October 27, 2009 by OrientSee.

Sunrise at Belle Isle from my back porch.  A study in pink.

Later I walked into Rosie’s Thicket and this one leaf was a color preview for all the fall foliage.

Beyond, I finally found something to admire in Japanese Knotweed. This ethereal foliage doesn’t make up for all its bad habits but it is a sight.

A little further on into the thicket, I found clumps of chive. The chive is one of the first plants to sprout in the spring. They last a month and then die back. Now in the fall, they pop up again. This particular clump is very peppery to taste.

The flats were quiet with a few Great Egrets way out next to the creek. I walked along the path through the thicket and nearly walked on these potatoes. Not really, a closer look revealed that they were mushrooms.

Out on the edge of the Palermo street park, a weed clump proudly displayed a very purple contrast to all the gold and red foliage.

Up in a crabapple tree, this Cardinal was not a fall leaf. I caught sight of Sharp-shinned Hawk looking for a meal. It cruised around for a while and then flew over towards Winthrop and out of view.

In the next tree over, the female Cardinal was nearly invisible  except for her beak.

The Overlook Path was quiet and wet (we had a patch of fog overnight). This Sumac branch reminded me of “pretty maids in a row” (Gilbert & Sullivan).

The path was strangely lit beneath the gray skies. There was soft golden glow to everything. Almost to the Overlook, this crab apple was exploding with fruit.

The Overlook was quiet. I expected to find some ducks but no luck there. I crossed the flats to the Boardwalk and flushed a snipe. The Boardwalk yielded some Great Egrets fishing by the creek and these two Great Blue Herons just resting.

Up in the park meadow, I found this litter, not human. A nearby clump of milkweed had spontaneously  burst and strewn the grass with their seeds.

From the Bennington St. bridge, I found this very busy corner of the creek.  In the foreground there are two Buffleheads. Closer to shore are two Cormorants. Then comes the two Great Egrets and finally almost invisible on the shore’s edge are two Yellowlegs. There must have been a school of small fish for them all to feast on.

Today was terrific. It’s easy to be impressed on a bright sunny day in August. The marsh vibrates with life and green grasses. On a cloudy October day, there’s a darker golden color. Things are letting go. It’s getting to the end of another year but it is still full of things to see and enjoy.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 20, 2009 by OrientSee.

 Living in New ngland inspires paranoia. Two days ago we had storms and snow. Today it was sixty, a day to treasure.  I shudder to think what’s next.

I was walking over to Belle Isle. When I found this abandoned  child’s shoe. Taking the part for the whole, I just imagined a fretful kid losing the shoe and trying to get his mother to stop.

Rosie’s Thicket is still green and leafy. There is surprisingly lots of bugs still around even with the recent storms and cold weather. This spider was basking in the sun and gathering a meal.

We’ve had several days of astronomical high tides and even though they are subsiding, the tides are still reaching further up than usual.

Out in the south flats, this pair was resting in the sun. The big herons seem to tolerate each other well. This Blue and Great White probably play poker together on Saturday nights.

With the high water, the egrets were especially active hunting for sticklebacks.

This pod and nut just reminded me so much of a Sesame St. character but who?

The rest of the walk was quiet. There was Sharp-shinned Hawk cruising across the foxtails and a Red Tail Hawk out on Bennington St. Another Great Blue Heron was out beyond the Boardwalk.

The Beachmont portion of the creek was full of October sun and color.

I got a glimpse of my first Bufflehead Duck of the season. They are a very small active diving species and fun to watch but hard to photograph.

A Black Duck cruised out from behind some reeds for a real sense of October.

A warm day full of light and even a few butterflies.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 14, 2009 by OrientSee.

 Today was a bright fall day filled with crisp clean air. It was like drinking from the well at my aunt’s house down east in Cape Breton. The thickets and the park were filled with Yellow-rumped Warblers. It was a convention or an invasion. They were just simply everywhere. I caught sight of a Downy  and a Flicker as well so there were woodpeckers about as well.

The south flats were quiet except for a few Great Egrets way out.  As I started out the path to the Overlook, I could not avoid the Sumac fruit, the red of a cardinal’s robes.

The Overlook was quiet. A few ducks desultory browsed the panne but there wasn’t anything else. Then I started to walk across the high marsh towards the Boardwalk. I was startled by an American Bittern bursting out of the grass just twenty feet away. Of course, I froze in marvel and forgot to try for a photo. They are a subtly beautiful bird and quite large. That was supposed to be the end of surprises but just a few feet further on, a Snipe broke cover and startled me again. I was almost giddy with delight. These are terrific birds to see so close. The Boardwalk was quiet. There are several wooden Stonehenges dotting the marsh nearby. These are the remains of the salt marsh haying that used to go on here at Belle Isle a long time ago.

At the top of the park meadow, the milkweed was letting go its seed in the breeze.

On the way out to the parking lot, a small flock of these White-crowned sparrows were feeding in the mown grass.

The Bennington St. bridge spanned the creek at low tide as these Yellowlegs were foraging in the mud.

The return of cold air spared a few bumblebees and even a butterfly or two but not for much longer. It’ll get down into the thirties tonight, a night for hot apple cider.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 6, 2009 by OrientSee.

 It was a brilliant day full of light and light breezes. Rosie’s Thicket was quiet but a single beam of sunlight fell through the gloom to highlight this one weed in full bloom.

The flats were busy way out. A dozen mixed Egrets were feeding in one of the drainage ditches along with a Great Blue Heron. A pair of Red Tail Hawks were floating about. One ended up perched on a light in the T yard.

Walking over the Goldenrod had butterflies in attendance. I wonder how much longer the Dragonflies and the Butterflies will last.

Geoff’s Path was full of YellowRump Warblers. It seemed like every bush and tree had a few.

The Overlook was quiet and it certainly looks different in its autumn camouflage.

I walked over to the tail end of the Muskrat Pond through the reeds and got to watch this Great Blue cleaning himself.

It soon was aware of me and after one move too many, it flew off.  It is a lot of bird to see this close.

The Boardwalk was quiet. One last Snowy Egret was poking about in the pool. The Snowies won’t be around much longer. They leave well before the bigger Great Egrets do. This may well be the last I get to see this year.

The meadow was still bright with wild flowers like this.

Today was another gift. The marsh was full of things to see.  Actually, it is a kind of amusement park. There’s no roller coaster but there are some terrific views.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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October 5, 2009 by OrientSee.

 Sunday the marsh was full of strange creatures. It was the Belle Isle Harvest Festival. There was music from Supraphonic, a local blues band.

The Creature Teacher was there with some very interesting beasts.  A very cross-eyed opossum seemed a little uneasy in the crowd. I’ve  never seen a live one this close.

A South American Coatimundi was the real star. It is a very active and appealing kind of racoon.

The big uggh factor was supplied by this African Bull Frog. It was huge.

The tall ships always bring me back a hundred years with a glance but these two draft horses pulling a hay wagon have the same effect.

It was an enjoyable ride around the park.

It was a nice day seeing the kids enjoying themselves and meeting people. The park was full and everyone had a good time.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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