Mostly cloudy with rain later in the day. Temperatures in the 50s.
I was on calls and working on photos through most of the day.
This morning through the window I noticed a handful (at least) Eurasian Collared-doves fly by. It’s the most I’ve seen recently. Perhaps the result of successful nesting?
This afternoon I went out for a drive with Kitty. We stopped at post office to check fungi. For some reason the spruce trees there seem to have a good fruiting of fungi around them each year. I took pictures of Amanita muscaria and Alloclavaria purpurea. I’m pretty sure those are both new for me this year.
After the drive, I went by Swan Lake to take pictures of a Greater White-fronted Goose that seems to have become separated from its flock.
While there, I heard a call that I couldn’t quite place. When I tried to track it down, I noticed three birds across the street, and then watched them fly over high (too high and fast for me to get photos).
It looked like they might end up by lower Moller Park. I walked back home to get my car and to look and see if I could refind them. At the time I was thinking they might be birds of open areas.
There were activities and plenty of people at upper and lower Moller fields. I watched from my car briefly, but didn’t see the birds (in hindsight, maybe it would have been worth walking around and looking up in the trees).
I also stopped by Kimsham fields, but didn’t see any birds there either.
Reflecting on it later, and listening to some recordings of flight calls, I wonder if they might have been Purple Finches. The size and color seemed consistent with that, but little brown bird doesn’t really narrow things down too much.
The trip wasn’t without its upside. I noticed shaggy manes growing by the Methodist church again. It’s only place I’ve found them more than once (this is the third year in a row I’ve observed them there).
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
