Day 209: July 27th – Visitors at the lakeside

Sunny, breezy, and warm

       It’s always interesting to take a walk along the lakeside of Long Pond on West Point property.  The combination of interesting birds, butterflies, and dragonflies at this time of year means there is something to look at around every corner.

       Today, as Sharon and I sat at the picnic table next to the lake, we heard the unmistakable call of the Eastern towhee.  As many times as we’ve seen this bird and heard his call and song, he is always a welcome visitor.  He always appears to have dressed just for this occasion.  I walked over to the brush row on the opposite side of the dirt road leading around the pond and saw him skulking about in the foliage.  He was simply giving the call at first, but soon broke into the full song. 

       As I snapped away, a House wren showed up in a bush almost directly next to the Towhee as if to see what all the fuss was about.  He likewise flitted from branch to branch, but his presence was silent.  He offered no song or chipnote and preferred to remain in the background.

    

  A little further along the road, a Gray catbird was making his presence known with his loud cat-like calls.  What had all these birds moving about so much in the mid-day heat I can only speculate about.  Training exercises are in full swing in the surrounding military base and the reports of mortars bing fired echo loudly off the surrounding hillsides.  Was this what had these birds so riled up? 

       As I returned to the picnic table at waters’ edge, I noticed a great deal of dragonfly activity as well.  These creatures need no prodding or stimulation to be on the move other than the warmth of sunshine, however, and there was plenty of that around today.  It was really nice to just go and relax at the pond today and have the wildlife come to me.  It doesn’t always have to involve some strenuous hiking or chasing to get our “shot of the day”. 

       Tomorrow, it’s off to Ocean County in New Jersey to check out the shorebirds which should be moving on down the coast by now.  Keep in touch and we’ll relate our findings to you right here at Natdigital.