Day 19.282: Hello halo

We’ve had a few days recently with the high ice-particle clouds and sunshine needed to generate solar halos and sun dogs. This example was from my early-October boat trip.

Day 19.281: Feeders; frozen

After we got back from the UK, we realized it was time to get some food back in our bird feeders ready for the beginning of the six month Project FeederWatch season that starts on November 1st.

Since we did so, we’ve had a few visitors but this morning we realized that there was another bird-related winter-is-approaching task we’d forgotten to do. It was a cold night and this morning we noticed that the bird bath was completely frozen over.

It had a heater, but it only works if it’s connected to a power source.  It wasn’t, but now it is again.

Day 19.280: Birds at/near the beach

Our nature group gathered at Fortunes Rocks Beach in Biddeford this afternoon. We spent some time at the beach and at two nearby ponds. Here is some of what we saw.

Bufflehead

Ring-billed gulls

A fly walking on the surface of the pond - likely from the genus Hydrophorus

Our crew today

Northern pintail with mallards

Green-winged teal

Admiring the Montauk daisies (and the insect life attracted to them)

Wonderful bursts of color in the foliage all around

Blackpoll warbler in a crab apple tree

Blackpoll warbler

Ruby-crowned kinglet

Dunlin

Northern gannet

Dunlin with white-rumped sandpipers

Merlin

He sat on top of this rock for a few moments, then a wave dislodged him

White-winged scoters

Red-breasted mergansers

Surf scoter

American herring gull

Day 19.279: In a rut

At this time of year the deer are in their mating season (known as the rut). Photographers flock to Bradgate Park in groups and individually to try to capture the excitement. I was not there for that purpose,, but it didn't stop me getting a few photos as we passed by. The red deer stags in particular are noisy and potentially aggressive. The fallow deer are a lot quieter about things but we also did our best not to get so close.

These two populations of deer are kept inside the park and managed to keep their numbers in check - but are otherwise effectively wild. On the last morning we saw a wild roe deer (my sister has also seen muntjac) - they get in through gaps in the wall but presumably move along again rather than staying in the park.

Day 19.278: Bradgate Park

I joined three walks with the dogs at Bradgate Park - on Monday morning and afternoon and on Tuesday morning before we left. Here are a few pictures.

Such a beautiful place.