Today I had my sixth and seventh visit of the fall to lovely Thomson Park. On each visit I have noted a tree that I am unfamiliar with. This tree has what looked like very red pears high up. I kept intending to take photos but by this morning it was too late. Squirrels have been knocking down the “fruit” and I can now see that this is some sort of Horse Chestnut with red covers to the fruiting bodies. Half an hour of looking at internet photos of various Horse Chestnuts did not narrow down the actual species variety for me.

Thomson area views:

8 am group:

11:30 group:

Some botany:

Bird Species list: mallard, turkey vulture, downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, eastern phoebe, blue jay, American crow, black-capped chickadee, white-breasted nuthatch, American robin, ruby-crowned kinglet, brown creeper, yellow-rumped warbler, house sparrow, common grackle, northern cardinal, American goldfinch, white-crowned sparrow, white-throated sparrow, song sparrow.  (20 species)

NATURE POETRY

A birdnote sounding here and there,
A bloom, where leaves are brown and sober,
Warm noons, and nights with frosty air,
And loaded wagons say, October.                         – Thomas Stephens Collier (1842–93)

Miles Hearn