, across the front of the house (some even hopping up on the deck) and then back into the woods on the other side. This flock seemed a little reduced from earlier flocks with three hens and a dozen almost full-grown poults. The easy way to tell the hens from the chicks is by size (they are still a little larger) but also by their iridescent back feathers which glisten with red and blue (or blue-gray) patches of color in the sun.

Eric Salzman