Day 18.160: Rotary Park

Our nature group continued our tour and gathered at a different location slightly further upriver from our normal spot. Rotary Park has been mostly a sledding spot in our experience although I also ventured there on some long runs in my marathon training days. It’s also a varied natural habitat despite its inauspicious origins as a landfill. 

Here is some of what we saw:

These eastern kingbirds got our attention because they were noisily chasing a crow away as we walked beneath them 

We got a nice view of them. 

Later, we saw another crow being bothered - this time by a red-winged blackbird

Victory!

Plotting their next move

American goldfinch

Brown-headed cowbird

Eastern bluebird 

Gray catbird

American redstart

At the river we saw a muskrat

And spent time identifying swallows. These are northern rough-winged swallows

Making their own drama

Here’s another one 

We also saw barn swallows (right) and bank swallows (a.k.a sand martins). This may or may not be one, but we did make a firm identification

Just before I left, this osprey did a couple of circles seemingly with its eyes on something in the water

I missed the catch, but caught it with its catch

We also looked at this American linden

And this American hazelnut

With its small fruits forming