Tagged With: Birds in Flight

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

As mentioned in my previous post of the red-shouldered hawk on the street sign, we went to Lake Frank this afternoon. We hadn’t planned to walk as far as we did but ended up walking all the way around the lake. We saw two great blue herons (Ardea herodias). The first one was across the lake so I wasn’t able to get any good photos of that. Shortly after stopping to look at it, though, this one flew across in front of us. I didn’t have much time to focus, zoom, or frame the shot and was glad to get what I did. The very blue color of the bird has more to do with it being in the shadows than it’s natural coloring (per its name).

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Rachel Carson Conservation Park

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora)

Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula)

Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula)

indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea)

indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea)

We went to the Rachel Carson Conservation Park today and had a fairly hot and humid walk through the woods. We heard quite a few birds in the woods but saw almost none. We did see these Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora), also known as ghost plant or ghost pipe. These are parasitic, non-photosynthesizing plants, getting their energy from Russulaceae family of fungi, which in turn get their energy from the roots of photosynthesizing plants. We also saw chanterelle mushrooms (Cantharellus species) and downy rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera pubescens).

Towards the end of our walk we were in the meadows nearer the parking area and I got some photos of the dreaded spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) in its final nymphal instar stage. There were also indigo buntings (Passerina cyanea) singing all around and I finally found one that I could just see at the top of a tree and got a few photos of that.

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