Belle Isle Meadow

 Today I spent some time removing invasive plants from the meadow and enjoying its beauty.

 Killdeer nest; look how the adult male prepares and organizes sticks and pebbles around the nest to make it attractive for the female.

                                                                  Wildflowers

                                                               Garter Snakes

                                                            Snake skin after being shed

Baby Mink

Geoff Woods has been on a mammal tare, finding a Otter family and a Mink family. Here is one of the baby Mink, regrettably posing next to the only road cone in the entire Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. The mother bounded across the trail then this little one followed.

                                 Apparently this is what you look like when you are out birding.

Gull-billed Tern

Gull-billed Tern currently being seen on Plum Island. Also lots of pees still present in the mud flats.

New kids in town

Lots of juvenile birds everywhere. Today Belle Isle was inundated with newly fledged Black-capped Chickadees. To the horror of the patrons the little ones were on the ground, in the parking lot, landing on cars...etc. I spent most of the morning getting them off the ground and placing back in trees. While fledged, the birds could barely fly. Parents will continue to feed them for weeks to come.

                                                            Juvenile American Robin

                   Baltimore Oriole nest at Belle Isle. Amazing these birds weave their nests. 

                                                               Cedar Waxwing

                               Juvenile Grackle sitting next to me on the boardwalk, looking for worms which I did not have.

                                  The rest of the photos are of the American Kestrel juveniles.

                                                          Willow Flycatcher singing

American Kestrels

Once again this year the pair of Kestrels that nest in Revere have been successful in fledgling 3 offspring. This amazing pair of birds seem to pull off 3 offspring each year. When I was young Kestrels were an abundant raptor, you would see them everywhere much like Red tailed Hawk. Nowadays finding a pair, never mind a successful one is very hard to come by in Massachusetts.  The male Kestrel  also stays on his territory year round, not overly typical for Kestrels this far North. The male bird is clearly a very skilled and successful bird. Lately I have only seen the male feeding all three juveniles. Seems to be mainly feeding them mice and meadow voles.

                                       Adult male at Belle Isle meadow with Meadow Vole

                                          one of the juvenile's in the large conifer at Eliot House

Rubby-throated Hummingbird female

                            Female hummer sitting in the yard, rare to catch one sitting out.

                                                     Few day old PIPL chick in Revere