Green Heron at Waseeka Wildlife Sanctuary

A change of scenery was overdue.  It was nice to walk on a trail of pine needles again.  It had been a long time, probably since the ladyslippers were in bloom.

With all the rain lately, I expected to find a nice variety of mushrooms, and I was not disappointed.

Chicken of the Woods

(great name!!)

When I arrived at the water's edge, I was thrilled to find some gorgeous Cardinal Flowers in bloom.  What a beautiful pop of color on a gray day!

FYI, this was reported to be a "partly cloudy" day here in New England.  Ha!

Eastern Phoebes were hunting insects over the water.  There were plenty of snags for them to perch on.

Eastern Phoebe

I could hear an Osprey screeching, and I saw it fly to the far end of the water out of my peripheral vision.  I fully expected to see it again, but it never came back.  I also heard a rattling Belted Kingfisher, but it never made an appearance either.  A flock of American Robins flew off from the edge of the woods, and a Downy Woodpecker pecked at a nearby tree.

I also saw a good-sized water bird fly out from the shore over the water and land on a fallen tree trunk.  After zooming in on it with my camera, I was able to ID it as a Green Heron.  He walked the tree trunk like it was a difficult trapeze challenge.

Green Heron

Clymene Moth

And you know if you reverse direction on the same path, you often see completely different things.  Here are some mushrooms I saw on the way out:

Tonight when I was working in the yard, I could hear a woodpecker.  I found this Downy carving out a hole in a snag in my neighbor's yard.

Downy Woodpecker

I took a short video and, of course, some background music was playing in my head, so I added it!  Enjoy (if you dare)!