Robbins Park

A group of us visited Robbins Park Environmental Education Center in Ambler.  We went to see the bird blind.

This is the entrance to the bird blind.

Inside the bird blind.  None of us liked the vertical slats to look through.

Another view of the bird blind.

One of the trails in the park.

Here is a bat house in the meadow.

One of the educational signs.

Picnic grove.  This is a wonderful place, and we will have to go again, as we only saw a small part of it.

Change of Seasons

Last Tuesday when I was in the meadow I saw this reminder of summer.  Queen Anne's Lace.

But I also saw this eastern-tailed blue looking for clover.

An orange sulphur had found a dandelion still blooming.

On Saturday I spied several of these autumn meadowhawks in the wetland.  Probably the last of the dragonflies.

Today on my patio there was this junco - the first of our winter birds.

And a white-throated sparrow, another winter bird.

Skimmer Flight

Can you see and hear the skimmers?

Cape May -2

There always has to be a photo of the lighthouse, usually from a new vantage point.

Here is a Monarch and  Lady.  We saw Monarchs every day.

A skimmer surrounded by Forster's terns.

Ospreys we saw often, but always perched on the other side of the pond on the Red Trail.

This great blue heron was also on the other side of the pond.

This red-tailed hawk was seen on the Yellow Trail.

Someone pointed out this native Carolina mantis.  He also said we should destroy all the non native species which eat all our pollinators.

We saw many yellow-rumped warblers, but this was the only one I saw that still had its breeding plumage.

A special treat was this juvenile rufous hummingbird, which is normally seen on the west coast.

Cape May in October

Our birding trip to Cape May was in early October this year.  

Some things never change.  We stopped on the way down for fresh produce, tomatoes and corn!

Have you ever seen a berry green-eyed warbler?  That's a yellow warbler behind the berries, and my only photo of this bird.

A beautiful buckeye butterfly on the sand.

A male Coopers hawk from the hawk demonstration at the point on Sunday.

These ruddy turnstones were photographed on the boat trip we took on Monday.

Two egrets, the great and the snowy.

Blue-faced meadowhawk.
More to come.

Good-bye September

The leaves tell us that it is time to say farewell to September.

My bird feeders are surrounded by goldenrod, but this woodpecker doesn't mind.

I did see a bluebird down near the meadow.

A monarch on the goldenrod.

This lovely lady will go all the way to Mexico.

That is if she doesn't get caught by a mantid hiding in the goldenrod.

Longwood Gardens Meadow

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit the newly expanded meadows at Longwood Gardens with the Natural Lands Trust.  We were given a guided tour and a lecture.  Superb!

This is a huge expanse of land, 86 acres.

This was a labor intensive project.

There were some natural areas, like Hourglass Lake, which were incorporated into the grand design.  It now has a wonderful "covered bridge" pavilion nearby.

Formerly the property was bisected by Route 52, which was relocated from this area.

Truly a meadow birdhouse!

A great birding area.

We walked though the meadow paths to the Webb farmhouse.

The Webb house was restored as a focal point of the meadow.

Inside there are displays, and quiet areas to sit and study about the meadows.

We saw only a portion of this wonderful natural area.  It will be interesting to see more of it, and to see how it evolves over the years to come.