Jesse Jones Park

On Saturday morning, Dee and I spent a couple of hours in Jesse Jones Park. The park was exceptionally green and there were butterflies galore.

The cypress boardwalk area was as eerily beautiful as always and the Red-eared Sliders there were less timid than usual.

Although we often had birds calling all around us, very few of them were visible. After 90 minutes, we had seen only about a dozen individuals, and all of those were of common species: Northern Cardinal, Chipping Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, Carolina Chickadee, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Turkey Vulture.


Then we got lucky. On our walk back across the boardwalk to the parking area, we saw a Green Heron.


Admittedly, this isn't a rare species. But it is one of my very favorite birds, and one that I hadn't yet seen this year.

Another First-of-Year
Mosquitoes are back: Dee and I both got our first bites of the year. So from now on we'll probably have to smother ourselves in Deet before going for walks or even sitting in the yard. Bummer!

Jesse Jones

I managed to squeeze in a half-hour walk around Jesse Jones park this morning. As usual, the park had mainly yardbirds and other common species: Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Northern Cardinals, Eastern Phoebe, Carolina Wrens, Blue Jay, American Robin, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Pine Warbler.

Less usual were the three good views I had of Hermit Thrushes.

The highlight of the walk was a very close-up view of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron, bird #143 on my 2009 year list. I could have taken some great photos - if only I hadn't left my camera at home!