Northern Mockingbirds are among the finest singers in the bird world. We heard and saw this one this morning:

Willow Flycatcher is a bird that I see here every May:

Species list: double-crested cormorant, mute swan, Canada goose, mallard, American black duck, killdeer, spotted sandpiper, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, chimney swift, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, northern flicker, willow flycatcher, eastern kingbird, barn swallow, tree swallow, cliff swallow, blue jay, American crow, black-capped chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, northern mockingbird, gray catbird, American robin, veery, blue-gray gnatcatcher,  ruby-crowned kinglet, European starling, warbling vireo, black and white warbler, Nashville warbler, northern parula warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, yellow warbler, blackburnian warbler, common yellowthroat, ovenbird, American redstart, northern waterthrush, house sparrow, red-winged blackbird, brown-headed cowbird, common grackle, Baltimore oriole, northern cardinal, American goldfinch, savannah sparrow, song sparrow.  (48 species)

In late November we found 16 bird species here. Three times as many this morning.

Some mammals:

Some botany:

Park scenes:

This morning’s group observing a Northern Flicker:

NATURE POETRY

Sea Gulls

For one carved instant as they flew,
The language had no simile—
Silver, crystal, ivory
Were tarnished. Etched upon the horizon blue,
The frieze must go unchallenged, for the lift
And carriage of the wings would stain the drift
Of stars against a tropic indigo
Or dull the parable of snow.

Now settling one by one
Within green hollows or where curled
Crests caught the spectrum from the sun,
A thousand wings are furled.
No clay-born lilies of the world
Could blow as free
As those wild orchids of the sea. – E.J. Pratt

Miles Hearn