Today was sunny and warm through the morning with increasing clouds in the first part of the afternoon and overcast conditions by late afternoon and into the evening. I walked down to the park this morning. There was a pretty good breeze out of the west, but the sun was warm enough for me to feel comfortable even though the wind was cool coming off the water.
The tide was out and I only walked part of the shoreline, but it seemed pretty quiet for shorebirds. I did notice a few Black Turnstones (but not the Ruddy Turnstone that had been reported on recent days) and some peeps flying in the distance. There were more than 15 Black Oystercatchers near the river mouth – it’s late enough in the season that I would expect them to be working on nesting by now. I wonder if they are nesting on islands in the inner part of the sound, and coming to the park to eat during low tides. During one of a couple of extended breaks I took just lying down and resting (I was feeling pretty tired) I noticed a Song Sparrow singing near the otter sign bench and a second from over by the river mouth bench (I think – it was coming from that direction, anyway). I don’t recall there being singing birds in this area during past years, so I’m not sure if this is a new thing this year, or if I just missed them before.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned it in the blog yet, but several people have commented on the low numbers of Rufous Hummingbirds this year. We have at least one visiting our feeders here (and we’ve never had many), so I hadn’t really noticed too much, except that I’ve not seen the large numbers visiting flowers during the peak of migration this year. Apparently out at Medvejie Hatchery, the number of visiting birds is way down from normal. It will be interesting to see if things pick up as the season goes on, or if the population is down this year for some reason.
The forecast for the entire week (into next Monday) is for sunny or partly cloudy with highs in the upper 50s. This is the sort of weather that makes for pretty good pollination, so it will be interesting to see if the fruit crops are pretty good this year. Around town the cherry trees are blooming, as are some of the domestic apples. I’ve not noticed any of the native crabapples blooming yet, however.