Sunny, humid, mid 80s
and calm
I spent a little over an hour
at a small pond on the back side of the Discover Center property of the Hudson
Highlands Nature Museum in Cornwall, NY.
There is plenty of land to explore at this intriguing site, but without
question, one of the most productive corners is back here at the “Muskrat
Pond”.
Along the short 1/3 mile hike
to the pond itself, you pass
through meadows and then forested land.
Along the way, numerous Gray catbirds, Tufted titmice, Carolina wrens,
Robins, and a plethora of American goldfinches escorted me. Once at the pond, I watched a Great
blue heron on the opposite side of the water checking out the pond’s edge for
any tidbit for an afternoon snack.
As I watched the heron, there
was a blur from the lone island in the pond as a Eastern phoebe flew out from a
snag, hit the water’s surface and returned to his perch….presumably with a
protein snack of his own in the form some ill-fated insect.
I watched the aerobatics of a
pair of Blue dashers, male and female, as they hovered above the surface of the
water. The male was covering a lot
more area as he protected the pair’s hunting territory. The female, however, remained in the same
air space inches above the water, so motionless save for the wing beats that I
was able to manually focus on her for a pretty sharp image.
There were plenty of other
dragonflies to watch and attempt to identify, and a pair of Carolina wrens entertained
me by calling back and forth from one side of the pond to the other. Soon, it was time to head back home,
however, to I started the hike back.
Motion in the canopy caught my attention and I found a female
Rose-breasted grosbeak quietly observing my trek back to the parking area.
I’ll be leading a Mearns Bird
Club trip here again on Saturday morning and then a birding outing for the
folks at the museum on Sunday, so I will have a pretty good idea of what is on
the property in early September by Monday. So far, so good.
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