May 8

 Today was full. The Osprey are still sitting on the nest. One is on the nest while the other is nearby standing guard. Rosie’s Pond was surprisingly empty. In he nearby thicket, I watched a Catbird in courtship display.  In the shade, this Savannah Sparrow rested for a while.

Over on Lawn Ave., the first surprise of the day was a Baltimore Oriole in the apple blossoms. They are just so bright and with the blossoms, it was even more magnificent.

Along Geoff’s path, I saw my first deer signs. This is a deer track in the mud. So now Belle Isle definitely has large animal life as well.

Next along the path, I found this bizarre image. In a puddle of water lies an egg partially submerged.  It was about the size of a chicken egg. I haven’t the slightest idea of what it was and where it came from.

I turned from the egg and had my second surprise. Perched nearby, this Great Horned Owl calmly watched everything. Even a loud incessant crow could not disturb his apparent composure. This is my first Great Horned Owl at Belle Isle and it was jumping up and down terrific.

The Overlook and the flats were quiet. From the Boardwalk it was possible to see lots of Brant scattered along the creek bank. A single Great Egret and four of these Snowy Egrets were moving from one panne to another. Most of the water surface was covered by algae blooms.

The park meadow was exploding with yellow as this one wild flower bloomed everywhere.

The meadow made me think about one particular meadow bird and magically it appeared, a Bobolink. That was my third happy surprise of the day.

It was with some relief from all the excitement to reach Bennington St. and start home. Belle Isle had a lot to enjoy today. I was very impressed and even more thankful that I live so close to so much beauty.

Ciao!

-Jorge

This entry was posted on May 8, 2009 at 3:24 pm and is filed under Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.